The event brought participants to discuss a simulated case, with the support of experts

 By Sérgio Siscaro

A group of 20 participants, a simulated arbitration case, debates on the various aspects of the case, and the support of expert professors on the subject. This was the dynamics of the second meeting of the virtual workshop cycle Inadimplemento Contratual, Dano e Arbitragem (Contractual Default, Damages, and Arbitration), promoted, on May 6, by New Generation CAM-CCBC (NewGen), a committee of young people, conceived and supported by CAM-CCBC, to boost, in an innovative way, the new generation of professionals in the area of dispute resolution.

The initiative is part of the different actions that NewGen has been carrying out since it was created in October 2019. “We intend to hold two to three workshops a year,” explains Fabiana Cerqueira Leite, who is part of NewGen’s Management Committee.

She says that this year’s edition of the workshop has improved the methodology of the meetings. The 20 participants were divided into groups to debate three different, but complementary, questions about the case previously made available, concerning the conversion of specific performance into pecuniary custody. On the workshop day, the groups discussed the issue assigned to them in separate virtual rooms, and professors Eduardo Talamini (UFPR) and Aline Terra (Uerj and PUC-Rio) had the opportunity to visit the rooms and help the participants with the procedural and material aspects of the case. The meeting ended with the presentation of the results by the groups and with an explanation by the teachers present.  The workshop cycle also counts with the scientific coordination of Professor Renata Steiner, who is part of the organizing committee of the events.

ADRs Promotion

Besides the workshop, NewGen’s agenda is full: the group has just released a blog and a newsletter for the dissemination of its initiatives, which have contributed to spreading the ADR culture in the country, promoting diversity in the community of professionals who work with these methods, and stimulating the participation of people from all Brazilian regions.

Open to articles from the group’s members, the newsletter is quarterly, and had its second issue launched recently, dealing with topics such as the first remote edition of the Foreign Direct Investment International Arbitration Moot (FDI Moot), CAM-CCBC’s advances in promoting diversity, the construction of mediation windows, comments on international judgments, among others.

Last year, the group was continually active in the virtual environment, promoting the webinars of the series Como Aprimorar a Cultura de ADR na sua Região (How to Improve the ADR Culture in your Region), with the purpose of stimulating the use of these methods in several Brazilian regions. In addition, in August, it promoted the first edition of the workshop cycle. “In October 2020 we also participated, as partners, in the Curso Prático de Arbitragem (Practical Arbitration Course) (CPArbitration), which had our members as monitors”, Leite adds.

“We chose not to hold as many webinars this year, and to invest more in other projects, such as the promotion of courses and the dissemination of information in our communication channels”, says Leite. One of these NewGen projects involves the relationship between arbitration and Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (General Law of Data Protection) (LGPD), in which, in a first phase, members were invited to submit articles, evaluated by experts. The next phase will be a seminar for public debate of the approved articles.