ADR in Italy
My class in International Commercial Dispute Resolution at New York Law School is now finished, and each student was required to prepare a paper on a related topic of their choice. All were good, happily, and some students wrote on topics that readers of this blog may find useful. With their permission, I will post a few of them here over the next few weeks.
This paper, by Michael Martuscello, surveys the current state of business arbitration and mediation in Italy. Of the many curious aspects he discusses, it is noteworthy that the Italian legislature, not the courts or the business community, seems to be the main driver of ADR and the main advocate for encouraging its use by business. It is particularly interesting that, in compliance with the EU Directive, the legislature is ramping up a series of requirements that should make a big impact on the way business disputes are handled in the future — resulting perhaps in mediation rather than arbitration being the most practical way to address problems in a deal involving an Italian counterparty.
The text of the paper follows. Please note that the citations appear as Endnotes. Read more »