International commercial arbitration has failed to redeem its promise to be efficient. Approximately 27% of all international commercial arbitral proceedings are settled before issuance of a merits-based award. This book asserts that legacy international commercial arbitration is based on the economic efficiencies arising from a zero-sum-game approach to dispute resolution pursuant to which the most efficient result is one that yields a prevailing (winning) and non-prevailing (losing) party.
This emphasis on process efficiency has caused international commercial arbitration to lose its standing as the premier dispute resolution methodology for cross-border commercial conflicts. Historically, settlement has not been perceived as an element of international commercial arbitration's culture. Only recently has a consensus arisen acknowledging that arbitrators have an obligation to facilitate settlement. This book explains that, through timely risk assessment, voluntary settlement of arbitral proceedings will become the rule, not the exception, leading to optimal efficiency.
