 | ISLP Impact Updates: Global Minimum Tax webinar, expanding renewable energy in Liberia, and enhancing dispute resolution resources in Kenya, Zambia, and Guyana
ISLP Newsletter, June-July 2024 Edition |
| A note from the ISLP team in honor of LGBTQ+ PRIDE month
Each year, increasing numbers of cities and communities around the world celebrate June as PRIDE month. During PRIDE month and always, the ISLP team is proud to stand as part of and in allyship with the global LGBTQ+ community and to support inclusivity, freedom of expression, and fundamental human rights for all. |
| In memoriam: David Birenbaum
The International Senior Lawyers Project mourns the passing of our Emeritus Board member, volunteer, friend, and supporter, David Birenbaum. David is admired as an accomplished lawyer, legal scholar, and thought leader on a wide range of issues relating to international law, trade, and the United Nations. He was a partner of Fried Frank and also taught law courses at Georgetown, the University of Pennsylvania, and ESADE School of Law in Barcelona. In addition to his longstanding commitment to ISLP, David’s extensive civic engagement included board service for a number of organizations and professional committees dedicated to the values of peace, humanitarianism, freedom from violence, and human rights. Our thoughts and sympathy go to his beloved family. |
| | Save the date: Join IISD and ISLP next month for updates on the Global Minimum Tax
Please join ISLP and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) on July 18 for an informative webinar covering updates on the Global Minimum Tax. To register, use the QR code in the graphic below. There is no charge to attend but registration is required.
In 2023, ISLP and the IISD published A Guide for Developing Countries on How to Understand and Adapt to the Global Minimum Tax. The guide aims to provide an objective, simplified explanation of the global minimum tax rules, officially known as Global Anti-Base Erosion Model Rules (Pillar Two), and how they may affect investment incentives.
Since the guide was published, there have been important updates to the rules, and countries are starting to use new ways to compete for investment in the transforming global tax system. At the same time, the United Nations is developing a new Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation that may eventually create additional pathways for global tax reform.
|
|  | ISLP and IISD are convening this webinar to take stock of these developments, review updates to the rules, and share experiences from developing countries on implementation and adaptation. Participants will be invited to share perspectives on the impact of the proposed UN Convention on Tax on ongoing global tax reforms. This webinar will be in English with interpretation available for participants in French and Spanish.
Speakers include: Moderator: Alexandra Readhead, Director, Tax and Sovereign Debt, IISD Vikram Chand, Professor, Tax Law and Policy, University of Lausanne Kudzai Mataba, Policy Analyst, Tax and Investment, IISD Zach Pouga, Partner, Ernst & Young / ISLP Volunteer Stephen Shay, Senior Tax Fellow, Boston College Law School / ISLP Volunteer Claudia Vargas, Rapporteur, Bureau of the Ad Hoc Committee UN Convention on Tax / Head of the Taxation Office National Tax and Customs Directorate, Colombia
|
| | ISLP and Kirkland & Ellis help to expand access to electricity in underserved areas of Liberia
ISLP is delighted to share that, together with our volunteers from Kirkland & Ellis led by partner James Boswell, we assisted in the development of a loan agreement enabling ISLP client Energicity, a rapidly expanding power provider in Sub Saharan Africa, to bring much-needed solar mini- and micro-grids to previously underserved communities in Liberia. Solar mini- and micro-grids and high capacity batteries such as those provided by Energicity allow communities that are out of reach of the local power grid to obtain low-cost, green power around the clock. The transformational change brought by such reliable access to electricity enables communities to thrive through, for example, greater access to health care and increased economic and educational opportunities.
Energicity shared that “The Kirkland team ... carried us through with persistence and great legal advice… [that] was critical to getting the deal done and ultimately to providing electricity to tens of thousands of people in Liberia.” |
| | ISLP supports locally-led international dispute resolution in South America and Africa
Over the years, ISLP has worked with hundreds of lawyers in South America, the Caribbean, and Africa to support locally-led law reform and capacity-building efforts relating to alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration and mediation. Such efforts aim to promote development and the rule of law in several ways, including by enhancing legal expertise, strengthening the predictability and consistency of the arbitration process, promoting fairness and neutrality, encouraging compliance with international legal standards, and promoting international cooperation. By nurturing these values and honing related skills among practitioners, the judiciary, and arbitral centers, ISLP’s practice-based training programs support arbitral centers and local legal communities in ensuring that parties are treated fairly and that the arbitration process is in fact and perceived as a legitimate and neutral forum, contributing to a more harmonized and integrated dispute resolution system.
As part of a three-country program on dispute resolution, ISLP recently held training workshops on best practices in international arbitration in Kenya and Zambia, and will host a training in Guyana in August. This program builds on our prior work in these countries over the past several years. ISLP support has included legislative review and drafting support, capacity-building support to arbitral centers, and skills training in response to needs and interests identified by our local partners. The activities described below received financial and technical support from Advocates for International Development’s Rule of Law Engagement UK (ROLE UK) Programme and UKAid. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | ISLP in Kenya with NCIA, White & Case, and Latham & Watkins
ISLP volunteers from White & Case and Latham & Watkins delivered a week-long workshop in Nairobi, Kenya for state counsels from the Office of Attorney General. The aim of this training was to provide practical insights, comparative experience, and best practices to enhance the capacity of the state counsels to effectively negotiate and draft arbitration agreements, as well as handle and resolve international disputes. |
|  | The training was implemented in partnership with the Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration (NCIA) and covered essential topics in international commercial arbitration and investor-state dispute resolution, including: protocols, document production, cross examination, ADR in international construction projects, third-party funding, ESG/climate change and arbitration, investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) dispute avoidance, investment treaties, key steps in ISDS arbitration and opening presentations in international arbitration. The week-long training program in Nairobi concluded with a round-table discussion on the newly-revised rules and protocols of the NCIA, which benefited from the substantive input of a fantastic volunteer team from White & Case’s London-based arbitration group. |
| | ISLP’s Glory Kinyua (far left), Charlie Rae (Latham & Watkins), Robert Wheal (White & Case), Isuru Devendra (Latham & Watkins), Catherine Kawira Bariu (Judiciary) on a visit to meet Lady Justice Jacqueline Mogeni (center) of Kenya’s Environment and Land Court. |
| In the words of one Kenyan lawyer participant, “the training was an eye opener to [me] as a legal practitioner, and the skills obtained will be essential in the practice of investor-state arbitration.” Another stated that “the content and presentations were top notch,” for which we heartily thank our in-country volunteers Robert Wheal, Clare Connellan, and James Holden from White & Case, and Charlie Rae and Isuru Devendra from Latham & Watkins, as well as the extensive teams of colleagues at each firm that contributed in important ways to developing the materials and preparations. |
| | ISLP in Zambia with LAZ, LIAC, Winston & Strawn, Latham & Watkins
In Lusaka, Zambia, ISLP collaborated with the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) and the newly established Lusaka International Arbitration Centre (LIAC) to host a five-day training for 35 Zambian lawyers from private and public practice on international arbitration, mediation, and dispute board rules. In advance of the training, ISLP volunteers conducted a review of LIAC’s arbitration, mediation, and dispute board rules, which provided a practical springboard for focused discussion.
Volunteers from ISLP sponsor law firms Latham & Watkins and Winston & Strawn covered basic principles and key concepts in international arbitration including the drafting of an arbitration clause, developments in international arbitration in Zambia, procedural stages of international arbitration, tiered dispute resolution clauses, enforcement, and challenging of arbitration awards. The program was enhanced by presentations from Lady Justice Etambuyu and Judge Kazimbe Chenda, both High Court Judges, and discussion on the role of judges in arbitration. |
| | We are grateful to our volunteers Michael Stepak, Daniel Meagher, and Matthew Bate of Winston & Strawn; Charles Claypoole and Charles Rae of Latham & Watkins; Lady Justice Etambuyu Mwenda Zimba and Judge Kazimbe Chenda of the High Court of Zambia; and James Banda of AMW & Co Legal Practitioners. Feedback was universally positive and indicated a strong demand for further ISLP programs. The following participant comment echoed the widely-expressed feedback received: “The training was informative and worthwhile, and [that] the knowledge acquired cannot be overemphasized. We need many more of these.” |
| | Left image: Lady Justice Etambuyu Mwenda Zimba (far left) presenting at the LIAC / Lusaka training with Judge Kazimbe Chenda, Daniel Meagher (Winston & Strawn), and Charles Rae (Latham & Watkins). Right image: Judge Kazimbe Chenda and Lady Justice Etambuyu Mwenda Zimba with ISLP’s Glory Kinyua (center). |
| | ISLP volunteers from Gibson Dunn provide essential insights for Guyana’s Arbitration Act
ISLP is pleased to also support Guyana’s efforts to enhance its international dispute resolution framework, a priority for the world’s fastest-growing economy that also has particularly high levels of foreign investment in the extractives sector. As part of the multi-jurisdictional program described above, next month ISLP volunteers from Chaffetz Lindsay and Winston & Strawn will deliver an in-person arbitration training in Georgetown, Guyana.
This training workshop builds on prior ISLP arbitration-related work in the country. Last year, at the Government’s request, ISLP engaged a volunteer team from Gibson Dunn to review a draft national arbitration law, a project led by Charline Yim, Ankita Ritwik, Marryum Kahloon, and Rose Naing. We were pleased to learn that the Guyanese Parliament recently passed the Arbitration Act No. 6 of 2024, which incorporates input from the Gibson Dunn team and builds upon the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law and on the Improved Access to Justice in the Caribbean Project (IMPACT Justice) Model Arbitration Bill. This collaboration between ISLP and the Government of Guyana is part of a larger effort to strengthen the legal capacities of state counsels from various ministries and departments. |
| | ISLP relies on charitable donations and grants to enable our work.
Please consider donating to ISLP. We are a lean organization with over 90% of donations going directly to cover program costs. We are deeply grateful to our volunteers and sponsors for their generous support which make us, in the words of a volunteer, a “perfect force multiplier.” Your donation in any amount will directly help us to sustain our work. Thank you. |
|  |  | | |  | | About ISLP
The International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP) is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit and non-governmental organization founded in 2000. Our mission is to provide pro bono legal support to governments, civil society organizations, and social enterprises in the Global South on matters that advance the rule of law and just, accountable, and inclusive economic development. |
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
