This book is only available in PDF format

Authors: Mark Colthart, Royden Hindle
Published: 22 April 2015
Pages: 32

Introduction

This webinar explores the potential of arbitration for dealing with civil disputes – not just in large scale commercial matters that are most often associated with arbitration, but in civil disputes of all kinds.

We practice in an era in which the costs and delays of accessing the courts in order to get a decision after consideration of the merits of the substantive issues has put litigation beyond the reach of most ordinary citizens. Litigators owe it to their clients to be aware of the alternatives, to be able to advise of the possibilities, and to be in a position to commence and then pursue an arbitral process to the point of obtaining an enforceable outcome (or, if for a respondent, of answering an arbitral claim) proficiently.

This webinar is not an academic discussion about the law relating to arbitration. Nor is it in the nature of an update about recent case law on arbitration. It does not focus much on international arbitration either. Instead, the aim is to offer some practical guidance that will encourage practitioners to see arbitrating under the Arbitration Act 1996 (the Act) as a real alternative to court process, and something that ought at least be considered whenever a new claim arrives in the office.

1. We begin with some general discussion about arbitration, and the potential advantages of arbitration as a technique for dealing with civil disputes;
2. The second part contains a worked example of a matter as it might be dealt with by arbitration. It begins with the file for the Squashed Case, a straightforward fact pattern which is then used as the reference point for discussion about the practicalities of arbitrating a matter of that kind.