I. INTRODUCTORY NOTE

When Lawrence Newman and Richard Hill approached me regarding a contribution to the first edition of their intended Guide, I agreed with pleasure. The subject and scope of the publication as well as the authors they mentioned looked like ensuring an interesting publication. Furthermore, many of the other authors are well known to me from personal cooperation over the years in institutions and cases of international arbitration. The success of the book and of related conferences made the project of a third edition an obvious choice and it is a pleasure to update my contribution for that purpose.

Though the usual pending load of current arbitration cases motivates one to comment on more practical issues of arbitration, the editors’ suggestion for me to deal with future perspectives looked both intellectually stimulating and dangerous. The danger comes from the inevitably subjective and speculative character of such considerations. The subjectivity remains despite my own practical experience involving cases in the very different major arbitration systems throughout the world, and the speculation can only be tested by the future reader as time goes on.

Finally, in view of the understandable limitations in length that the editors have expressed for contributions to this volume, no more than a few thoughts can be offered and this outline cannot provide any detail or documentation in relation to these thoughts.