When the case is over, in the arbitration award, the arbitrators decide how these fees are to be divided between the parties.
Ms. Castner said she had no empirical evidence of how many settlements had been influenced by arbitrators' decisions, or how close to the arbitration award the typical settlement was.
In the offseason, Rivera lost his arbitration case, in which he requested an annual salary of $9.25 million, but the $7.25 million salary that the arbitrators awarded him instead set a baseball record for the highest arbitration award.
An arbitration award will then be typed up by FINRA, signed by the arbitrators and sent to the lawyers for the parties.
Goldman has limited grounds for vacating an arbitration award, however.
Citigroup, the arbitration award says, only meant to give Mr. Orefice one payment.
The union recently won an arbitration award granting an 11.5 percent pay increase over three years.
The arbitration award included more than $3 million in attorneys' fees and related costs.
The applicable law provides that bias or partiality, or even the appearance thereof, constitute grounds for vacating an arbitration award.
The arbitration award decided by the International Court of Arbitration, which is based in Paris, was valued at $907.6 million.
The agreement, dated February 2006, said "no party may challenge, appeal or attempt to set aside" the arbitration award.
