Arbitration Insights
Analysis and practical guides on arbitration.
16 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.
Witness and Expert Evidence in International Arbitration Checklist: A Practical Checklist
This checklist turns the rules on witness and expert evidence in international arbitration into tasks, phase by phase, for counsel on either side. It covers the witness and expert provisions to secure in Procedural Order No. 1, identifying and interviewing fact witnesses within the IBA Guidelines on Party Representation, drafting statements that satisfy Article 4.5 of the IBA Rules, and responding to the other side's witnesses. Further phases address selecting, instructing, and managing party-appointed experts under Article 5, joint meetings and reports, tribunal-appointed experts under Article 6, hearing preparation including remote testimony and interpreters, witness conferencing, and protecting the record for annulment and enforcement. Red-flag boxes, a deadlines table, and a short set of common failure points with a worked example close the checklist.
Evidence in International Arbitration: The IBA Rules, Document Production, Witness Statements, and Expert Evidence
This article explains how evidence actually works in international arbitration, where there are no depositions, no jury, and no binding rules of evidence, and where the IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence (2020) supply the shared vocabulary. It traces the compromise between common-law disclosure and civil-law practice that produced the IBA Rules, then walks through document production under Article 3, the Article 9 objections and privilege conflicts, adverse inferences, written witness statements, party-appointed and tribunal-appointed experts, witness conferencing, and remote hearings. It compares the institutional rules (ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, ICSID) and the inquisitorial Prague Rules. It then explains what U.S. courts can and cannot add, including arbitrator subpoenas under Section 7 of the Federal Arbitration Act and the end of Section 1782 discovery for private arbitration after ZF Automotive v. Luxshare. It closes with how evidentiary rulings are attacked at the annulment and enforcement stage, an extended worked example, common mistakes, an FAQ, and takeaways.
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.
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.