Introduction
The last two segments of this Small Business B-2-B Arbitration series have focused on certain key structural aspects of pre-dispute arbitration agreements. Perhaps some might think that an examination of even the most basic structural components of arbitration agreements is too much information for a business person, but most successful business people know about all relevant aspects of the contracts they negotiate, not just the basic structural components of those contracts (e.g., price and performance terms).
Given that an arbitration agreement can fundamentally alter the risk-benefit calculus of a deal, one would naturally expect that successful business people would be familiar with at least the basic structural aspects of such agreements, but in our experience that is not necessarily the case. In fact, were it so, we would expect there would be far fewer arbitration-related disputes that could be traced back to a party’s un- or ill-informed decision about whether to agree to arbitrate, and if so, on what terms.
In Part II.B.2(A) we identified three key structural aspects of pre-dispute arbitration agreements and discussed the first—the scope of disputes to be arbitrated—in some detail. This Part II.B.2(B) briefly discusses the second: how an arbitration under the agreement will be administered and by whom. Continue Reading »
