Events

About the Event:

International investment law has long faced criticism for systematically privileging the interests of foreign investors over those of host states, often at the expense of domestic economic and social policy. However, this critique, while familiar, is rarely examined in terms of how it shapes the interpretive stance of arbitrators themselves. This book is not a polemic or a reformist manifesto, but rather a doctrinal inquiry grounded in the internal logics of the system – its texts, its jurisprudence, and its hermeneutics. The argument is aimed at those already embedded in the discourse of investment arbitration - scholars, practitioners, critics, and arbitrators - and assumes a working knowledge of both the structure of the regime and the choreography of its case law.

The bookLink opens in a new window’s focus is on arbitrators’ duties, both as formally delineated in treaties and rules, and as they emerge through tacit interpretive practice. In doing so, I try and address the paradoxical expectation in contemporary critiques that arbitrators, while bound by the applicable law, should nonetheless act as agents of systemic correction, interpreting capital-centred instruments to produce outcomes more favourable to host states. The book shares many of the concerns behind these critiques. Investment law suffers from legitimacy deficits, particularly in the global south, where it constrains redistributive or regulatory policies. Arbitrators, however, cannot simply transcend the treaties they are appointed to apply. Reform cannot be smuggled in through interpretation: it requires moving beyond the bilateral investment treaty paradigm towards a new order of international economic law.

About the Speaker:

Dr Paolo VargiuLink opens in a new window is an Associate Professor at the Leicester Law School. His research interests lie primarily in the fields of law and religion, legal theory, and international law. Dr Vargiu is a qualified practitioner and acts as an independent arbitrator.

This termly Law School event offers Continuing Professional Development through a review of recent case law developments by our expert colleagues. Volunteers will summarise cases that have intrigued them drawn from fields as diverse as contract law, consumer law, company law, investment arbitration, tax, and intellectual property law. All are welcome to attend (faculty, postgraduate and undergraduate students), either to present a case or to listen and ask questions.

Lunch will be provided.

Please email globe@warwick.ac.uk if you have any dietary or access requirements.

The Law, Technology, and Development Learning Circle brings together staff and students across the University of Warwick who are interested in the regulatory, governance, human rights, and political economy challenges of technology in/and on society. The group is coordinated by the Centre for Law, Regulation and Governance of the Global Economy (GLOBE), Warwick Law School and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM) with the aim to create a space for sharing and discussing research and policy developments.

Through reading groups, events, and policy conversations the group aims to develop cross faculty collaborations that foreground Warwick’s law in context, and interdisciplinary research culture.

For more information on the group, please contact: Dr Siddharth De Souza (Siddharth.De-Souza@warwick.ac.uk) or Dr Serena Natile (Serena.Natile@warwick.ac.uk).

For logistical information about the events, please contact globe@warwick.ac.uk

Theme: AI and Global Maldistribution

Friday, 7 November 2025, 12pm – 2pm

S.2.09, Warwick Law School, Social Sciences Building

In this session, we will meet to discuss the book The New Empire of AI: The Future of Global Inequality by Rachel Adams. The discussion will be led by Dr Serena Natile and will include a short presentation followed by reflections from participants. You are encouraged to read the book, or part of it, prior to the meeting.

Lunch will be provided.

Please email globe@warwick.ac.uk if you have any dietary or access requirements.

About the Event:

Professor Stephen Connelly’s Finance Law is a textbook designed for LLM and advanced LLB students with an interest in advanced applications of private law to modern financial transactions. Based on five years of post qualification experience and a decade of legal teaching, the book sets out to explain what finance is trying to achieve and what it demands from the law to do this. The focus of the text is the London Form of syndicated credit agreement – the core contractual basis for a multiplicity of transactions, from corporate financings to leveraged buyouts, from real estate finance to bilateral sovereign debt. Time is taken to explain why financial contracts are designed the way they are, and what stresses financial demands place on supposedly settled principles of private law.

Discussants:

Dr Andreas Kokkinis, Associate Professor, Birmingham Law Scjhool, University of Birmingham

Dr Karina Patricio Ferreira Lima, Leeds Law School, University of Leeds

The event will be followed by a drinks reception. Please email globe@warwick.ac.uk if you have dietary or access requirements.

About the Speaker:

Professor Stephen Connelly's principal research interest is in the philosophy and history of legal systems. He also provides expert analysis on finance law, focusing on the private law techniques used in the field. Among his publications is the leading student textbook on the subject: Finance Law (Routledge, 2025). Stephen has both given evidence to the UK Parliament and drafted legislation pertaining to sovereign debt.

The Law, Technology, and Development Learning Circle brings together staff and students across the University of Warwick who are interested in the regulatory, governance, human rights, and political economy challenges of technology in/and on society. The group is coordinated by the Centre for Law, Regulation and Governance of the Global Economy (GLOBE), Warwick Law School and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM) with the aim to create a space for sharing and discussing research and policy developments.

Through reading groups, events, and policy conversations the group aims to develop cross faculty collaborations that foreground Warwick’s law in context, and interdisciplinary research culture.

For more information on the group, please contact: Dr Siddharth De Souza (Siddharth.De-Souza@warwick.ac.uk) or Dr Serena Natile (Serena.Natile@warwick.ac.uk).

For logistical information about the events, please contact globe@warwick.ac.uk

Theme: Sustainability and Technology

Friday, 4 December, 12pm – 2pm

S.2.09, Warwick Law School, Social Sciences Building

Meeting 12.30 to 2 pm on 4th December

In this session, we will meet to discuss the book Insolvent: How to Reorient Computing for Just Sustainability by Christoph Becker. The discussion will be led by Dr Siddharth de Souza and will include a short presentation followed by reflections from participants. You are encouraged to read the book, or part of it, prior to the meeting.

Lunch will be provided.

Please email globe@warwick.ac.uk if you have any dietary or access requirements.