Global Arbitration, Best Practices

822_ 4/13/10 - Business people and international arbitration
 In today's global market, rules and regulations governing the business activities vary from country to country, culture to culture and international arbitration becomes a very important part of 'the contract'. At w3w3.com we've heard some amazing stories about these conflicts. We went to David Wilson, partner at Holme Roberts & Owen LLP (HRO) for some advice. David's guest was Josefa Sicard-Mirabal who serves as Director of Arbitration and ADR in North America for the ICC International Court of Arbitration. In this capacity, she represents and promotes ICC dispute resolution services in the United States and Canada, and advises North American attorneys and companies on all phases of arbitration, including negotiation of arbitration clauses, requests for arbitration, procedural issues and enforcement of arbitration awards. David said, "We're talking about some best practices for business people in international arbitration. From a business person's stand point, how you can make the experience of international arbitration more effective and actually more cost efficient for your company." Josefa describes clauses that have been drafted that really make it more difficult and costly for the business people. "One example would be putting in requirements for an arbitrator to have certain characteristics - which would make it very difficult to go out and find an arbitrator within that time frame that fits the qualification. So it is possible to make the qualifications too specific to be realistic. 1.) So we don't want to over specify arbitrator qualifications. 2.) Time frames for completion of the arbitration exist within the arbitration process. Additional specifications might very well work against you." Josefa has a proverb she uses often, "Dress me slowly because I'm in a rush". What that means is sometimes when you want to get a thing done very fast; you need to pay attention to the details.
Related Links: Holme Roberts & Owen LLP || ICC Home || ICC Arbitration || Josefa Sicard-Mirabal Bio || It's the Law Channel || Keywords: David Wilson, Josefa Sicard-Mirabal, Holme Roberts & Owen LLP, HRO, International Court of Arbitration, ICC, ADR, Arbitration, Litigation, Global 4/13/10 bytes: 7527239 Chnl: HRO LISTEN to David Wilson & Josefa Sicard-Mirabal