Over the past couple of years, most practitioners and certainly all ADR professionals have read numerous articles concerning what is wrong with arbitration and how arbitrators and counsel can fix these ills. ADR conferences have routinely addressed escalating costs and time inefficiencies, which are perceived to be contrary to the essential features of the arbitration process, and proposed various mechanisms for arbitrators and counsel to employ in order to address these problems. After researching the history and evolution of arbitration, as well as reflecting on my own experiences, both as an advocate and an arbitrator for the past 12 years, I have noticed the many ways and contexts in which arbitration functions quite well and for many seemingly satisfied users.

When there are concerns regarding arbitration, they are not exclusively about costs or inefficiencies; rather, they are more often directed at consumer arbitrations, which this article will not address. In commercial arbitrations, criticisms of the process are sometimes a result of misapplications. This is often caused by the increasing use to resolve large, complex, commercial disputes without considering necessary modifications for an effective process. The arbitration process, however, when viewed from a macro-perspective, is a time-honored and continuing success story.

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