Teramura, Nobumichi

写真a

Affiliation

Law School (Mita)

Position

Associate Professor
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Career 【 Display / hide 】

  • 2020.12
    -
    2025.08

    Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Institute of Asian Studies, Assistant Professor

  • 2020.02
    -
    2020.12

    Bun & Associates (Cambodia), Arbitration and Litigation Practice Team, Legal Consultant

  • 2019.02
    -
    2019.12

    University of Adelaide (Australia), Adelaide Law School, Lecturer

  • 2019.01
    -
    2019.02

    De La Salle University (DLSU; the Philippines), School of Law, Visiting Professor

  • 2019.06
    -
    Present

    The University of Sydney (Australia), Centre for Asian and Pacific Law (CAPLUS), Affiliate

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Academic Background 【 Display / hide 】

  • 2015.07
    -
    2018.11

    The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, Faculty of Law

    Australia, Graduate School, Completed

  • 2012.09
    -
    2014.03

    The University of Sheffield, England, MA in Global Politics and Law

    United Kingdom, Graduate School, Completed, Master's course

  • 2012.04
    -
    2014.03

    Doshisha University, Graduate School of Law, LLM in Comparative Legal Studies (Sheffield Pathway)

    Graduate School, Completed, Master's course

  • 2008.04
    -
    2012.03

    Doshisha University, Faculty of Law, 法律学科

    University, Graduated

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Academic Degrees 【 Display / hide 】

  • PhD in Law, The University of New South Wales, Australia, Coursework, 2018.11

    Ex Aequo et Bono as a Response to the 'Over-Judicialisation' of International Commercial Arbitration

  • MA in Global Politics and Law, The University of Sheffield, Coursework, 2014.03

  • LLM in Comparative Legal Studies, Doshisha University, Coursework, 2014.03

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Research Areas 【 Display / hide 】

  • Humanities & Social Sciences / Civil law (Arbitration, Private International Law, Asian Law)

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Books 【 Display / hide 】

  • Towards a More Harmonised Asian Approach to Corruption and Illegality in Investment Arbitration

    N Teramura, L Nottage, B Jetin, Asia in Transition, 2024

    , Accepted

    　View Summary

    In parallel with their strong economic growth99*Growth, Asian jurisdictions have scaled up campaigns against bribery and other illegal misconduct by foreign investors by adopting international anti-corruption frameworks. Nonetheless, corruption remains common in many places and there is also still a lack of consensus on the influence of corruption and illegality over foreign direct investment (FDI), as well as in investor–state arbitration cases. There is also a paucity of literature considering how Asian countries have dealt with such serious misconduct by foreign investors. The foregoing chapters have started to fill the gaps, finding that there are some ‘Asian approaches’ to corruption and bribery in investment arbitrations: some individual jurisdictions have started to address the issues of corruption and illegality through treaty (re)drafting and/or investment disputes. However, a uniform Asian approach towards corruption and illegality in investment arbitration has not yet been established. Thus, this chapter proposes a roadmap for a more harmonised regional approach to corruption and illegality in Asian investment arbitration. It recommends that Asia1*Asia should (1) establish a forum for all jurisdictions to discuss corruption and other serious misconduct involved in FDI, (2) develop more unified rules on corruption and illegality specifically in Asian investment arbitration and (3) consider creating an independent institution99*Institutions or permanent court to better handle Asian investment disputes—not necessarily limited to allegations of corruption and illegality.

  • Foreign Investment, Treaties, Arbitration and Corruption: Comparing Japan

    L Nottage, N Teramura, Asia in Transition, 2024

    , Accepted

    　View Summary

    Japan emerged from the 1980s as a leading net exporter of foreign direct investment, with very little corruption. Since 2001, it has accelerated ratifications of standalone bilateral investment treaties as well as investment chapters in free trade agreements. Almost all allow foreign investors from the home state to directly initiate investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS) arbitration against host states to get relief from violations of substantive treaty commitments. Japan’s investment treaty practice on corruption and illegality is intriguing. First, from around 2007, its treaties have often urged host states to take measures against corruption. This should help Japan’s1*Japan outbound investors. Second, Japan’s treaties have been less consistent in expressly limiting their protections to foreign investments made in accordance with host state laws. This can again benefit Japanese outbound investors as claimants, as the absence of a legality provision renders more difficult defences from host states, which typically have more corruption than in Japan1*Japan. Japan may adopt more and clearer legality provisions if subjected to more inbound ISDS arbitration claims and/or if claims by Japanese outbound investors are mostly against well-governed host states with little scope for corruption. Yet both types of claims remain few. The shift may therefore come more from other counterparty states pushing for such legality provisions and Japan agreeing in its future treaties to demonstrate its overall commitment to combatting corruption, and to preserve the legitimacy of the ISDS arbitration system.

  • Bribery and Other Serious Investor Misconduct in Asian International Arbitration

    N Teramura, L Nottage, B Jetin, Asia in Transition, 2024

    , Accepted

    　View Summary

    Bribery and other serious illegal behaviour by foreign investors face wide condemnation in any society. Yet there remains a lack of consensus on the consequences of corruption and illegality affecting international investment, and especially in investment arbitration—a transnational procedure to resolve disputes between a foreign investor and a host state. A core issue is whether a foreign investor violating a host state's law should be awarded protection of its investment, as per its contract with the host state and/or the applicable investment or trade agreement between the home state and the host state. Some suggest such protection would be unnecessary, as the investor committed a crime in the host state, while others attempt to establish an equilibrium between the investor and the host state. Some others claim to protect investment, invoking the sanctity of promises made. This book explores Asian approaches towards the issue, setting it in the wider political economy and domestic law contexts. It also considers the extent to which significant states in Asia1*Asia are or could become ‘rule makers’ rather than ‘rule takers’ regarding corruption and serious illegality in investor–state arbitration.

  • Cambodia

    Teramura N., Treatment of Foreign Law in Asia, 2023.10

  • Cambodia

    Teramura N., Choice of Law and Recognition in Asian Family Law, 2023.10

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Papers 【 Display / hide 】

  • Enforcing Singapore Judgments in Cambodia: Reciprocity Under the Loupe

    P Eszter, N TERAMURA

    Asian Journal of International Law, 1-29 15 ( 2 ) 252 - 280 2025.07

    Research paper (scientific journal), Joint Work, Accepted,  ISSN  20442513

    　View Summary

    This article examines the feasibility of enforcing Singapore money judgments in Cambodia, focusing on the guarantee of reciprocity - an ambiguous yet critical condition. It is ambiguous because Cambodian courts have not yet interpreted it. It is critical because it is perceived as the main obstacle to enforcing foreign judgments. Without a treaty-based mutual enforcement mechanism between Cambodia and Singapore, it is unclear whether a Singapore money judgment could be enforced in Cambodia or if a judgment creditor's application would be dismissed in any event citing lack of reciprocity. Following an analysis of the laws of Cambodia, Singapore, and Japan, the article concludes that there is no legal obstacle before the Cambodian courts to enforce a Singapore money judgment. The flexible interpretation of the guarantee of reciprocity outlined in this article would enhance access to justice, eliminate a trade barrier, and make the investment environment more attractive in Cambodia.

  • Corruption-related provisions in East and South Asian investment agreements: an empirical analysis

    N Teramura, L Nottage

    Journal of International Economic Law, jgaf013 28 ( 2 ) 157 - 183 2025.06

    Research paper (scientific journal), Joint Work, Lead author, Corresponding author, Accepted,  ISSN  13693034

    　View Summary

    This article analyses two types of provisions relevant to corruption in Asian international investment agreements (IIAs): clauses requiring (host) states to enforce anti-corruption laws and clauses that protect foreign investments made in accordance with host state laws. It tests whether IIA drafters act rationally regarding such clauses, or instead show status quo or other biases. This is complex first because rational strategies should depend on whether the state is a net exporter of foreign direct investment (FDI) or a net importer, but we explain how determining this status may be difficult. Secondly, rational strategies should depend on the relative extent of corruption in each state and, somewhat relatedly, the extent of inbound FDI claims. Despite such complexities and some instances of more 'bounded' rationality, overall states seem to be drafting both types of clauses rationally - even, and indeed especially, the net-FDI-importing states that tend to be transitioning economies. Adding to that empirical result from a more normative perspective, the article helps identify factors that could or should be considered by future IIA drafters, international bodies, or others tracking the trajectories of IIAs and corruption in Asia and beyond.

  • Confidentiality and privacy of arbitration in the digital era: pies in the sky?

    N Teramura, L Trakman

    Arbitration International 40 (3), 277-306 40 ( 3 ) 277 - 306 2024.09

    Research paper (scientific journal), Joint Work, Lead author, Corresponding author, Accepted,  ISSN  09570411

    　View Summary

    Confidentiality and privacy are essential components of arbitration, preceding the digital data era. This article discusses how arbitration stakeholders—arbitration institutions and associations, arbitrators, attorneys, and commercial users—have increasingly lost control over confidentiality and privacy in international commercial arbitration by adopting digital technologies provided by Internet giants, such as Microsoft, Google, Dropbox, and Zoom. Arbitration institutions and users have, often unconsciously, defined confidentiality and privacy expansively to promote the wider use of email, cloud storage, and video conferencing platforms in conducting arbitration proceedings. However, they have overlooked the extent to which the use of digital technologies exposes private and confidential information to third parties, including but not limited to Big Data. They have also placed undue faith in the capacity of Internet giants that dominate the Internet to protect highly sensitive arbitration proceedings which those giants commercialize to garner public attention including in arbitration disputes. In responding to this troubling reality, the article examines how to better protect confidentiality and privacy in arbitration, by refining existing protections embodied in international rules and guidelines and choosing domestic forums that favour such protections. It also encourages arbitration stakeholders to update the rules and their application to arbitral proceedings to respond to both intended and unintended violations of commercial and personal data. That strategy includes redressing the downstream disclosure of injurious data, including by choosing legal forums that protect against the use of intelligence to violate private and confidential data.

  • Lawyers and non-lawyers in international arbitration: discovering diminishing diversity

    L Nottage, N Teramura, J Tanna

    Loy. LA Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 47, 139  2024

    Research paper (bulletin of university, research institution), Joint Work, Accepted

  • Japan’s International Investment, Evolving Treaty Practice and Arbitration Related to Corruption and Illegality

    LR Nottage, N Teramura

    Journal of Japanese Law  2023

    Research paper (scientific journal), Joint Work

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Reviews, Commentaries, etc. 【 Display / hide 】

  • Corruption Control Needs a Clean-up in Asia

    L Nottage, N Teramura

    East Asia Forum  2024

    Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (scientific journal), Joint Work

  • Preface and Acknowledgements

    Teramura N., Nottage L., Jetin B.

    Asia in Transition 22 2024

    Joint Work,  ISSN  23648252

  • Giorgio Fabio Colombo: Justice and International Law in Meiji Japan: The María Luz Incident and the Dawn of Modernity

    N Teramura

    Zeitschrift für Japanisches Recht 28 (56), 289–295-289–295  2023

    Rapid communication, short report, research note, etc. (scientific journal), Single Work

  • Declining Professional Diversity in International Arbitration

    N Teramura, L Nottage, J Tanna

    Kluwer Arbitration Blog  2022

    Article, review, commentary, editorial, etc. (trade magazine, newspaper, online media), Joint Work

  • 第15講: 簡易救済手続

    川嶋四郎， 寺村信道

    判例民事訴訟法入門, 287–295  2021

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Presentations 【 Display / hide 】

  • The Heirs to the Sultanate of Sulu v Malaysia: Arbitration as Friend or Foe?

    Nobumichi Teramura

    Commercial Arbitration Through the Lenses of Theory, Psychology and Sociology (Leicester Law School) , 

    2025.06
    , 

    Oral presentation (invited, special), Professor Tony Cole

  • Corruption and Illegality in East and South Asian Investment Agreements: An Empirical Analysis

    Nobumichi Teramura

    2024 Taipei International Conference and Mediation – International Dispute Resolution in Evolution: The Technological and Legal Perspectives (National Chengchi University (NCCU) Centre for Public and Business Administration Education, Taipei) , 

    2024.10
    , 

    Oral presentation (invited, special), The Chinese Arbitration Association, Taipei (CAA) and the Asian Center for WTO & International Health Law and Policy, College of Law, National Taiwan University (ACWH)

  • Book Overview

    Nobumichi Teramura

    Corruption and Investment Arbitration in Asia: New Frontiers (Sydney Law School) , 

    2024.08
    , 

    Oral presentation (invited, special), The Centre for Asian and Pacific Law within the University of Sydney (CAPLUS) and the Australian Network for Japanese Law (ANJeL)

  • Corruption and Illegality in Asian Investment Arbitration

    Nobumichi Teramura

    Collaborative Research Network 33 East Asian Law and Society Book Introduction Session (Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Centre) , 

    2024.06
    , 

    Oral presentation (invited, special), Law & Society Association

  • Corruption and Illegality in East and South Asian Investment Agreements: An Empirical Analysis

    Nobumichi Teramura and Professor Luke Nottage

    Corruption and Illegality in Asian Investment Arbitration: Book Launch and Symposium (Golden Jubilee Hall, Law and Courts Building, Bandar Seri Begawan) , 

    2024.05
    , 

    Oral presentation (general), Attorney General’s Chambers of Brunei Darussalam and Universiti Brunei Darussalam

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