The prize was for the article Revolving Door in International Investment Arbitration, published in 2017 by Professor Malcolm Langford, Associate Professor Daniel Behn and PhD Fellow Runar Lie.
Using network analysis and the PITAD database, they analysed the roles and power of almost 4000 known individuals in investment arbitration. Notably, they highlighted the widespread nature of ‘double hatting’, whereby arbitrators also act as legal counsel in concurrent cases.
The article attracted significant attention on publication. It has been widely cited, discussed in social media, and helped shape reform processes in the UN Commission on International Trade Law. It is already on the list of the most highly cited articles for the Journal of International Economic Law in the last five years.
About the John Jackson Prize
The John Jackson prize is awarded annually to the article or other contribution in the JIEL that most significantly breaks new ground and adds new insights to the study and understanding of international economic law, especially in fields beyond a self-contained analysis of WTO law.
This Prize aims at celebrating the legacy of Professor John Jackson and underlining the importance of construing international economic law in this broader, ever changing perspective.
The winner was selected by a jury of eminent scholars in the field of international economic law from all JIEL articles or other contributions published in 2017.
PITAD (Pluricourts Investment Treaty Arbitration Database)
PITAD provides a comprehensive, regularly-updated and networked overview of all-known international investment arbitration cases.
Researchers and policymakers have access to carefully-coded variables together with a series of visualisations of raw and analysed data of more than 1000 cases.
For an overview, see Daniel Behn, Malcolm Langford, Ole Kristian Facuhald, Runar Lie, Maxim Usynin, Taylor St. John, Laura Letourneau-Tremblay, Tarald Berge and Tori Kirkebø, PITAD Investment Law and Arbitration Database: Version 1.0, Pluricourts Centre of Excellence, University of Oslo (31 Jan. 2019).