Originally from:
Journal of American Arbitration (JAA) - Vol. 4, No. 2
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Journal of American Arbitration (JAA)
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ARTICLES
Party-Designated Arbitrators: Ethical Codes
and Guidelines
By Donald P. Arnavas
I. INTRODUCTION
“No one would dream of having a judicial panel composed of one
part-time judge and two representatives of the parties—but that is the
standard arbitration panel,” so said a distinguished jurist in
commenting on one of the key characteristics of tripartite arbitration
proceedings.1 In the arbitrations to which the court referred, each
party independently selects an arbitrator (the party-designated
arbitrators) and those individuals then jointly select the third (the
neutral arbitrator).
The use of a panel of arbitrators has several positive aspects to it
that are not present in its single arbitrator counterpart.2 Perhaps the
principal one is that a collegial approach to the award process makes
it more likely that each of the parties’ contentions will be thoroughly
Richard Chernick, Mr. Chernick leads JAMS Arbitration Practice Initiative. Since 1994, Mr.
Chernick has been a professional arbitrator, mediator and dispute resolution
consultant with The American Arbitration Association. He is also the Editor for
Arbitration Law and Practice for the World Arbitration and Mediation Report.
James M. Gaitis, James M. Gaitis is a professional oil and gas arbitrator and commercial
arbitrator with fifteen years experience serving as an arbitrator in complex oil and
gas, commercial, and real estate arbitrations. Since 1990, he has limited his
professional practice exclusively to providing ADR services.
Robert Davidson, Mr. Davidson is Executive Director of JAMS Arbitration Practice in New
York City. He is also the Editor for Arbitration Law and Practice for the World
Arbitration and Mediation Report.
