Arbitration Acumen

Hosted by J.P. Duffy, Arbitration Acumen is the definitive podcast from Bracewell’s international arbitration group, designed for in-house counsel and arbitration practitioners seeking authoritative insights. Each episode brings in-depth conversations with top arbitrators, institutional insiders and leading industry experts from around the world.

Arbitration Acumen is a business podcast hosted by J.P, with 17 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

J.P hosts Arbitration Acumen, a business show with 17 episodes published.

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  Episode #17

  Inside ICC Arbitration: Claudia Salomon on Record Caseloads, Gender Diversity Gains and the New 2026 Rules

  Aug 6, 202648 minS1

  The ICC International Court of Arbitration registered its record-breaking 30,000 th case in 2025, and the ICC’s new 2026 rules eliminate mandatory terms of reference for the first time in more than a century. In this episode of The Arbitration Acumen Podcast, J.P. Duffy, a partner in Bracewell’s international arbitration practice, sits down with Claudia Salomon, president of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, to unpack both the 2025 statistics and the new 2026 ICC rules. J.P. and Claudia last spoke together on a podcast about the 2021 ICC rule amendments. This conversation picks up where that one left off, from a record-breaking year of cases to a wave of rule changes reshaping how ICC arbitrations run. In this episode, they cover: 2025 Annual Statistics The Rise of “Domestic” ICC Arbitration Gender Diversity Among Arbitrators The New 2026 ICC Rules Claudia also looks ahead to the rest of her term, including a new ICC office opening in Africa and the search for her successor.

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  Episode #16

  Inside VIAC: Niamh Leinwather on International Arbitration, the VIACan Ambassador Network and Deepfake Evidence

  Jul 8, 202636 minS1

  In this episode of Arbitration Acumen, J.P. Duffy speaks with Niamh Leinwather, secretary general of the Vienna International Arbitral Centre (VIAC), an international arbitration institution based in Vienna, Austria. Niamh walks through VIAC's 2025 caseload data, the VIACan ambassador network's expansion across Central and Eastern Europe, VIAC's 2021 rules for smaller investor-state disputes, the transparency-versus-confidentiality debate over publishing arbitral awards, and a new think-tank protocol for spotting deepfakes in arbitration evidence. VIAC's 2025 docket totaled 69 cases, roughly 81 percent of them international, extending a trend that has held even as domestic arbitration slowly grows. The VIACan ambassador program, launched in February 2023, has grown into a network of 54 ambassadors across 39 countries. Niamh also touches on VIAC's plans to expand into India and China. VIAC's 2021 investment arbitration rules were designed to give small and medium-sized investors an affordable, efficient path for resolving lower-value investor-state disputes. Niamh also discusses how VIAC balances growing calls for transparency with parties' expectations of confidentiality when publishing anonymized awards and extracts, and previews a new protocol from VIAC's legal tech think tank to help arbitrators and counsel identify deepfakes and tampered digital evidence.

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  Episode #15

  The AAA at 100: AI, Online Dispute Resolution and the Next Century of Arbitration

  Jun 5, 202638 minS1

  <p>As the American Arbitration Association marks 100 years, it’s already betting its next century on AI and online dispute resolution.</p><p><br></p><p>In this episode of Arbitration Acumen, J.P. Duffy speaks with Bridget McCormack, president and CEO of the AAA-ICDR, about the organization’s centennial and what comes next. </p><p><br></p><p>Bridget discusses her transition from chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court to leading one of the world’s most prominent arbitral institutions, the AAA-ICDR’s investment in online dispute resolution and mediation, and the organization’s use of AI tools to streaml...

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  Episode #14

  ArbitrateAD: Building a Digital-First International Arbitration Centre in Abu Dhabi

  May 21, 202635 minS1

  <p>In this episode of Arbitration Acumen, J.P. Duffy sits down with Maria Mazzawi, registrar of the Abu Dhabi International Arbitration Centre (arbitrateAD), to explore how the institution has built one of the Middle East’s most modern arbitration frameworks from the ground up.</p><p><br></p><p>Maria shares insights into arbitrateAD’s caseload growth, digital-first case management platform (docketAD), and procedural innovations, including emergency arbitration, expedited proceedings and early dismissal tools. The conversation also covers arbitrateAD’s expanding international caseload, its positioning within the UAE’s evolving dispute resolution landscape and its recent expansion into mediation and disp...

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  Episode #13

  Mass Arbitration Series, Part 5: How Employers Respond to Mass Arbitration Claims

  Apr 9, 202626 minS1

  <p>Mass arbitration is reshaping how employers manage risk in labor and employment disputes.</p><p><br></p><p>In this final installment of the Mass Arbitration Series, host J.P. Duffy speaks with labor and employment partner Brian Patterson about how</p><p>respondents are adapting to the growing use of mass arbitration as an alternative to class and collective actions.</p><p><br></p><p>They discuss how arbitration agreements — which are often designed to limit aggregate exposure — can create new operational and financial pressures when large volumes of individual claims are filed simultaneously. The conversation also highlights how...

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