Law Practice Essentials

Arbitration is a process that allows parties to submit their concerns, information and views to an impartial third party or parties, collectively referred to as the arbitrator, who is tasked with reviewing all the evidence and arguments and rendering a binding decision, known as an arbitral award. These awards can be entered in court and have the same effect as court orders.

Depending on the nature of the dispute, an arbitrator may be a singular person or a panel of decision makers. The parties may mutually agree on the arbitrator, voluntarily give others the power to decide on the arbitrator or apply for the court to select the arbitrator.

The process and rules that will be followed during the arbitration process are typically set out in an arbitration agreement signed by the parties and the arbitrator, which must comply with the Arbitration Act.

Arbitration participation agreements deviate from agreements signed in other ADR processes in a couple significant ways. Although either party can unilaterally terminate a mediation or collaborative law process, it can be very difficult to unilaterally terminate an arbitration process. Also, given the nature of the process, the parties do not have control over how the matter is resolved. A further consideration is that, unlike court where there generally are options to appeal a decision, there is very limited ability to appeal an arbitral award.

Despite the above perceived limitations, arbitration can be an appealing option as it often is considered more flexible and quicker compared to litigation and is conducted in private. A hybrid mediation-arbitration, or med-arb, approach is commonly used so that the parties can utilize the benefits of both processes; the impartial party first acts as a mediator to assist the parties in reaching a mutually agreed agreement, and when that’s not possible the mediator’s role switches to that of an arbitrator to enable the parties to have finality to their matter.

The primary provincial organization that publishes information about their education requirements, designation options and roster of arbitrators is the ADR Institute of Alberta.