Originally from Handbook on International Commercial Arbitration

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The culmination of all of the preparatory work will be the evidentiary hearing. There will normally only be one albeit, however, if the issues are complex, this may be split into issues of, say, liability and quantum or simply split into specific periods.

Finding a convenient date to all members of the Arbitral Tribunal, counsel and the parties will often prove problematic and it will be necessary to fix an evidentiary hearing well in advance. This may limit the length of hearing that can be fixed necessitating fixing blocks of time and having to use those blocks in the most efficient way. This can be done by a bifurcation of liability and quantum; having the factual witnesses in one block and any experts in a different block; having one party’s case and then the other(s) or deciding specific issues in different blocks.

The venue of the evidentiary hearing will be fixed ultimately by the Arbitral Tribunal but usually a consensus emerges from counsel to the parties and the Tribunal. This will usually be at a specialist venue such as the International Dispute Resolution Centre in London or at a hotel or similar venue with rooms for hire. One room is required for the hearing itself and each of the parties will require a retiring room as will the Arbitral Tribunal. Normal secretarial support is invariably helpful or at least the ability to telephone, photocopy, type and print. The major institutions will also assist in the organisation of a venue and support as required. The rooms will have to be paid for at normal commercial rates.

Additionally, it is usual to have a transcript of the proceedings and these are invaluable to enable accurate referencing back to the evidence. The transcript is taken by a stenographer who will require regular breaks (every 1 -1½ hours or so) and facilities are usually available for this to be produced as a transcript within hours or the conclusion of the proceedings for each day. If witnesses wish to give evidence in a language foreign to the language of the reference arrangements will also have to be made for translation. Translation can be either consecutive or simultaneous. Consecutive translation involves the question being put, translated, answered and translated again. This can make the proceedings very slow although the end product is usually more accurate as the translator has more time to translate accurately and the witness may be able to identify errors in the translation.