I. Introduction

Proponents of the realist theory of jurisprudence believe that law

is what the judge says it is; to understand the law you must therefore

first understand the judge, and how he thinks. Whether or not this is

good jurisprudence, it is certainly a good guide to advocacy in

international arbitration. It is more likely than not that Counsel in an

international arbitration will not be personally acquainted with the

Tribunal; this likelihood increases dramatically where the Tribunal is a

3-person panel, with each party nominating its own arbitrator, and

the party-appointed arbitrators (or an appointing authority)

appointing a third. A basic difference, therefore, between litigation

and international arbitration is that, in the latter, Counsel is likely to

be corresponding with, and later appearing before, one or more

arbitrators whom he has never met and about whom he may know
relatively little.