AUPP Law Professor Published in the New York International Law Review
Congratulations to Dr. Sothie Keo, Adjunct AUPP Law Professor, on the publication of his recent article, ‘International Investment Arbitration and Corruption: The Arbitrability of Corruption and its Remedy,’ in the New York International Law Review, a publication of the International Law and Practice Section of the New York State Bar Association.
Dr. Keo’s article analyzes the nature of arbitrating corruption and its possible remedies. Under the doctrine of ‘unclean hands’ or in pari delicto, investor-State tribunals have leaned towards dismissing cases that are tainted with corruption. As a result, corruption has emerged as a form of defense used by respondents. The article discusses how outright dismissals of cases tainted with corruption can sometimes lead to unjustly enriching the respondents.
The article instead proposes a balancing of factors to determine the culpability of each party in order to issue an adequate remedy. Depending on the culpability of each party, in certain cases it may be more just for the tribunal to order a repayment of the value of the investment as well as the bribery money, in other cases, the repayment of only the bribery money, and when both parties are equally at fault or the claimant is more at fault, then dismissal.
AUPP Law Professor, Dr. Sothie Keo:
Dr. Sothie Keo earned his Juris Doctor and Masters of Law in International Human Rights from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, and his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Washington. He is currently working as a Legal Officer to the Civil Party Lead Co-Lawyers Section of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. Dr. Keo, together with the Lead Co-Lawyers, represent and assist the Civil Parties, who are victims of the Khmer Rouge regime.
Dr. Keo is a licensed attorney in both the Kingdom of Cambodia and the US State of Colorado. Prior to returning to Cambodia, he worked as a Deputy State Public Defender for the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender, where he was a criminal defense trial lawyer representing indigent defendants. During law school Dr. Keo interned at Human Rights Watch in New York, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Singapore, and the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Dr. Keo is an AUPP Law Professor teaching International Law to junior law students during the Spring Semester 2020.
Comments are closed.