See you in the metaverse, Mr Arbitrator

Almost a year ago, our colleagues Álvaro López de Argumedo and Marta González-Ruando Calles wrote about remote hearings in international arbitration. International arbitration has now taken a step further thanks to the metaverse, a technology that allows hearings to be held in virtual reality. The metaverse could become the instrument that allows international arbitration to function autonomously, as authors such as Rubellin-Devichi and Julian Lew have advocated.

Virtual-reality hearings in the metaverse are not science fiction, they are closer than what we may think: just last year, the University of Ottawa held its first moot trials (a mock trial where students take part in simulated legal proceedings) in the metaverse.

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