Are more cases going to Arbitration?

Yes, it seems so.

Recently the International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”) released its statistics on Arbitration cases for the past 12 months. The results showed that in 2018, 842 new cases were registered with the ICC, involving 2282 parties from 135 countries and territories. The increase in the number of parties seeking Arbitration reflects the general trend reported by many of the other Arbitration institutions.

The statistics also showed increasing diversity in parties and arbitrators. Just under 41% of all parties to disputes filed with the ICC are based in Europe. Gender diversity of the arbitrators is now being published by some of the Institutions with the ICC confirming that 18.4% of confirmed appointments in 2018 were women.

Many disputes revert to Arbitration due to a contractual obligation to do so. Without such an agreed contract clause, the three popular means of resolving a commercial dispute remain litigation through the Courts, arbitration and mediation.

Time is considered a negative factor of litigation through the Court with the process often being criticised for taking years to complete. The average duration of ICC cases from start through to final award in 2018 was reported to be two years and four months. An award is the Arbitration Tribunal’s equivalent of the Court’s judgment. It is difficult to draw direct comparisons as with every arbitration there are occasions when the parties agreed to suspend and stay the process due to the flexibility that this type of forum offers. To expedite awards however, the ICC is seeking to limit any delays by offering expedited procedures to incentivise Arbitrators to draft their reward decision quickly post hearing. These measures allow the ICC to reduce Arbitrator’s fees when awards are not submitted within two months by a single Arbitrator or within three months by a three-member Arbitration Panel.

It is perhaps encouraging for some to note that the ICC has classified “younger” Arbitrators as those under the age of fifty and that younger Arbitrators made up 35% of the Arbitrators appointed in 2018.

If you have a contract dispute and your contract contains an arbitration clause, we can help.

For further advice and assistance please contact our Private Client Team on 01604 828282 / 01908 660966 or email info@franklins-sols.co.uk