New Developments in US Treaty Practice: The 2012 US Model BIT

Date: July 16, 2012 12:00pm – 1:30pm
Location: Columbia Law School, Jerome Greene Hall, Room 103

The Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment and the newly launched Center for International Commercial and Investment Arbitration (CICIA) offered a unique opportunity to have an “off-the-record” discussion of the 2012 US Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). The new Model BIT was released by the US government in April of this year after a three-year review process of the previous model, which had been adopted in 2004.

The VCC and CICIA hosted this “off-the-record” event to discuss the 2012 Model BIT and how it differs from the 2004 model, and to explore the implications of those differences (or lack thereof) for investors, governments and other stakeholders that might be affected by ongoing and future treaty negotiations.

We were fortunate to have as panelists:
•Daniel Bahar, Director of Investment Affairs, Office of the US Trade Representative
•Michael Tracton, Senior Negotiator for Investment Treaties, US State Department, and
•Thea Lee, Deputy Chief of Staff, AFL-CIO, and co-chair of the Subcommittee on Investment of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Economic Policy.
•Theodore R. Posner, Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges

The discussion was moderated by Anthea Roberts who is a Visiting Professor at Columbia Law School for the 2012-2013 academic year.

This discussion was also the first event to be hosted by the CICIA. The Center was established this Spring to further the teaching and study of international arbitration, building on the school’s well-established expertise in this rapidly growing legal practice.