In the second phase of a capacity building program for Georgia’s legal community, CLDP held a Workshop on Issues in International Commercial Transactions from February 6-7, 2014 in Tbilisi, Georgia for approximately 35 Georgian legal professionals. Organized in coordination with the Georgian Bar Association (GBA) and the Georgian Lawyers for Independent Profession (GLIP), the workshop featured presentations, complex case studies, and illustrative examples from real practice on issues arising from contracts for the international sale of goods and from dispute settlement agreements, including choice of law and choice of forum considerations; how to structure dispute resolution clauses; arbitration vs litigation; enforcement of foreign arbitral awards; the impact of international treaties such as the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the New York Convention, and other relevant areas of law impacted by contractual disputes, such as torts.

Led by US attorneys specialized in dispute resolution of trans-border transactions, Ted Semaya of Eaton and Van Winkle LLP and Stanley McDermott of DLA Piper LLP, the format of lawyer-to-lawyer dialogue and application of principles to complex case studies incited a good stream of questions and ample opportunities to compare the U.S. and Georgian commercial codes in the context of drafting and representing international commercial contracts. Overall, participants noted the value in this type of proactive training in order to better structure contracts and think ahead to potential dispute issues, rather than having to fix contracting problems after the fact.

This workshop follows CLDP’s initial program in May 2013 which focused on international sales contracts, complex international business transactions, arbitration, and an examination of key international commercial instruments. This capacity building program will create a critical mass of Georgian legal professionals who can fairly, efficiently, and effectively deal with international business transactions and competently represent companies in international commercial disputes.