State mottoes tend to be trite, but Georgia’s—”wisdom, justice and moderation”—befits a state having a sophisticated and predictable legal regime supporting one of the world’s leading business centers. As former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young told a gathering of the Atlanta International Arbitration Society, “This is a city that admires reasonableness, and I think that’s your trump card.”
In the spirit of reasonableness and despite being charged with making the case for Atlanta over Miami, I’ll begin by noting that both Atlanta and Miami share a key advantage over other U.S. cities, such as New York, that are vying to host international arbitrations: They are located in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which can be fairly characterized as the most international arbitration-friendly court in the country.
