Bonanza for lawyers as Canada faces investor action

Canadian government moves to implement investor-protection agreements with two of the world's three largest economies will trigger a boom in global arbitration against Ottawa, analysts predict.

The Vancouver Sun reports that deals cut with China and the EU will boost the business of investor-state dispute arbitration, which has been rapidly growing since the 1990s.

Encouraging claims

Although Canada has been caught in investor-rights protection law suits before – a result of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with the US and Mexico – corporate law suits against the government are expected to rise significantly.

A report released last week by two European advocacy groups -- Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute and the Brussels-based Corporate Europe Observatory – heavily criticised the global arbitration industry, which is dominated by American and British firms, but does include some Canadians. It stated that the legal sector favours ‘expansive’ or liberal interpretations of investment treaties to encourage further claims.

Influencing debate

Lawyers who profit from the practice area also play a hugely influential role in helping countries draft treaties, and later influence public debate through academic articles, speeches and media commentary, according to the report’s authors.

‘It’s not balanced, it’s not fair, it’s skewed in favour of the interests of investors and the arbitration industry,’ report co-author Pia Eberhardt told the Sun.