MIAS Events

July 14 Annual Membership Meeting MIAS held its annual appreciation meeting with a reception at Akerman Senterfitt.  With approximately 50 members in attendance,  B Landy, Chairman, made a brief presentation about future programs and called attention to the possibility of Miami hosting the Intl. Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) Conference in 2014.  This, he said, would place Miami at the forefront of becoming the hub for international arbitration in the Americas. September 22 Membership Meeting with John RooneyJohn Rooney, director of the Rooney report, was the keynote speaker at this membership meeting.  He said that recent developments had been the approval of UNICTRAL Rules by various states including Florida, California, New York, Texas, Louisiana, Connecticut and Oregon. He also said that the Supreme Court has had three major arbitration decisions, i.e. the Granite Rock, the Rent a Car West and the Stoldt Nielsen.  He also said that in one case, the Ariel vs. Lloyd Underwriters, Pennsylvania’s arbitration law had supplanted the federal arbitration law. October 26,  MIAS Board Meeting B. Landy stated that the Board had been busy pursuing the opportunity to present a bid to host the 2014 International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) Congress in Miami. Judy Freedberg and other members have been gathering information and materials from other Congresses hosted in Rio and Ireland and will also gather the information from the one that will be take place in Singapore. He said that the Board has also met with the Greater Miami Visitors Bureau which was very pleased to be onboard and has already produced a logo and saved a website name. By the end of the month, board members will start contacting potential sponsors with the target being 10 to 20 firms. The commitment would be $20,000 per sponsor over 3 years thus lessening impact on budgets. J. Freedberg explained how the ICCA started and how it has developed over the years. The last Congress was in Rio and there were around 800 attendees. It is the Congress to attend if one is involved with International Arbitration. She added that it was fortuitous that Prof. Jan Paulsson, now the Chairman of the Intl. Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), had recently been appointed to the Michel R. Klein Distinguished  Scholar Chair by the Dean of the School of Law at the University of Miami. E. Palmer added that Miami has a good chance to present the bid. The last developments in the field and the experts coming to Miami, make Miami an attractive location. As a host, Miami offers the infrastructure and organization of events. Lobbying for the event is also involved.