On 14 May 2025, Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes organized a day of remembrance of Emmanuel Gaillard among his colleagues and friends of the Brazilian arbitration community. The event took place at the historical Copacabana Palace, in Rio de Janeiro, a place of predilection for Professor Gaillard where many memories were built with the Brazilian arbitration community.
Professor Gaillard’s legal thinking was strongly connected to Brazil. He delivered his first thoughts on international arbitration as an autonomous legal order, which later became his seminal work on the Legal Theory of International Arbitration in 2006 in Salvador de Bahia at a conference organized by the Brazilian Arbitration Committee1.
The speakers – Marcelo Ferro, Natália Lamas, Sergio Mannheimer, João Bosco Lee, Eduardo Damião Gonçalves, Marcela Levy, Adriana Braghetta and José Antonio Fichtner – all spoke about Professor Gaillard’s contributions and academic and practical guidance to the development of international arbitration in Brazil since its incipient stages when the Brazilian Arbitration Act was first enacted. Each speaker paid a personal tribute to Professor Gaillard, also discussing a topic in connection with ethics in international arbitration, drawing both from the conduct of parties (and counsel representing them) or other actors involved in the arbitration process, and referring Emmanuel Gaillard’s seminal work on the sociology of international arbitration. A lively debate with the audience followed each panel.
The day was concluded with the fourth edition of the Gaillard Lecture with Toby Landau KC delivering a masterful lecture on “Adjectives, Abuse and Bad Faith – Reconsidering Ethics and the Rule of Law”.
You will find below the pictures of this unforgettable day of remembrance.
1. To find out more about Emmanuel Gaillard’s writings, please refer to his extensive bibliography.
