BLOGS

An arbitrator is not a private judge for hire. The authority to decide a dispute, bind commercial parties, and render an award that courts across jurisdictions will enforce carries duties that begin before appointment and end only with the award. In international commercial arbitration, parties from different legal systems, sometimes shareholders in a cross-border company and sometimes ordinary contract counterparties, submit their dispute to a tribunal of their own choosing.

A commercial dispute rarely arrives at a convenient moment. A payment stops, a supplier defaults, a co-founder exits with the company's code, or an arbitration notice lands during the very week a funding round closes. What separates a manageable problem from an existential one is often the stage at which it is addressed and the expertise of those entrusted with it. That is where experienced litigation lawyers prove indispensable, not only once a matter reaches court, but long