The UN Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation will harm mediation of transnational disputes, argues Eric Sherby. In The Singapore Convention: The Emperor's New Clothes of International Dispute Resolution, Sherby contends:
Transnational settlement agreements arrived at through mediation are already routinely enforced without need for courts if they contain: (i) an escrow mechanism, (ii) an arbitration clause, and (iii) a "further documents" clause. The use of these three tools renders the Singapore Convention superfluous.
Sherby says the Singapore Convention will harm the enforcement of mediated settlement agreements because it authorizes a court in the state in which enforcement is sought to consider the mediator's "breach" of applicable standards as a possible defense to enforcement.
