As a practicing attorney for 30 years who has participated in a couple of hundred arbitrations as either the neutral arbitrator or representative of one of the parties, I object to Amalia D. Kessler's Op-Ed article calling for urgent reform of the current arbitration system ("Stuck in Arbitration," March 7).
Ms. Kief, in fact, even went so far as to ask her arbitrators to expunge two unrelated arbitrations, which the panel declined to do.
Those who favor international forums for settling disputes — where arbitrations are presided over by one arbitrator or a panel of three — say that such tribunals avoid local courts, which can tilt in favor of parochial interests.
"It's a big improvement from historical gunboat diplomacy," said Edna Sussman, an arbitrator and mediator with experience in more than 100 international and other arbitrations.
A spokeswoman for Finra said it had proposed a new rule allowing arbitrators to refer complaints of egregious conduct to its enforcement division while arbitrations are in progress.
Charles Gordon, an arbitrator with global mediation firm Jams International, said he'd like to see binding precedents used in arbitrations, and tighter language used across treaties.
In 2012 a record 59 arbitrations were launched.The manner in which complaints like these are typically resolved makes them all the more galling: the proceedings are not open to the public and the arbitrators making politically and fiscally important decisions are often moonlighting corporate lawyers.
The highest award so far is some $2.3 billion to Occidental, an oil company, against the government of Ecuador, over its (apparently lawful) termination of an oil-concession contract.There are several reasons for the sharp rise in contentious arbitrations, says Lori Wallach of Public Citizen, a watchdog group.
Another option is to sell, for a discount, into the fledgling secondary market for arbitration awards.Around 90% of international arbitrations relate to contract disputes between private parties, says Andrew McDougall of White & Case, another law firm.
They also participated in arbitrations involving questions of international law.
As a result of a number of diplomatic episodes and international arbitrations, it is acknowledged that isolated seizures of alien private property are lawful only if accompanied by the payment of fair compensation.
