In this chapter I will discuss the relationships among arbitrators which aim to achieve collegiality, cooperation and loyalty. The loyal and effective cooperation among arbitrators constitutes indeed the physiology of arbitration, while the internal conflicts discussed in the previous chapter constitute its pathology.

When they cooperate collegially, arbitrators work together as a triad, as opposed to individual monads. A prominent author captured this specific aspect of the arbitrators’ activity very well by noting that, in arbitration proceedings, the three arbitrators “se fondent en un groupe pour former précisement un tribunal” (“melt themselves into a group to precisely constitute a tribunal”).[1] The essence of the relationships among arbitrators discussed in this chapter could not have been expressed with better words.

In the following paragraphs I will describe the various ways in which this cooperation among arbitrators shapes itself during the different phases of the arbitration proceedings. To this purpose, I will begin by focusing on the first contacts among co-arbitrators which occur when the two first appointed co-arbitrators have to agree on the name of a President of the arbitral tribunal. Then, the various forms of cooperation among arbitrators will be analyzed with respect to the various phases of the arbitration proceedings: (i) the initial procedural conference, (ii) the submission by the parties of their briefings, (iii) the organization and conduct of the Evidentiary Hearing, (iv) the activities following the Evidentiary Hearing and preceding the Deliberation Meeting, (v) the Deliberation Meeting in its strict sense and, finally, (vi) the process of drafting and signing the Final Award with the possible issuance of dissenting opinions.