Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

A practitioner explains why U.S.-style discovery would not produce better or more just results in international commercial arbitration.

As more American counsel and parties have participated in international commercial arbitration, there have been fears expressed that the American addiction to “common law discovery,” as opposed to “civil law disclosure,”1 will undermine the effectiveness of “the arbitration process.”2 I personally do not think that discovery is a significant reason for whatever difficulties the arbitration community has experienced in delivering the fast and efficient dispute resolution that users want; however, it is clear that a greater use of U.S. discovery practices would result in longer proceedings at greater costs.