Arbitration Scorecard: Methodology

The 2011 Arbitration Scorecard covers international arbitrations (not limited to Europe) that were active in the years 2009 and 2010. In this issue, we have listed 65 contract and 48 investment treaty arbitrations in which at least $1 billion was at stake. A longer list of treaty arbitrations worth at least $100 million and contract arbitrations worth at least $500 million is available online at americanlawyer.com/focuseurope. Because many arbitrations are confidential, neither list is comprehensive. Many big cases may enter the public domain through collateral litigation, press coverage, or securities disclosures. However, some large arbitrations remain undisclosed because they are at an early stage, the parties are nonpublic, the risk of liability is spread among members of a consortium, or the company is so large that it contends that the dispute is immaterial.

We relied primarily on information supplied by lawyers involved in the cases, supplemented in some cases by arbitration or court papers, securities disclosures, and media reports. In many cases we have had to rely on information from only one side in the dispute, and we were not able to obtain a response from the other side in all cases. The cooperating lawyers are not identified. The “amount in controversy” in a case represents the sum of claims and counterclaims. Case values are based on lawyers’ representations and are usually approximate. Survey participants were asked to express all amounts in U.S. dollars at December 2010 exchange rates.