Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

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For many years, international commercial arbitration users complained that international commercial arbitration is often slow and very expensive.

This complaint was raised in the 2006 Queen Mary study: International arbitration: Corporate attitudes and practices, and it referred predominantly to the counsel fees. In the 2010 Queen Mary International Arbitration Survey: Choices in International Arbitration, interviewees thought that the delay in arbitration is caused especially by documents discovery procedure, lengthy written submissions, and the selection, preparation, and hearing of witnesses.

This was confirmed in the 2015, as well as in the 2018, follow-up Queen Mary International Arbitration Surveys, in which respondents ranked cost and lack of speed among the worst characteristics of international commercial arbitration. Generally, the excessive cost and the delays are not caused by the arbitrators or the institutions, but the parties and their counsels themselves.