Arbitration Boutiques and Solo Practitioners – Can they Compete and Provide World Class Service in International Investment and Commercial Arbitration?

WAU’s panel on Arbitration Boutiques and Solo Practitioners will have a practical discussion on how solo practitioners and arbitration boutiques launched their practices, their level of consolidation in the legal market, the challenges that they have experienced and the competitive advantages that they offer when compared to Big Law in investment and international commercial arbitration. Particularly, the panelists will address the following :

• • How can solo practitioners and boutique law firms compete in an environment where magic circle Big Law have an intra-world of multi-jurisdictional legal experts and practitioners, in some cases attorneys with expertise on enforcement, lobbyists, and outside damages experts with whom they work regularly?
  • Is it possible for arbitration boutiques and solo practitioners to compete?
  • Can the arbitration boutique’s or solo practitioner’s network of collaborators with specialized service providers—including lawyers in different jurisdictions from Big Law or other firms, as well as damages experts, asset tracers, and strategic communication specialists—be superior in quality and costs than full-service law firms? and 
  • What may be the evolution of the legal practice by solo practitioners and arbitration boutiques in international commercial and investment arbitration, given the context of reform at the Working Group III of UNCITRAL and the amendments to the ICSID Rules of Arbitration