Brazil has come a long way in a short time in terms of arbitral development. Speakers at GAR Live Rio de Janeiro – our first event in the Americas – considered how it could do even better in the years to come and how the country’s new role as a capital exporter has affected its approach to investment.

A trial court in the Philippines has dismissed two defamation suits against German airport operator Fraport and its local counsel over statements made in an ICSID request for arbitration – but sources say the cases are far from over.

Five new members have been appointed to the LCIA Court, while UK arbitrator VV Veeder QC is to serve a second consecutive term, enabling him to continue to chair a committee tasked with producing a new edition of the institution’s rules.

Siberian-born practitioner Roman Khodykin has left Clifford Chance in Moscow to join the London office of Berwin Leighton Paisner as a partner.

Simmons & Simmons has hired a disputes partner from De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek in Amsterdam and promoted lawyers in London and Doha.

An Italian, Andrea Carlevaris, is to be the new secretary general of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, replacing Jason Fry.

An event in Cairo heard Karim Hafez spell out provocative criteria for arbitral appointments and Georges Abi-Saab criticise ICSID's procedure for deciding challenges.

Judges must not be “stuck in national grooves” but apply their minds to the effective resolution of disputes by arbitration, said the Chief Justice of Mauritius at a recent New York Convention roadshow, while arbitrator Jan Paulsson said proper application of the instrument is “a way of giving power to citizens to make meaningful promises”.

As the remainder of Dewey & LeBoeuf's managing partnership fight to ward off the firm's collapse, yet more members of its international arbitration practice have migrated to rival firms.

The Hong Kong Court of Appeal has affirmed the jurisdiction’s arbitration-friendly status by reinstating a US$55 million ICC award that was set aside last year.

Following the hire of a new Spanish practice head earlier this year, Baker & McKenzie has recruited his former colleague at Garrigues, Alfonso Gómez-Acebo, as a partner in Madrid.

Claes Rainer has stepped down as head of DLA Nordic’s Swedish disputes practice to set up a boutique specialising in energy disputes in Russia and the CIS region

Canada's top court has refused to hear a final appeal by Mexico over a US$77 million award in favour of US corn syrup producer Cargill – despite arguments by all three NAFTA states that the tribunal misinterpreted the treaty.

David Reed, a partner in Shearman & Sterling’s London office since 2005, is to join Arnold & Porter, it emerged today.

Photos of the second International Arbitration Charity Ball, that took place in London last week and raised over £300,000 for Save The Children, are available now.