38th Annual ITA Workshop - Consent and Judicial Review: A Second Bite at the Apple?
Freshfields' International Arbitration Partner and Head of International Arbitration - Americas Elliot Friedman will be moderating a panel titled "Consent and Judicial Review: A Second Bite at the Apple?" on June 11, 2026, during the 38th Annual ITA Workshop and Annual Meeting taking place in Houston.
Questions of consent are often revisited when arbitral awards reach domestic courts. While some jurisdictions defer to tribunals’ findings, others apply de novo review.
This panel will explore the implications of these diverging approaches. Does de novo review safeguard legitimacy or undermine finality? Should courts play an active role in protecting the integrity of consent, or defer to arbitral autonomy?
Discussion will take a comparative perspective on judicial review relating to consent. Recent case law suggests that standards of review have become a central, unsettled, and unpredictable issue worldwide.
Moderator:
- Elliot Friedman, Partner & Head of International Arbitration - Americas, Freshfields
Panelists:
- Prof. George A. Bermann, Columbia Law School
- The Hon. Mr Justice Robin Knowles CBE, High Court of England and Wales
- The Hon. Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena, Former Justice of Supreme Court of Mexico, Harvard Law School
- The Hon. Marieke Witkamp, Former Judge of the Court of Rotterdam, Marieke Witkamp LLC
For more information and registration, visit here.
