The ICC Institute of World Business Law was created 30 years ago to foster wider knowledge and development of international business law and practices, thereby helping to create a bridge between lawyers and businessmen through trainings and think tank activities.

Given that a large portion of international commercial disputes arise from the doubtful wording of contracts, Professor Pierre Lalive, founder of the ICC Institute and currently its Chairman Emeritus, thought costly legal procedures could be avoided if better cooperation was established between lawyers and businessmen in the early stages of negotiating a contract.

“With the exception of a restricted number of specialists, lawyers generally work within an exclusively national framework and are therefore rarely in a position to anticipate the specific difficulties of international contracts,” Mr Lalive wrote in a 1979 paper outlining the Institute as he envisioned it.

“At the international level, first of all, an institution could provide the link between economic and academic sectors at present lacking in a large number of countries,” Mr Lalive wrote at the time.

Thirty years later, the Institute has more than fulfilled its mandate, acting as a think-tank working closely with the ICC International Court of Arbitration and ICC policy commissions. Once a year, the Institute holds its Annual Meeting where some of the world's leading legal experts gather to share knowledge and expertise on a chosen topical issue. One of the aims of this conference is to create doctrine, the result of which is now compiled and published annually in the series: Dossiers of the Institute.

“The Institute of World Business Law is unique. Where else can legal experts train, think and deliberate with their peers?” said Serge Lazareff, Chairman of the ICC Institute of World Business Law.

To celebrate its three decades, the ICC Institute this year returned to the theme discussed at its first annual conference - multiparty arbitration. While the Institute has many training programmes, one of its most important is the PIDA programme, which was originally designed to provide training in international commercial arbitration and international contracts for lawyers and professionals from developing countries and transitional economies. In addition to English and French, there is now a Spanish and Portuguese version of the arbitration programme, as well as an advanced level version.

In 2007 the ICC Institute of World Business Law Prize was launched to contribute to the understanding and progress of international commercial law around the world and to encourage those engaged in focused research on legal issues affecting international business.

Last week Denis Mouralis, France was named the 2009 Prize Laureate for his outstanding work on Arbitration Confronted to Parallel Proceedings. Also impressed by the quality of the work, the jury gave a special mention to Mathieu Maisonneuve, also of France, for his excellent thesis on The Arbitration of Sport Disputes.

The Institute Council is made up of 40 eminent lawyers and legal practitioners from around the world. In addition, Associate Members selected from academia and professionals in legal practice from around the world disseminate information and support Institute activities on a regional basis.

For further information, please contact Katharine Bernet

kbt@iccwbo.org