The (Astonishingly) Rapid Turn to Remote Hearings in Commercial Arbitration

(2021) 46:2 Queen's Law Journal 399

16 Pages Posted: 3 Jun 2021

See all articles by Joshua Karton

Joshua Karton

Queen's University Faculty of Law; National Taiwan University - College of Law

Date Written: May 27, 2021

Abstract

This article, a contribution to a Queen's Law Journal symposium on the legal response to the COVID pandemic, considers the turn to remote hearings in commercial arbitration. It was written primarily for a non-specialist Canadian audience, but arbitration lawyers from any jurisdiction confronting these issues may find it valuable.

Commercial arbitration, like litigation, was forced by the pandemic to resort to remote proceedings. The arbitration community had both the capacity and the motivation to go remote, and did so at remarkable speed. However, it is unclear how durable these emergency adaptations will be — are remote hearings a new normal, or a crisis response that will fade along with the pandemic? The author argues that remote hearings are indeed here to stay. The experience of commercial arbitration in 2020 shows that the cost and accessibility benefits provided by remote hearings are significant, and that most of the concerns either have practical fixes or evaporate with greater familiarity. Remote hearings neither will nor should become universal, but will likely be a default option in arbitration, especially for international disputes.

Nevertheless, planning, vigilance, and a commitment to expend sufficient resources are needed to make remote hearings accessible, effective, and fair. The author concludes by listing five lessons that other forms of dispute resolution, in particular litigation, can learn from the experience of commercial arbitration during the pandemic: (i) attention to the technical setup is vital, (ii) the necessary infrastructure is not cheap and the costs are ongoing, (iii) remote hearings are not an all-or-nothing matter, (iv) their greater flexibility makes it possible to customize procedures for each dispute, and (v) frequent breaks are necessary.

Keywords: arbitration, international arbitration, pandemic, COVID, remote hearings, virtual hearings

Suggested Citation

Karton, Joshua, The (Astonishingly) Rapid Turn to Remote Hearings in Commercial Arbitration (May 27, 2021). (2021) 46:2 Queen's Law Journal 399, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3854269

Joshua Karton (Contact Author)

Queen's University Faculty of Law ( email )

Macdonald Hall
128 Union St.
Kingston, Ontario K7L3N6
Canada

National Taiwan University - College of Law ( email )

No.1, Sec.4, Roosevelt Road
Taipei, 10617, 10617
Taiwan

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
137
Abstract Views
672
Rank
431,642
PlumX Metrics