The TPF Observatory is an initiative of the ICCA/Queen Mary University of Law Task Force on Third Party Funding. The Third-Party Funding Taskforce will systematically study and make recommendations regarding the procedures, ethics, and related policy issues relating to third-party funding in international arbitration.

The Task Force is comprised of representatives drawn from among all relevant stakeholders and interested members of ICCA. Its work will be presented in a series of White Papers and a number of public colloquia to be hosted at Queen Mary’s Centre for Commercial Law Studies, London.

About the Task Force

According to the statistics of one funder, at least 60% of all ICSID cases enquired about (but not necessarily sought or obtained) third-party funding before their cases were lodged. The 2014 revision of “IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interests in International Arbitration” arguably included wording that would require third party funding to be disclosed for the purposes of arbitrator conflicts. – Despite this decisions by tribunals (notably in treaty-based arbitrations) remain a rarity.

The ICCA and Queen Mary jointly created a Task Force on Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration in 2014. The Task Force will systematically study and make recommendations regarding the procedures, ethics, and related policy issues relating to third-party funding in international arbitration. The Task Force is comprised of representatives drawn from among all relevant stakeholders, including arbitration practitioners, funders, government representatives and academics. The Task Force is co-chaired by ICCA Governing Board Member William “Rusty” Park and Catherine Rogers, the Professor of Regulation, Ethics and the Rule of Law at Queen Mary, and Professor of Law and International Affairs at Penn State Law, and Professor Stavros Brekoulakis, Professor of Commercial Law and International Arbitration at Queen Mary. Lise Boseman, Executive Director of ICCA, will serve ex officio. The task force has created a number of sub-committees, including on conflicts, costs and on investment arbitration.