Roland Potts Highlights International Arbitration Trends to Watch in 2026

Foley & Lardner LLP partner Roland Potts assessed emerging sanction-relation disputes within investor-state arbitration in the Law360 article, “3 International Arbitration Trends to Watch in 2026.”

Potts noted that the Russia‑Ukraine investor‑state matters have become “ground zero, so to speak, for testing geopolitical-influenced arbitrations,” with Russian oligarchs already having initiated investment treaty claims challenging earlier imposed sanctions.

He described these challenges as a “new arm” of investor-state arbitration, differing from traditional cases focused on government overreach.

“That’s a significant move, and it’s interesting to see how sanctions are being challenged through civil litigation,” Potts added. “I don’t think investor-state disputes really contemplated, when this occurred, [that] sanctions would result in governments having to consider whether or not they’re going to sanction somebody, and therefore end up in a multiyear dispute over whether or not those sanctions were appropriate.”

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