Mediating Transnational Disputes: Will the Treaty do More Harm than Good?

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.