Originally from Pro-Arbitration Revisited: A Tribute to Professor George Bermann from his Students Over the Years

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I. INTRODUCTION

In “What Does it Mean to Be ‘Pro-Arbitration’?” (2018) 34 Arbitration International 341–353, Professor Bermann argued that:

1. a rule or practice associated with international arbitration is “pro-arbitration” to the extent that it advances international arbitration’s interests (at 342);

2. these interests are not limited to virtues traditionally associated with arbitration-friendliness.  They include the promotion of values extrinsic to international arbitration if that increases the legitimacy of international arbitration (at 349–352); and

3. it may be that a rule or practice is “pro-arbitration” when viewed through one lens, but arbitration-unfriendly when viewed through another. However, “acknowledging legitimacy—measured in terms of extrinsic values—as in itself a pro-arbitration attribute may be among the most arbitration-friendly moves one can make” (at 353).