In Good Faith? Competing Concepts of Good Faith in International Disputes

This panel will examine how New York law’s implied obligation of good faith and fair dealing contrasts with other legal cultures’ concepts of good faith, and how these concepts collide in international disputes governed by New York law (with a focus on post-M&A disputes, but other types of disputes also to be discussed). Panelists will include arbitration lawyers and arbitrators trained in New York law, as well as in different legal traditions (such as civil law). They will discuss the meaning of the implied obligation, the concept of good faith in other legal jurisdictions (for instance, contrasting with art. 1104 of the reformed French civil code, which includes a more robust, non-derogable concept of good faith, and which applies to contract negotiation, formation, and performance); how these concepts collide when clients and lawyers from different legal jurisdictions and cultures interact, argue, and decide arbitrations governed by New York law; and the advantages that New York law has to offer in this area.