Originally from European International Arbitration Review

Preview Page

I. Introduction

For a long time, the topic of arbitrator ethics has been the subject of much debate, but it was not until the beginning of the present decade that the ethics of counsel in arbitration became subject to a similar debate. Edna Sussman and Solomon Ebere explained in an article from 2011: 

In the past two years the International Bar Association’s Arbitration Committee issued a survey regarding counsel ethics; two codes of ethics and a checklist to guide counsel ethics in arbitration were also issued. Arbitral institutions are making rule changes that would further guide counsel conduct. “Guerrilla tactics” by counsel have been the theme of a growing number of scholarly writings and have been the subject of several international arbitration conferences. 

Since then, a lot has been written on the ethics of counsel, and more specifically on the use of “guerrilla tactics” by counsel in international arbitration, on which the most expansive work is a book from 2013.  Additionally, arbitral institutions and bar associations have introduced different rules, guidelines and codes dealing directly or indirectly with the subject.