Thomas W Walde and Fair and Equitable Treatment (JERL August 2009)

The fair and equitable standard of treatment in international investment law has been the focus of recent arbitral awards and commentary. Professor Thomas Wälde offered one of the most expansive interpretations of the content and scope of the fair and equitable treatment standard in his Separate Opinion in the Thunderbird arbitration. A review of Wälde's opinions on fair and equitable treatment from his first writings on the subject through to Thunderbird reveals his increasingly expansive understanding of the standard. This article suggests that Professor Wälde's opinions on fair and equitable treatment coincide with an increasingly teleological approach to interpreting the fair and equitable treatment standard in international investment agreements.