On quantifying known unknowns
“…there are known knowns; these are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know” Former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
One of the more demanding tasks a damages expert can be instructed to perform is the quantification of losses arising in the context of a newly-established business or project where little or no track record of past profits exists – and to persuade the Tribunal of the reasonableness of his approach and conclusions. If a business is expropriated, for example, before the owner has had the opportunity to genera [...]
Mediator-arbitrators: the perfect match or no love lost? (A Valentine’s Day Blog)
Should arbitrators be permitted to serve as mediators of the disputes they might ultimately determine? Instinctive reactions to this question are likely to be coloured by a party’s legal background and cultural expectations. To those from common law traditions, the idea of combining the roles of mediator and arbitrator is rather alien, whereas in civil law jurisdictions, this is a relatively well-accepted practice.
There are certainly advantages of arbitrators seeking to facilitate the settlement of their disputes. Primary among these is the efficiency of disposing of those disputes amicably. Since an arbitrator will already be familiar with the case (as well as with the parties and t [...]
“Waiter, I did not order this! – The Arbitrator and the Evidentiary Excess”
Everybody who has visited a certain number of arbitration conferences over the last few years has probably heard at least an equal number of contributions relating to costs in arbitration. Similarly, the number of written articles on the topic in legal literature is enormous and entire books are based on the subject. Considering that cost efficiency is often cited as one of the cornerstones of arbitration as a method of dispute resolution, it is quite understandable that practitioners have taken particular interest in this issue. It has also been repeatedly stated that the costs typically associated with arbitration proceedings have been escalating for a considerable amount of time. For exam [...]
Dispute Resolution in Abu Dhabi (Part IV): Is Conciliation Before Arbitration the Answer?
It was a deliberate decision of the Abu Dhabi Commercial Conciliation and Arbitration Centre (ADCCAC) to include both the term and procedures for “conciliation” in their rules.
Representatives of ADCCAC regularly comment to the effect that they see it as one function of a dispute resolution body to offer to the disputants a pre – arbitration solution, via a speeder and less formal set of procedures. Consistently with that theme, ADCCA has in it’s rules a detailed set of provisions that relate to the concilation of a dispute – before arbitration. Below, in summary, are some features of ADCCAC’s approach, certain of which are quite distinctive.
First, like all ADR provisions, th [...]
