Third-Party Funding in Investment Arbitration

Dr Can Eken is an assistant professor at Durham Law School, Durham University. His research and teaching mainly focus on international commercial arbitration, investment law and third-party funding. His research interests also cover online dispute resolution and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms with a specific focus on commercial mediation.

As a triple-qualified lawyer admitted to practise law as an attorney in California and Turkey, and as a solicitor in England and Wales, and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb), he is an expert on international arbitration proceedings and has proven experience in both common law and civil law jurisdictions. He is listed in LexisNexis as an arbitration expert. A winner of the Postgraduate Research Output Award 2021 and several other international recognitions, he has extensively researched, given lectures and training on international commercial arbitration, investment law, third-party funding, contracts, online dispute resolution and torts in Turkey, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Israel, Canada, Australia, India, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. He is fully equipped to act as a sole arbitrator, party-appointed arbitrator, and counsel in international arbitration proceedings. He has served as a counsel and legal adviser in complex international commercial arbitration cases.

Dr Eken is the deputy director and founding member of the Durham International Dispute Resolution Institute (DIDRI), and he is also on the panel of arbitrators at the Shanghai International Arbitration Centre and Thailand Arbitration Centre. He has been recognised by the rising arbitrators initiative as a member in 2023. Dr Eken coaches the Durham Law School team every year to attend the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna since 2022. He serves as a peer reviewer for the Asian Pacific Law Review, and also on the Executive Secretariat of the Asia Pacific FDI Network. He is also a Central Asian Legal Research (CALR) Fellow at Tashkent Law School, Uzbekistan, a Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing, and a Senior Common Room (SCR) member at the University College (Castle) at Durham University. 

1 The new phenomenon in investment arbitration.- 2 Definition, history and basic mechanism of tpf.- 3 Existing and potential procedural problems in tpf in investment arbitration: analysis of the case law.- 4 Empirical research in the TPF market.- 5 Third-party funding: threat or facilitator of the system - an ethical dilemma.- 6 Conclusion.- 7 The best practice guideline for funders operating in investment arbitration.- Appendix - investment arbitration cases.