Arbitration Profiles – Interview With Rocío Digón

Arbitration Profiles explores topics in international arbitration through a series of interviews with some of its most prominent players. Every episode, we will meet with a different guest to discuss their work, their opinions on contentious issues in the field, and the most exciting trends they see shaping its future. The podcast is hosted by Emma Rose Bienvenu and produced by Quentin Montpetit.

This week, we speak to Rocío Digón, the managing director of the ICC’s North American dispute resolution arm. As the leading institution in international commercial arbitration, the ICC International Court of Arbitration appoints arbitrators, administers ongoing cases and scrutinizes final awards. Rocío gives listeners a primer on the mechanics of institutional arbitration, and on the ICC’s unique and evolving value proposition. She touches upon topical issues – like the spike in emergency measures or the ICC’s new expedited rules of procedure – and other more perennial ones, namely the field’s stubborn lack of diversity. We chat about how institutions can help facilitate the inevitable “changing of the guard” in international arbitration, and about creative ways the ICC seeks to promote the advancement of promising young arbitrators.

Our podcast host, Emma Rose Bienvenu, is a native Montrealer and current McGill 1L. After an undergrad split between Sciences Po Paris and Georgetown University, she obtained a Masters degree in Economics from Sciences Po Paris and an LL.M. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She has held jobs and internships in management consulting, telecoms, the US Congress and the ICC’s New York office.

If you have questions, comments, or recommendations for future episodes, email our host at emma.bienvenu@mail.mcgill.ca

Questions & Answers

A role model, dead or alive … “My mother!”

The best academic book or article you have read in the past year:
“Italo Calvino’s Six Memos for the Next Millennium.”

Which would you want to be if you were … a city? “New York! It’s obvious, isn’t it? There’s something for everyone at every stage of life. Regardless of your field or what you want to do within it, it’s all here and happening in a very organic way.”

…an animal? “Definitely a flamingo. I have very happy childhood memories of visiting a flamingo state park in the Bahamas; there’s a picture of me standing in it, completely surrounded by flamingos and looking so completely happy. I’ve had an affinity for them every since.”

Best advice you’ve ever received:

“With respect to law, it was “Go learn domestic law, then come back”. I was given that advice by a professor who wanted me to master US law before moving on to work with international law.

On a more personal level, “Find where your heart and your mind intersect, and follow that path.”