Originally from the Leading Arbitrators' Guide to International Arbitration - Fourth Edition

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I. LESS-THAN-OBVIOUS PARTIES

A. Extending Arbitration Clauses

Like consummated romance, arbitration rests on consent.  An agreement of some sort waives each side’s right to invoke the jurisdiction of otherwise competent courts. 

Nevertheless, arbitrators do hear cases involving entities and individuals that never signed an arbitration clause. Continental scholars refer to “extending” the arbitration clause, while lawyers in Anglo-American traditions tend to speak of “joining” non-signatories.  

Few expressions accurately capture what happens when arbitrators hear claims by or against a person that never signed the relevant contract. “Extension” of an arbitration clause can suggest imposing a duty beyond the circle of those who have agreed to arbitrate. Yet consent (even implied from circumstances) remains the cornerstone of arbitration, at least by arbitrators who value intellectual rigor and analytic integrity.

Likewise, “joining non-signatories” may mislead by an implication that signatures would otherwise be needed to create commitments to arbitrate, when many developed legal systems recognize unsigned commitments to arbitrate.