Following up on Efficient Arbitration – Part 2: Launching an Efficient Arbitration, where we addressed efficiency tools available at the early stages, we now provide an overview of options to save time and costs up until the award. As we continue our efficiency series, we will zone in on a selection of efficiency tools and discuss our experience using them.
5. Focusing the Evidence
Gathering and presenting the right evidence is key.
This often requires close cooperation between counsel and the parties who have the best access to documentation and fact witnesses. Where documentation is kept by the opposing party, agreeing on a document production phase might be advisable. However, document production should be a focused exercise. To avoid fishing expeditions, discovery requests are best addressed at the CMC. This permits the tribunal to direct the parties to the evidence required to determine the case.
Expert witnesses play an important role. They should be carefully selected and thoroughly briefed. While in-house experts might be cheaper, parties should be mindful of their potential (at least perceived) partiality (IBA Compendium of Arbitration Practice 2017).
Preparing fact and expert witnesses for the hearing is a costly exercise; in particular, if mock hearings are held for counsel and the witnesses. However, witness and expert testimonies are valuable. The costs of preparing the witnesses will often prove worth it.
Other relevant tools may include expert conferencing, electronic filings (see also Leon Kopecký’s A Case for Paperless Arbitration), splitting exhibits into “core” and “supplementary” categories (i.e. exhibits likely and unlikely to be referred to at the hearing), and pleading the applicable law rather than relying on legal experts.
6. Streamlining the Hearing
Hearing practicalities have the potential to save (or waste) significant resources. Efficiency considerations will include: selection of venue, adoption of a tight hearing schedule (chess-clock process), decisions on which witnesses to call (and cross-examine), agreement on paperless hearings (see also Leon Kopecký’s A Case for Paperless Arbitration), and the use of video conferencing (ICC Guide on Effective Management of Arbitration).
Transcript services should also be borne in mind. Less complex, low value disputes may not justify the expense of live daily transcripts. Similarly, consecutive interpretation may be more accurate, but will certainly prolong the duration of the hearing (ICC Guide on Effective Management of Arbitration).
Finally, where issues have been fully covered in submissions, counsel should consider whether opening statements are really necessary, and if so, whether they could at least focus only on the key issues. Naturally, this will depend on the tribunal’s familiarity with the submissions and supporting documentation.
7. Post-Hearing
Post-hearing briefs are popular among parties who wish to seize this last opportunity to (re-)present their case. In reality, however, the time to present evidence has passed. This limits the benefit of post-hearing submissions. At the same time, these submissions are costly, as preparing them requires a thorough review of the previous submissions, the evidence submitted and the hearing transcripts.
If at all necessary, post-hearing briefs should be limited in scope, length and timing (see ICC Guide on Effective Management of Arbitration). They should be drafted to assist the tribunal, and not restate the parties’ submissions and closing statements.
While parties might be tempted to re-plead their strongest arguments, or to sneak in new ones, the cost/benefit analysis will often speak against post-hearing submissions.
In conclusion…
Designing an efficient arbitration is an important and daunting responsibility. Counsel has to determine in every case and at every stage whether resources are being invested or wasted. While utilizing the right efficiency tools will save time and costs, selecting the wrong ones might jeopardize the party’s chances of success in the arbitration.
The quest for efficiency therefore remains a balancing act. But the goal is not more than just saving: it is achieving the best possible outcome with the least amount of resources. After all, there is one thing that is more important than saving.
Winning.
Credits: Kluwer Arbitration Blog
http://arbitrationblog.kluwerarbitration.com/2018/07/21/efficient-arbitration-part-3-winning-efficient-arbitration/
Arbitration, and typically commercial arbitration, is an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) which is agreed by parties of the dispute. Arbitration can be used to replace the traditional way of litigation in court.
Derive from arbitration’s dispute settlement principles, arbitration shows many pros and brings many benefits for parties in commercial dispute, specifically as follows:
A Polish appeals court vacated an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) partial award for alleged irregularities in the arbitrator's appointment (for further details please see " ICC award set aside due to irregularities in arbitrator's appointment "). The sole arbitrator's final award was also successfully challenged and set aside. The first reason to vacate the final award was also the issue of the sole arbitrator's appointment.
It is normal to inspect the goods that have been lost or damaged during the performance of the sales contract and in the contract of carriage. However, improper inspection can lead to significant disputes and damages that you can refer to below.
The ten years of Law on Commercial Arbitration 2010 (LCA) are also the 10-year development period of VIAC - the first institutional arbitration organization in Vietnam, the organization that goes along with the formation and advancement of the legal framework of commercial arbitration in Vietnam.
Law on Commercial Arbitration (“LCA”) enacted in 2010 was considered a major step forward for the development of commercial arbitration in Vietnam. Compared with the previous years and with international standards, LCA has made remarkable progress, namely recognizing enterprises’ freedom of choice, broadening the scope of arbitration, raising the arbitral tribunal’s authority, valuing court assistance (especially interim measures enforcement), encouraging flexibility in language of arbitration, and improving party’s autonomy in arbitration while maintaining proper manners during arbitral proceedings.
Mr. Doug Jones, a leading arbitrator in the international arbitration community, revealed to me his infatuation with the beautiful beach and Vietnamese delicacies after a seminar in Da Nang. He was also inspired by the confidence, assertiveness, competence and the ambition to improve domestic arbitrators to the same level as those working in the international sphere of young arbitrators and VIAC Secretaries.
Law on Commercial Arbitration 2010 (LCA)- the procedural law governing arbitration proceedings whose seat is in Vietnam
Nowadays, as the digital economy emerges, electronic agreements on online websites are becoming more and more prevalent; hence, the legal effect of establishing terms and conditions of service when accessing the website (browse-wrap) and clicking (click-wrap) are of particular interest. The following paper analyzes some of the legal aspects of online agreement conclusion, especially the establishment of the arbitration agreement by means of browse-wrap and click-wrap.
Whether settling disputes in Court or through arbitration, when a party has the burden of proof, it must submit evidence to the arbitral tribunal. The evidence can be in many different forms: Document electronic evidence, audio recordings, video recordings, witness statement, etc. In international arbitration practice, especially in complex disputes, a type of evidence that is frequently used by the parties to defend their opinion/request is testimony/report of "expert witness".
In international commerce and investment, parties to a dispute often select arbitration as an alternative dispute resolution other than litigation in which the court, an authorized state agency, adjudicate disputes. An explanation for this phenomenon is that arbitration may be the optimal means that the parties can exercise their autonomy in writing to select one or several individuals who are not representing state agencies and state power (the so-called private parties) to resolve disputes. However, to prevent the possibility of arbitrators "privatizing" justice, [1] the New York Convention and the ICSID Convention set out the rules for annulment of arbitral award when such award violates arbitral proceeding. Here, questions arise. What rules of procedure are violated? And to what extent is the commercial and investment arbitral award annulled? This article seeks to elucidate the theory and practice of annulment for violations of procedure under the New York Convention and the ICSID Convention.
Goods can be consolidated, batched, packed, sorted, and grouped for a certain period of time before being loaded onto a trailer for carriage to the consignee. Disputes about whether the time to do these things are within the scope of insurance liability or not is an issue worth knowing (through the lawsuit with the documents of a foreign law firm) below for readers’ reference.
Mr. Vu Anh Duong is the Secretary General of the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre (“ VIAC “), which is the leading Vietnamese arbitration and mediation institution . Mr. Duong has contributed significantly to the development of arbitration in Vietnam in various ways; in addition to his role with the VIAC, Mr. Duong has served as a member of various drafting committees dealing with not only the VIAC’s Rules of Arbitration (2017) (“ VIAC Rules ”), but also Vietnam’s arbitration-related legislation. He also regularly lectures on commercial arbitration and sits as an arbitrator in both international and domestic commercial arbitrations.
Abstract: This discourse focuses on a detailed analysis of some theoretical and practical issues about the application of interim emergency measures involving third parties, in the field of domestic and international. Besides, the discourse provides measures to enhance the ability to enforce the decisions applying interim emergency measures with the third parties within the realm of international arbitration law. Subsequently, it extracts experience and recommendations pertaining to the legal framework in Vietnam regarding this matter.
During arbitral proceedings, the mediation process may cause some certain conflicts that requests the Arbitral Tribunal to seriously consider. Resolving effectively these conflicts based on fundamental legal principles and the arbitration skills of the Tribunal will ensure the rights and interests of disputing parties and third parties. This discourse focuses on analyzing potential conflicts and providing recommendations to the Tribunal to maximize the effectiveness of the mediation process and reduce conflict occurrence.
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According to the Department of Judicial Support , Ministry of Justice, currently , there have been 48 arbitration institutions established in our country, with over 600 arbitrators participating in resolving thousands of commercial disputes each year 1 . An arbitration service has been developed. Along with the growth , the trait of this service became more apparent , includi ng the relevance of third-party interests. Unlike court litigation, in principle, arbitration is a private dispute resolution method , therefore, the involvement of third parties is exceptional. The discourse discusses how the arbitral tribunal considers and guarantee s the third party's interest in the arbitra l proceedings by providing some situations in which disputing parties or the arbitral tribunal may need to consider the interests of third parties. The goal of arbitr ation is to make contributions to resolving disputes fairly, thereby encourag ing parties to fulfill their obligations voluntarily in order to avoid further dispute escalation of disputes . Based on the analysis , the author suggests policy improvements pertaining to third parties that may be considered in the upcoming revision of the Law on Commercial Arbitration.
In August 2024, the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) formally published the second edition of the ICCA’s Guide to the Interpretation of the 1958 New York Convention. The Guide is a clear, concise yet inclusive handbook, written in plain language, on the essential aspects of the scope, interpretation and application of the Convention. Though principally aimed at judges determining applications under the Convention, the Guide, which benefits from the extensive practical and academic experience of its authors (prominent arbitrators and ICCA members) will also be of interest to students, teachers and practitioners as an introduction to the Convention.
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