Arbitration Tips-N-Tools (TNT): Round 15

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In this round of Arbitration Tips-N-Tools, Professor Amy Schmitz asks some of the leading arbitration practitioners about growth in arbitration in the pandemic, especially in a digital world and faced with the complexities of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Round 15: Do you see growth in arbitration in the pandemic? Why or why not?

Responses:

A) Deborah Hylton –

• Clogged courts and the ability to tailor proceedings to needs are drivers of arbitration over litigation.
• Arbitration providers have been able to adapt more readily than courts to online and can keep the cases moving more readily.

B) Marsha Ternus

• Yes. Arbitration provides a safe forum to resolve disputes without the delay of waiting for a court date.
• If the parties take advantage of the opportunities for speedy and more focused discovery and more informal presentation of evidence, costs can be reduced for the litigants.
• Although the parties will forego a jury trial, they can agree to high/low limits on any award to have more control over the outcome.

C) Michael Pitton

• There most certainly should be growth as arbitration is poised in a unique way to allow for a presentation that is most closely aligned with a trial, with the benefits of an adversarial proceeding (though informal) while maintaining the advantages of speed, finality and cost effectiveness that are hallmarks of the process.
• Any litigation attorney is well aware of the delays that have occurred and only seem to be worsening as the backlog grows and prioritization is focused on other case types.
• A significant variable seems to be the experience of the attorneys in the affected geographic area with arbitration. I see more growth in areas where arbitration is already extensively used, as attorneys who are unfamiliar with the process seem reluctant to engage in this alternative.
• Some education of attorneys in this situation may help for the most effective utilization of arbitration to reduce delays and streamline the resolution of pending and anticipated disputes