an excerpt from ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION 2001 EDITION
published by the llinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education

© 2001 by Stephen E. Smith

III. Drafting the International Arbitration Agreement

B. [23.4] Arbitrators

The qualifications that are required for arbitrators of any given matter should be considered carefully before their selection. While this point may seem obvious, its offshoot may escape many practitioners: A way to solve jurisdictional problems is to select an institution to administer the arbitration in a particular locale. Another approach is to apply those rules to an ad hoc arbitration and require its seat to be within that organization’s borders. Within the method of appointment, especially in an ad hoc case, care should be taken to specify the composition of the arbitral panel e.g., the number of arbitrators, whether two of them are to be to be party-appointed, The question always arises as to whether the arbitrator(s) should have a legal background. etc. The common answer is yes. There may very well be matters, however, in which the arbitration concerns matters in large-scale construction projects, or discrete areas of financing vehicles In these instances, the inclusion of one or more industry experts along with one lawyer on a three-member panel is salutary. If the proceeding is conducted by only one arbitrator, then the consensus is that the arbitrator should be a lawyer, or as is now becoming more prevalent, a former judge.