John Burritt McArthur has been serving as an arbitrator since 1994. He has 23 years of experience as an arbitrator, 34 years as a trial lawyer in state and federal courts around the country, and is licensed to practice in Texas, California, and Alaska as well as in a variety of federal courts. He was a Partner at Susman Godfrey LLP, worked for Hosie McArthur LLP for several years, and today has a solo practice that combines arbitration practice with complex commercial trials. He has major litigation and arbitrator experience in five main areas: Energy, Oil and Gas, Electricity; Contract and Tort Business Disputes, including UCC Disputes; Antitrust; Investment Disputes, Fiduciary and Joint Venture Claims, Securities and Insurance. Mr. McArthur's broad work experience is equally suited to business and commercial arbitrations. He has represented plaintiffs and defendants in large, often highly technical commercial cases throughout his career. He has handled federal and state court cases, arbitrations, cases in MDL proceedings and class actions. His clients have ranged from some of the world's largest corporations, including Aetna and British Petroleum, to Alaska native corporations, States, individuals and small businesses. Mr. McArthur has been acknowledged for his litigation experience by his peers. He is currently chair of the LCA's International Institute on Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law. He has long held an "av" rating from Martindale-Hubbell. He is a member of the Million-Dollar and Multi-Million-Dollar Advocates Forum. He has published dozens of articles on legal issues, including on energy issues, arbitration, case management, various aspects of deregulation, and antitrust. He has also served as an expert in energy cases. A statement of his arbitration philosophy can be found at http://www.johnmcarthurlaw.com/arbitration.htmz.

"The book’s treatment of the issues is at once thorough, rigorous and readable, and will be of great pragmatic assistance to parties, counsel and arbitrators working in the field of commercial arbitration.  I welcome all the hard work and good thinking that went into this project, and predict the book will be a thought-leader in our field for years to come."  (Full review)

―Thomas J. Brewer, Independent Arbitrator 

 "Why should judges be interested in this book? ...McArthur's book ... provides courts with what, in the end, is a  straightforward guide to separating the wheat from the chaff.  Judges who follow his prescriptions will be doing their job (when rules or contracts call for reasoned awards) – without having to re-try cases, or to analyze the analysis that supports their outcome...  In this way, [McArthur] helps judges preserve the attribute of arbitration that is perhaps most valued both by parties and by the judiciary..."
(Full review)

― Hon. Wayne D. Brazil, (Ret.) Arbitrator/Discovery Referee/Special Master/Mediator JAMS
 

The Reasoned Award walks through the steps that an arbitration panel needs to take to explain – in cogent, understandable, and (may I say?) well-reasoned language – why the arbitration panel reached its conclusions.  Equally important, The Reasoned Award explains what not to do and gives examples of unsatisfactory awards, why they are unsatisfactory, and why the court decisions upholding the awards were wrongly decided.  Added to that is an extraordinary level of scholarship and insight and, I should add, some of the most erudite and interesting footnotes I have ever read. [...] Highly recommended. (Full review)

―David B. Goodwin, Covington & Burling LLP

"This excellent book is a scholarly deep dive into the law of arbitration through the lens of what comprises a “reasoned award.”  McArthur takes you on a journey down various tributaries that flow from his critiques and analyses of reasoned award case law, including the law of award vacatur, the limits of arbitral authority, what parties are entitled to when they provide for a reasoned award and the reasons why, the importance of careful issue coverage, fitting the detail of an award to the scale of the dispute, applicable provider rules, and the like.  Many of the work’s teachings are illustrated by references to the text of some 22 awards that are included as examples. The result is a seminal work of great value as a practice guide to litigators and to transactional lawyers, as well as arbitrators and, one hopes, courts.  It should provide a handy resource for sitting judges, some of whom may still be on a learning curve regarding the unique aspects and nuances of arbitration, by educating them as to the importance of taking seriously parties’ expectations when they provide for a “reasoned” award in their arbitration agreement and of vacating “reasoned” awards that do not contain a meaningful explanation for the outcomes they order." 

―Yaroslav (Yarko) Sochynsky, Mediator/Arbitrator, Wulff, Quinby, Sochynsky
 

“'Mac' McArthur’s text The Reasoned Award in the United States: Its Promise, Problems, Preparation and Preservation is a major treatise on the subject of American domestic arbitration awards, with a thorough and detailed explanation of the present state of the law and thoughtful recommendations for change. While it will be a valuable tool for lawyers wanting to have a deeper understanding of this complex area of US domestic arbitration law, it is also written for judges, who are challenged to re-think the state of the law, and for arbitral institutions who are asked to consider revising their rules. Particularly valuable for arbitrators, the book provides a detailed and robust analysis of the components that go into making a proper reasoned award. For this reason alone, it should be considered a welcome addition to any arbitrator’s law library, whether practicing in the US or elsewhere."

―J. Brian Casey, FCIArb, Bay Street Chambers
 

John McArthur’s comprehensive treatise on the critical issue of reasoned awards in arbitration is simply “It!” – the best, most comprehensive and useful guide to this central aspect of arbitration.   Not surprising from someone with whom I once sat on an arbitration panel that handed down a 120-page reasoned award in a complex case,  McArthur defines and documents the problems with unreasoned and inadequately explained arbitral awards, offers solutions at the provider/user, judicial, and legislative levels, and addresses all the competing considerations in requiring arbitrators to explain their orders and decisions.  It achieves the rare trifecta of hitting the theoretical, policy, and practical dimensions of the problem and thus is an invaluable contribution to scholars, legislators and courts, and arbitrators and arbitration practitioners.   McArthur does more than criticize the problems with the current practice, he offers specific reforms to improve it, and then in six thoughtful chapters provides what is essentially  a “how to” check list for arbitrators faced with having to write  reasoned awards that will not be vulnerable to appellate attack.  Deep but accessible, broad yet specific, high-minded and operational, it must be read by anybody engaging in, conducting, considering, reviewing, or defining arbitration. 

―Eric D. Green, Professor of Law (ret.); Arbitrator, Mediator, Special Master, founder of two leading ADR firms; Co-author of “Dispute Resolution”

"John McArthur’s The Reasoned Arbitration Award in the United States will become the quintessential resource on the drafting and court review of U.S. arbitration awards. The book reads as a labor of love to arbitration packaged as a scholarly, comprehensive and practical examination of the topic. From thoroughly analyzing relevant case law, to critiquing award exemplars, to providing in-depth, step-by-step guidance on drafting best practices, the book answers every question to be asked about arbitration awards. The book thoroughly documents McArthur's core argument that current arbitrator practices, provider rules and the standards of judicial review do not ensure awards are in fact reasoned when they should be. For arbitrators drafting awards, arbitration counsel seeking confirmation, modification or vacatur of awards, and judges reviewing awards, McArthur provides a thorough, thoughtful and immensely useful exposition. The book speaks to his passion for the subject. For the rest of us, it is a work we will turn to time and time again for his wisdom, insights and guidance."

—Gary L. Benton, C.Arb, FCIArb, FCollArb; Founder and Chairman, Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center (SVAMC); Adjunct Faculty, Santa Clara Law School
 

"Many thanks to John McArthur for this superb and edifying contribution to the field of arbitration. The book should dispel the old canard that a “reasoned award,” properly written, is more vulnerable to vacatur than a so-called “standard” (i.e., unreasoned, conclusory) award. And it should serve as an informative, practical guide for every arbitrator who wants to improve his/her award writing.  I hope the book will enlighten arbitrators, parties and lawyers about the desirability and importance of properly reasoned awards and stiffen courts’ resolve to enforce such agreements where parties have contracted for them."

― Gary V. McGowan, McGowan Arbitration and Dispute Resolution
 

Arbitration is one of the least understood fields of law today, both because it happens entirely in private and because many lawyers receive no training on it.  Yet millions of consumers, employees, and businesses have their disputes resolved in arbitration each year.  John Burritt McArthur’s new treatise, The Reasoned Arbitration Award in the United States, helps address that knowledge gap in two significant ways.  First, he dismantles the myths that arbitrators often cite as bases to avoid explaining their decision making and offers some much-needed criteria for what should qualify as a “reasoned” award that withstands judicial review. But second, McArthur does the incredible work of reading seven years of court opinions regarding arbitration awards and shares illuminating statistics about which attacks on arbitration awards are most common, and which are most successful.  Throughout this book, he demonstrates that he is the kind of arbitrator that every litigant wants—one who is interested in getting the law right, digging deep into the facts, and doing justice—and in turn why arbitration remains the right choice for many sophisticated entities.

―Liz Kramer, founder of ArbitrationNation.com and current Solicitor General of Minnesota
 

It is rare to find a scholarly book that is at once easy to read and relevant to both academics and actual practitioners.  McArthur’s, The Reasoned Arbitration Award in the United States, without a doubt, meets their often-divergent criteria: it is meticulously researched, but practical, thorough, but designed for use.  As an international arbitrator and counsel, I found the detailed analysis of the various ways arbitrators avoid explaining their awards (whether intentionally or not) to be as relevant on the international stage as it is on the domestic one.  One can predict nevertheless that the book’s strong premises are unlikely to be well received by “lazy” arbitrators. Thankfully, the arbitration world of parties, arbitrators and appellate courts no longer needs to contend with the anemic effects of that laziness. It now has The Reasoned Award as a resource and remedy. By example, the scholarship behind this book opens ground for fruitful discussion on how arbitration can best meet the expectations of the parties, and through it, its own best aspirations.

---Michael S. Goldberg, Partner, Practice Group Chair - International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution,  Baker Botts
 

John Burritt McArthur’s well-reasoned and comprehensive analysis of “reasoned” arbitration awards brings a much-needed perspective to this important subject. As an arbitrator, a former CEO of a major arbitration provider, and a former General Counsel, I believe this work provides the arbitration community with both a deeper understanding of the subject along with the tools for arbitrators to be better at their craft. Importantly, it is a book not only for arbitrators, but for users and provider organizations as well.

       The author explodes the myth that it is somehow advantageous for an arbitrator to produce an award that is unreasoned, or that does not clearly articulate the reasoning behind it. He does this by analyzing the key relevant decisions and, in doing so, exposes the unreasoned nature of the underlying awards and the problematic standard established by the Eleventh Circuit, which has been largely followed by the courts. Although I suspect that not all will agree with Mr. McArthur that all of these decisions were wrong, no one can credibly question the thoughtfulness and importance of his analysis. He establishes that the oft-articulated fear of vacatur is overblown and often provides little more than a flimsy rationale for poorly written and thought-through awards.

     Both new and experienced arbitrators will find enormous value in the author’s drafting advice, which extends to virtually every aspect of what needs to be included or, at least, considered in preparing an award. There are few sources available to arbitrators that provide this type of pragmatic “how to” advice and I predict it will be on the shelves of many arbitrators who take their work seriously and are focused on continuous improvement.

---Noah Hanft, former General Counsel of MasterCard and former President and CEO of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR). He is Co-Founder of Acumen ADR LLC.