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    Arbitration in Practice Lecture: Parallel Proceedings in Arbitration and International Law

    On Wednesday 18 June, Angela Ha, Counsel at Volterra Fietta, will deliver the Arbitration in Practice lecture of the 2025 London Summer Arbitration School on the topic of “Parallel proceedings in arbitration and international law”. The lecture will take place at 6:00 pm London time. Online attendance is free of charge to those who registers in advance following this link.

    Parallel proceedings are a perennial issue in arbitration and public international law. The pursuit of overlapping or identical claims in proceedings before multiple fora can give rise to problems for which there is no obvious or easy answer. Parallelism raises serious questions including potential abuse of process, delay, increased party expenses, waste of finite court resources and the risk of inconsistent rulings and outcomes. At the same time, attempts to restrain parallel proceedings go to the very heart of when and how parties can litigate and arbitrate.

    Drawing on Volterra Fietta’s work for sovereign States and corporate clients, this Arbitration in Practice lecture will examine how courts, tribunals and international investment treaties have sought to resolve the challenges presented by parallel proceedings before multiple fora. When is it appropriate to restrain a party from commencing parallel proceedings? When and why do courts and tribunals refuse, when faced with parallel proceedings, to exercise jurisdiction? What different approaches have been adopted by domestic courts and by international courts and tribunals, and why?

    The Arbitration in Practice lecture will be followed by a short presentation of Volterra Fietta’s global internship programme. Since its inception in 2011, the Volterra Fietta global internship programme has trained more than 200 lawyers from around the world in the professional practice of public international law and international dispute settlement. Through this short presentation, attendees will have the opportunity to hear directly from Volterra Fietta internship alumni now working with the firm as associates.

    The Arbitration in Practice lecture will take place on 18 June 2025 from 18.00. Attendees are invited to join an informal networking reception immediately following the lecture and internship presentation.

    Angela Ha is an Australian-qualified lawyer and counsel at Volterra Fietta, specialising in public international law and international dispute settlement. She advises and represents government and commercial clients across the full range of public international law issues, including in international arbitrations.

    Angela acts for both claimant investors and respondent States in high-stakes, high-profile investment treaty arbitrations. She has represented clients in multiple State-to-State disputes, including cases before the International Court of Justice. Angela regularly speaks and lectures on public international law, including at University College London and SOAS University of London. She has been invited to speak on issues of international law and dispute settlement at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and by the American Society for International Law, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, and the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea. Angela has been recognised by Legal 500 and Best Lawyers in their UK rankings of leading public international lawyers. Clients and peers have praised her as “thorough and savvy”, “a formidable advocate and cross-examiner” and “one of the up-and-coming stars in this field”.

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