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Reflections on the State and Future of Commercial Arbitration: Challenges, Opportunities, Proposals - ARIA - Vol. 25, Nos. 3-4, 2014

Author(s): 
Thomas J. Stipanowich
Page Count: 
98 pages
Media Description: 
1 PDF Download
Published: 
April, 2015

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Originally from American Review of International Arbitration - ARIA

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INTRODUCTION
 
How effective is arbitration as a method for resolving commercial disputes,
and what are the prospects for its future use? These questions are likely to
prompt very different responses from business users and the lawyers who serve
them, mirroring widely varying attitudes regarding arbitration. Whatever one’s
perspective, it is apparent that commercial arbitration systems are in a process of
dynamic evolution that presents distinct challenges as well as manifold
opportunities for the users of these consensual processes and those who provide
services as counselors, advocates, arbitrators and institutional arbitration providers.
 
 
The author was recently invited to offer reflections on the future of businessto-
business arbitration to the College of Commercial Arbitrators, an organization
of more than two hundred of the most experienced arbitrators in the United
States.1 The invitation prompted an assessment of the current “state” of
commercial arbitration as variously experienced and perceived in the United
States and internationally, a consideration of apparent barriers to the use of
arbitration and countervailing opportunities for tailoring arbitration to serve
business goals, and reflections on its future in an increasingly globalized and
technology-driven world.
 
 
At a time when a study co-sponsored by the American College of Trial
Lawyers bemoans the costly and cumbersome “one-size-fits-all” template of U.S.
litigation and calls for more careful tailoring of adjudicative process to dispute,2
arbitration, which is a choice-based, inherently flexible process, would appear to
be the most obvious alternative. Many corporate counsel appreciate the
opportunities afforded by the many kinds of process choices inherent in
arbitration.3 At one recent conference, for example, representatives of
stakeholders in the health care industry spoke enthusiastically about their role in
creating a customized, streamlined payor-provider arbitration program tailored to
the unique requirements of their relationship.4