Paris Arbitration Week Celebrates a Decade of Global Connection: Record-Breaking 2025 Edition Signals New Chapter for International Community

A decade after its inception, Paris Arbitration Week (“PAW”) has firmly established itself as an indispensable fixture in the international arbitration calendar. The 2025 edition (“PAW 2025”) shattered previous records while signaling a transformative moment for the organization, one marked by unprecedented growth, institutional maturation, and an ambitious vision for democratizing access to the industry.

A Record-Breaking Milestone

The numbers from PAW 2025 tell a compelling story of exponential growth. With over 6,000 unique active accounts on the PAW website, this year's edition demonstrated the event's expanding global reach and influence within the arbitration community.

The scale of participation was matched by an impressive breadth of programming. The week brought together 253 partners spanning law firms, experts, service providers, universities, and arbitration institutions from around the world, who collectively organized more than 230 events.

Substantive Programming Reflects Evolving Arbitration Landscape

Beyond the impressive attendance figures, PAW 2025 distinguished itself through programming that addressed both perennial concerns and emerging challenges in international arbitration. Commercial arbitration issues dominated the conference agenda, with recurring themes including energy and natural resources disputes, and national arbitration frameworks drawing particular attention from practitioners navigating an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.

The week also demonstrated PAW's commitment to its core values through targeted programming. Professor Mohamed Abdel Wahab delivered a keynote address on diversity in arbitration, while the PAW Sustainability Event, introduced by a keynote from Mr. Fabius, explored the integration of sustainable development-related fundamental rights within arbitration proceedings. These sessions reflected the field's growing recognition that international arbitration must grapple with broader questions of inclusivity, environmental responsibility, and social impact.

Technology's transformative role in dispute resolution received significant attention, with multiple events examining artificial intelligence's (“AI”) impact on arbitration proceedings. Practitioners debated questions ranging from AI-assisted document review to algorithmic decision-making, acknowledging both the opportunities and ethical challenges these technologies present. Other conferences focused on the particularities of different jurisdictions and geographical regions, reinforcing PAW's commitment to representing the full diversity of global arbitration practice.

From Event to Institution: PAW’s New Visual Identity

As PAW enters its second decade, the organization has undertaken a comprehensive rebranding that signals its evolution from an annual gathering to an established institution within the arbitration landscape. The new visual identity, set to be unveiled in November 2025, draws inspiration from the iconic underside of the Eiffel Tower.

This choice carries profound symbolic resonance. Just as the tower's iron lattice reveals hidden architectural genius beneath Paris's most recognizable monument, PAW's new logo celebrates the intricate connections that create strength within the global arbitration community. The design's distinctive square architecture embodies the organization's foundational DNA through carefully considered symbolism.

The four outer corners represent PAW's foundational pillars - Learning, Sharing, Celebrating, and Together - that have defined its approach since inception. The four inner angles capture its guiding principles: Rule of Law, Innovation, Diversity, and Sustainability. At the heart lies a central square symbolizing "Connecting" - the very essence of PAW's mission to unite arbitration practitioners, academics, and institutions from around the globe.

This rebranding marks the formal recognition of PAW as an established institution ready to shape the next decade of international dispute resolution.

Democratizing Access: The PAW Fellowship Programme

Perhaps the most significant announcement coinciding with PAW's tenth anniversary is the launch of the PAW Fellowship Programme, an initiative designed to broaden access to international arbitration by mentoring and funding promising practitioners from jurisdictions where arbitration is still emerging.

The programme addresses a persistent challenge within international arbitration: the concentration of opportunities and networks within established legal markets, often excluding talented practitioners from emerging jurisdictions who lack the resources or connections to participate in major international events. By removing financial barriers and providing structured mentorship, the Fellowship Programme creates pathways for the next generation of diverse arbitration talent.

Selected PAW Fellows receive grants of up to EUR 3,000 to cover travel, accommodation, and daily expenses during their participation in Paris Arbitration Week. However, the financial support represents only one component of a comprehensive three-part pathway designed to integrate Fellows into the international arbitration community:

Before PAW (February-March 2026), Fellows participate in introductory webinars on international arbitration taught by PAW Board members and sponsor firms. This preparatory phase ensures that Fellows arrive at PAW equipped with foundational knowledge and context that enables them to engage meaningfully with the week's programming.

During PAW (week of March 23, 2026), Fellows attend the full week of events, gaining invaluable first-hand exposure to the field's leading practitioners, current debates, and emerging trends. Access to official PAW events provides opportunities to observe how international arbitration functions in practice, while social events facilitate the informal networking that often proves crucial to career development.

After PAW (week of March 30, 2026), Fellows participate in mentoring sessions, networking activities, and team-building programmes offered by sponsor firms. This post-event phase ensures that the relationships and insights gained during PAW translate into sustained professional development and integration into the international arbitration community.

The Fellowship Programme reflects PAW's recognition that true diversity in arbitration requires not merely inclusion at events but active investment in developing talent from underrepresented regions. By focusing on emerging jurisdictions in Asia and Africa, regions with rapidly growing arbitration practices but limited integration into traditional international networks, the programme addresses geographical imbalances that have long characterized the field.

Looking Ahead: PAW’s Second Decade

As Paris Arbitration Week enters its second decade, the organization faces the challenge of maintaining the community spirit that defined its early years while accommodating exponential growth. The balance between scale and accessibility will likely shape strategic decisions in the years ahead.

The rebranding and Fellowship Programme suggest that PAW's leadership has embraced this challenge by doubling down on the organization's core mission of connection and accessibility. Rather than simply growing larger, PAW appears committed to growing more inclusive, extending its reach not merely to more participants from established markets but to practitioners who have historically operated at the periphery of international arbitration networks.

For the international arbitration community, PAW's evolution from upstart gathering to established institution represents more than organizational maturation. It reflects the field's own transformation over the past decade: more diverse, more technologically sophisticated, more conscious of its social and environmental responsibilities, and more committed to expanding access beyond traditional centers of practice.

As the arbitration world looks toward PAW 2026, the milestone tenth edition scheduled for the week of March 23, 2026, the organization's trajectory suggests that the next decade will be defined not merely by continued growth in numbers but by increasingly intentional efforts to make international arbitration more accessible, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of a genuinely global community of practitioners.

The record-breaking 2025 edition, the thoughtful rebranding, and the launch of the Fellowship Programme collectively signal that Paris Arbitration Week has matured from an ambitious experiment into an institution prepared to shape the future of international dispute resolution. For a field that prides itself on bringing parties together across borders and legal systems to resolve disputes, PAW's commitment to connecting the world of arbitration, now backed by concrete programmes and institutional infrastructure, could not be more timely.