THE COFFEE TASTES LIKE LIQUID CARDBOARD but it's free, so I take another sip. I'm sitting in the back row of yet another arbitration conference. The famous white man has taken the stage. Third conference this month. Same PowerPoint, same jokes about “navigating international waters” – a metaphor he loves to overuse. It always sounds funny in his accent though. I laugh.
He's promoting his new book. The one with the generic title about arbitration and global practice. Same one whose cover probably cost more to design than how much most of us make in a month.
I look around. Lots of lawyers in sharp suits. All of us pretending this is groundbreaking stuff. One half networking. The other half on their phones. After all, there’s a long time before India becomes the new global hub for arbitration.
The conference bag sits beside me. A cheap tote with the sponsor's logo - some arbitration institute I've never heard of but apparently desperately needed to exist. Inside: a thick dry pen that doesn't work, a notebook I'm using to write this piece on – with the Oberoi pencil, and a pamphlet for another conference – next month.
The arbitration industrial complex is alive and thriving.
