Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

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One feature of U.S. arbitration law stands out when compared with that of any of the other major international arbitration centers: The absence of any modern reform of its arbitration statute.

One can largely ignore for this purpose Chapters 2 and 3 of the Federal Arbitration Act because they were added to give effect to the New York and Panama Conventions and do not affect the daily functioning of most U.S. cases.

There also were two sections added in the late 1980s to the FAA, which became effective in 1925. First, Section 15 reverses the District Court decision in LIAMCO (Libyan American Oil Company v. Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahirya, 482 F. Supp. 1175 (D.D.C. 1980), and disables the Act of State doctrine from applying to the enforcement of arbitral agreements and awards.