Laurent Levy – författare

“An arbitration is only as good as the arbitrator”. This frequently used maxim acts as an invitation to use arbitration but also as a scarecrow warning users off arbitration.

Disputing parties are of course free to choose their arbitration tribunal, which allows them to begin an arbitration with a certain tranquillity. Once the arbitration has begun, should the parties become concerned if the arbitrators’ qualities do not meet their expectations? Unlike court judgments, arbitral awards are not subject to ordinary judicial remedies. Thus, a disastrous award may well remain disastrous for a party with no remedy available to right certain wrongs.

This publication looks at the relationship between the qualities of the arbitrators and the arbitrators’ “work-products”, namely the award and the arbitral process itself.

There are proven methods for the parties to detach at least part of “their” arbitration from the arbitrators. They may impose certain constraints on their intended arbitrators, be it in the agreement they conclude with the arbitrators or through the operation of the legal, customary, ethical or statutory rules that regulate the arbitrators’ activities, in what has now become a true profession. The parties may also consider having an institution oversee their arbitration, which will bring an additional measure of control over the exercise of the arbitrators’ ‘mission’. Finally, the picture would be incomplete without a discussion of the role played by certain substantive rules, such as the duty of confidentiality.

The contributions in this Dossier VIII, Is Arbitration only As Good as the Arbitrator? Status, Powers and Role of the Arbitrator, tackle these complex issues from different vantage points, bringing to bear the knowledge and experience of some of today’s leading experts in the field of arbitration. The contributors to this Dossier include:

Antonias DimolitsaBernard HanotiauKap-You KimJulian D.M. LewPierre MayerAlexis MourreJosé Emilio Nunes PintoWilliam W. ParkV.V. Veede

The ICC Institute of World Business Law brings together the finest legal minds to strengthen links between international business practitioners and the legal profession. The Institute’s ‘Dossiers’ is a series that has gained international prestige. These Dossiers are the outcome of the Institute’s annual meetings, where experts from around the globe come together to discuss salient issues of international commercial law and arbitration.

Arbitrators frequently face requests wrongly considered as being of incidental nature. Interest claims, in particular, raise delicate legal issues and may involve considerable amounts sometimes exceeding the main claim. In order to guarantee the quick and effective enforcement of awards, the arbitral practice is looking for new approaches, such as lump assessment, ""clauses pénales"" or judicial penalties (""astreintes"").

The Dossier V: Interest, Auxiliary and Alternative Remedies in International Arbitration, a compilation of the proceedings of the 2007 Annual Meeting of the ICC Institute of World Business Law, addresses a wide range of topics on remedies and interest including contractual remedies, judicial penalties, specific performance, issue of applicable law, comparative approaches, and interest in arbitration practice. It is designed to offer solutions on how to control the impact of time between the occurrence of the damage and its full compensation.

The contributors to this Dossier include:

Antonias DimolitsaAlexis MourreV.V. VeederAndrea GiardinaJohn BeecheyFilip de LyGareth KennyJohn Yukio GotandaTarek Fouad A. RiadHomayoon ArfazadehThierry SénéchalLaurent Lévy

Serge Lazareff, distinguished Member of the Paris Bar, has been Chairman of the ICC Institute of World Business Law since 1999. With the publication of Dossier V: Interest, Auxiliary and Alternative Remedies in International Arbitration, the ICC Institute fulfils its dual mission: training and acting as a think-tank for the International Chamber of Commerce particularly in the field of arbitration.