Appointment of the Arbitral Tribunal - Chapter 4 - Asian Leading Arbitrators' Guide to International Arbitration
Lawrence Boo practices as an arbitrator and mediator with The Arbitration Chambers and is also the Deputy Chairman of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC). He has sat as arbitrator in more than 155 arbitrations. He is Singapore’s Representative to the UNCITRAL Working Group on Arbitration and Conciliation since 2004. He has published extensively on ADR and arbitration and teaches in the law faculties of the National University of Singapore, Bond University (Australia) and Wuhan University (China). He was appointed a District Judge in Singapore in April 2007 to preside ad hoc over complex commercial cases.
Originally from Asian Leading Arbitrators' Guide to International Arbitration
I. INTRODUCTION
The appointment of the arbitral tribunal is a critical stage of the arbitration proceedings. The appointment of a qualified and competent arbitrator to decide the dispute is vital for a just and fair resolution of the dispute. This is particularly apparent in arbitration where the power to resolve a dispute is conferred by the parties to an individual whose mandate comes, not from law, but from the agreement of the parties. The process for appointment of the arbitral tribunal is therefore a focal point in arbitration legislation and institutional rules of arbitration. It is also not uncommon for sophisticated commercial parties to include detailed procedures for the appointment of the arbitral tribunal in their arbitration agreements.
The principle of party autonomy that dominates the arbitral process is no less paramount in the appointment of the arbitral tribunal. The parties are free to agree on the number of arbitrators to decide the dispute,1 the qualifications of the arbitral tribunal, and the appointing process. The procedures stipulated by law or by arbitration rules often operate only in the absence of agreement by the parties or where the appointment process agreed upon has failed.