Arbitration Insights

Analysis and practical guides on arbitration.

12 articles, checklists, and guides on arbitration law, written by the attorneys at MC Law. Every piece is general information, not legal advice — for a specific matter, contact the firm.

ArbitrationInternational Arbitration

Structuring Arbitration for Multiparty Deals: A Practical Guide

Multiparty arbitration works when the consent was engineered at drafting and fails when it was not, so this guide begins with the transaction rather than the dispute. It sets out how to map the parties and contracts that will matter when something goes wrong, how to design a compatible clause suite across every agreement in a deal, and the specific provisions that make consolidation, joinder, and flow-down work. Sections on the law of the arbitration agreement, delegation, and multiparty appointment address the choices most often left blank. The second half covers running a dispute: assessing whether to seek or resist consolidation, the non-signatory analysis, preserving jurisdictional objections for enforcement, and managing a proceeding with four or more parties. Worked examples follow a project finance suite, a joint venture, and a post-closing dispute.

Casey Scott McKaySeptember 5, 202628 min read

ArbitrationInternational Arbitration

Obtaining Emergency or Interim Relief in Arbitration: A Practical Guide

This guide runs an urgent arbitration application from the first hour through enforcement. It begins with the triage decisions that determine everything — whether relief is genuinely needed, which forum can grant what, and whether a standstill letter would do the job at a fraction of the cost. It then covers building the application: the evidence of urgency and irreparable harm that decides most cases, the draft operative order that shapes what is granted, and the security proposal that anticipates the arbitrator's condition. Respondent sections address the compressed response, the defences that work, and preserving jurisdictional objections. Later sections cover concurrent court applications and how to run them without prejudicing either, enforcement of an emergency decision, review by the constituted tribunal, and the clause provisions that should have been there.

Casey Scott McKaySeptember 5, 202628 min read

ArbitrationInternational Arbitration

Multiparty Arbitration Clause Checklist

This checklist covers the drafting and dispute stages of multiparty arbitration. It opens with the dispute map that identifies who will actually be in the room when a transaction fails, then the compatibility elements that must match across every agreement in a suite, and the consolidation, joinder, flow-down, and multiparty appointment provisions that make the machinery available. Separate sections address the law governing the arbitration agreement, delegation, class and mass claim provisions, and the amendment discipline that prevents most incompatible-clause problems. Dispute-stage sections cover the decision whether to seek consolidation, the non-signatory analysis in order, the jurisdictional objections that must be preserved for enforcement, the first procedural conference in a proceeding with four or more parties, and settlement and costs mechanics.

Casey Scott McKaySeptember 5, 20267 min read

ArbitrationInternational Arbitration

Multiparty and Multicontract Arbitration: Consolidation, Joinder, and the Non-Signatory Problem

Arbitration was designed for two parties and one contract, and most substantial commercial disputes now involve neither. This article explains the mechanisms that adapt consent-based dispute resolution to multiparty and multicontract reality: consolidation of separate arbitrations, joinder of additional parties, and the doctrines under which a non-signatory may be bound or may compel. It works through the institutional rules that permit consolidation and joinder, the compatibility requirements that determine whether they are available, and the appointment problem that arises when three or more parties must constitute a tribunal without one side losing its equal right to nominate. Separate sections cover the non-signatory theories recognized under domestic contract law and preserved by GE Energy, the class arbitration cases from Stolt-Nielsen through Lamps Plus, and who decides these questions after Henry Schein and Coinbase. Worked examples follow a construction chain, a corporate group, and a failed consolidation.

Casey Scott McKaySeptember 5, 202628 min read

ArbitrationInternational Arbitration

Interim Relief Toolkit: Emergency Applications, Security Requests, and Court Assistance Motions

This toolkit supplies the documents used to obtain and resist urgent relief in arbitration. It opens with a forum decision matrix and a triage sheet that settle in the first hour whether an emergency arbitrator, a court, or a standstill letter is the right instrument. The application materials include a full emergency application shell, a holding direction request that is routinely omitted and frequently decisive, a chronology exhibit template, draft operative orders for each category of relief, and a security undertaking proposal. Respondent materials include an opposition outline built around urgency and scope, and a narrower counter-order. Later tools cover a court motion in aid of arbitration, a security for costs application, a request to the constituted tribunal to confirm emergency relief, an enforcement petition, a client briefing note, and the clause provisions to add afterward.

Casey Scott McKaySeptember 5, 202615 min read

ArbitrationInternational Arbitration

Emergency Arbitrators and Interim Measures: Getting Urgent Relief Before a Tribunal Exists

An arbitration agreement is a promise to resolve disputes through a tribunal that does not yet exist, which leaves a gap in the weeks or months before it is constituted. This article explains the two ways that gap is filled: emergency arbitrator procedures under institutional rules, and applications to national courts for provisional relief in aid of arbitration. It covers what emergency arbitrators can and cannot do, the standards they apply, how quickly they act, and the difficult question of whether their decisions are enforceable — which turns on whether an emergency decision is an award. Court applications are addressed alongside, including the doctrine that such applications do not waive the right to arbitrate, the standards courts apply, and the situations where only a court will do. Separate sections cover the categories of relief actually sought, security for costs and for the claim, and the tribunal's own powers once constituted. Worked examples follow an asset-preservation application, an emergency arbitration over a terminated distribution agreement, and an unsuccessful application.

Casey Scott McKaySeptember 5, 202628 min read

ArbitrationInternational Arbitration

Emergency Arbitration Application Checklist

This checklist runs an urgent arbitration application from the first hour through confirmation by the constituted tribunal. It opens with the six triage questions that determine forum and viability, then the decision whether to apply at all and the standstill letter that often resolves the matter more cheaply. Evidence sections cover the chronology exhibit that answers the delay argument and the documentary proof of irreparable harm that decides most applications. Drafting sections cover the operative order, the fallback, and the security proposal. Respondent sections set out the defences that work in a four-day response window. Later sections cover concurrent court applications and how to run them without prejudice, enforcement where compliance fails, confirmation by the tribunal, and the clause provisions to fix afterward.

Casey Scott McKaySeptember 5, 20268 min read

ArbitrationInternational Arbitration

Complex Arbitration Toolkit: Consolidation Requests, Joinder Applications, and Clause Suites

This toolkit supplies the documents used to build and run a multiparty arbitration. It opens with a dispute map and a compatibility matrix that expose, before signing, whether a transaction's agreements can be heard together, followed by a full clause suite with consolidation, joinder, flow-down, multiparty appointment, and delegation provisions ready to adapt. A retrofit agreement adds the machinery to contracts already signed. Dispute-stage tools include a consolidation request, a joinder application, an opposition outline, a jurisdictional reservation, and a non-signatory analysis worksheet. Procedural materials cover a first procedural order for a proceeding with four or more parties, a hearing time allocation model, a cross-examination protocol, and a costs apportionment framework. It closes with a settlement exit deed and a clause audit template for reviewing an inherited portfolio.

Casey Scott McKaySeptember 5, 202616 min read

ArbitrationAlternative Dispute Resolution

Arbitration: A Comprehensive Guide to Alternative Dispute Resolution

Arbitration is a consensual, private method of dispute resolution in which parties agree to submit their conflicts to one or more impartial arbitrators for a final and binding decision enforceable across most of the world. This guide examines every stage of the arbitral process—from drafting the arbitration agreement through the rendering and enforcement of the award—and the strategic considerations that separate effective practice from mere procedural compliance. It treats both the domestic U.S. regime under the Federal Arbitration Act (separability, delegation, preemption, class-waiver enforcement, and the limited grounds for vacatur) and the international regime under the New York Convention and the UNCITRAL Model Law. It explains where arbitration sits on the broader ADR spectrum alongside mediation, and it reflects developments through early 2026, including the UK Arbitration Act 2025 and the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act. Written for legal professionals, executives, and in-house counsel, it follows a single cross-border dispute to make the doctrine concrete.

Casey Scott McKayApril 8, 202659 min read

ArbitrationCommercial Arbitration

The Intricacies of AAA Commercial Arbitration: A Comprehensive Guide for Legal Professionals

AAA Commercial Arbitration offers a flexible, private, and often faster alternative to courtroom litigation for resolving business disputes--but only if you understand that it runs on a fundamentally different engine. This guide walks the entire lifecycle of a case under the AAA Commercial Arbitration Rules, amended effective September 1, 2022, from filing the Demand through arbitrator selection, the preliminary hearing, the exchange of information, the evidentiary hearing, and the final award. It explains the 2022 amendments practitioners most often miss--the consolidation-and-joinder rule, express confidentiality, the raised dollar thresholds, and codified remote hearings--and grounds each stage in primary authority: the Federal Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. ss 1 et seq.), the Supreme Court's arbitrability and vacatur decisions, and the New York Convention. It covers who decides arbitrability after Henry Schein, the enforceability of class waivers after Concepcion and Epic Systems, emergency interim relief, and the deliberately narrow grounds for vacatur under 9 U.S.C. s 10 (including the dying doctrine of manifest disregard). Worked hypotheticals and current case law make the strategy concrete for judges, lawyers, and businesspeople alike.

Casey Scott McKayNovember 30, 202553 min read

ArbitrationAlternative Dispute Resolution

Arbitration and ADR Toolkit: Choosing a Forum, Drafting Clauses, and Running an Arbitration

This toolkit maps the full landscape of arbitration and alternative dispute resolution for commercial parties and their counsel. It begins with the threshold choice among litigation, arbitration, and mediation, then walks the arbitration life cycle: drafting an enforceable arbitration clause, selecting institutional rules (AAA or JAMS), commencing a case, choosing arbitrators, conducting limited discovery, the merits hearing, and the award. It covers post-award practice—confirmation and the narrow grounds for vacatur under the Federal Arbitration Act—and enforcement of both domestic and foreign awards, including the New York Convention. A closing section addresses the mediation process. Each stage links to mclaw.io articles and checklists plus primary authority (the FAA, AAA and JAMS rules, the New York Convention) and the leading Supreme Court cases. It is written for in-house counsel, litigators, and business owners deciding how and where to resolve a dispute.

Casey Scott McKayDecember 31, 202314 min read

ArbitrationDamages

Damage Statistics: Arbitration

This guide explains how money actually moves in arbitration: what damages an arbitrator may award, why punitive damages are available but easily contracted away, and why the number an arbitrator writes is so much harder to undo than a jury verdict. It walks through the compensatory measures arbitrators apply, the special rules for punitive and exemplary damages after Mastrobuono v. Shearson, interest, and attorney's-fee shifting. It then turns to the back end of the process: confirmation and the famously narrow vacatur grounds of the Federal Arbitration Act, Hall Street Associates v. Mattel, the contested "manifest disregard" doctrine, and cross-border enforcement under the New York Convention. Throughout, it treats published "damage statistics" honestly, explaining what the available AAA, JAMS, and academic data can and cannot tell you, and why no one can responsibly quote a precise national average. It closes with worked hypotheticals, a practitioner's checklist mindset, an FAQ, and links to related mclaw.io resources.

Casey Scott McKayOctober 4, 202334 min read