Originally from: Soft Law in International Arbitration

Protocols for Expeditious, Cost-Effective Commercial Arbitration

General Principles

These Protocols are premised on the National Summit consensus that the pace and costs of commercial arbitrations are driven by dependent variables: specific steps taken, or not taken, by each of the four constituencies of the arbitration process (i.e., the parties, the advocates, the arbitrators and the arbitration providers). The Protocols are, accordingly, structured to provide specific steps that each constituency can take to alter the current trajectory of increasing costs and extended proceedings in arbitration. For example, if the arbitration provider whose rules control a case provides no option for limited discovery and if the parties and their counsel are battling every issue, the arbitrator’s ability to contain discovery costs is seriously constricted. These Protocols therefore also contemplate that, in adopting specific steps, the constituencies will strive to cooperate and coordinate their actions, yielding maximum impact. Common to the Protocols for each constituency are these overarching principles:

Be deliberate and proactive. Promoting economy and efficiency in arbitration depends first and foremost on deliberate, aggressive action by stakeholders, starting with choices made by businesses and counsel at the time of contract planning and negotiation and continuing throughout the arbitration process. Service providers must actively support good choices in a variety of ways, including publishing and promoting clear procedural choices and putting forward effective arbitrators. Arbitrators must aggressively manage the process from day one of their appointment.