The Daily Business Review Reports on Supreme Court “Head-Scratcher” Over International Arbitration

The Daily Business Review featured Shook’s Chair of Global Arbitration Practice Group Carlos Concepción for his filing of an amicus brief for the U.S. Supreme Court in Miami Lawyer Wades Into Supreme Court Head-Scratcher Over International Arbitration. Concepción filed the brief on behalf of the Miami International Arbitration Society, which he also chairs. The amicus brief is on a case involving a foreign subsidiary of General Electric Co. that questions what to do when one litigant is bound by a contract compelling arbitration but the other is not and is a foreign entity.

Concepción’s brief, which had contributors including Shook Of Counsel Giovanni Angles, seeks the reversal of a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruling stating that arbitration cannot be compelled in this situation when one of the parties is foreign. Oral arguments are expected to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court starting in January 2020. 

“When this case came up for appeal in the Eleventh Circuit, which is our appellate backyard, we took a significant interest in it because it affects us directly, and it affects everything about international arbitration,” Concepción said.

Concepción makes the point that without the courts’ intervention, the U.S. will be the only country in the world that does not allow protections for international arbitration agreements.

“The rest of the world, through their own local legislation, can argue the position of General Electric,” Concepción said, “and it’s recognized essentially all over the world that even if you’re not a signator to an international arbitration agreement, you can still be protected by it.”