Prof. Chin Leng LIM, Choh-Ming Li Professor of Law, spoke at the University of Tokyo on 9th January at an event on utopian and dystopian possibilities for the WTO going forward. The event, “Paradise Lost or Found”, was organised by Junji Nakagawa and Colin Picker. Prof LIM spoke on the Geneva-based treaty arrangements for global trade dispute settlement becoming – despite current acute challenges –  an inspiration for an attempt to reform or even abolish investor-State arbitration. His paper consisted of a comparison of current reform proposals made separately at the WTO and through UNCTAD, and asks why the East bows low before the blast and lets the Roman legions thunder past.