Selecting your arbitrator—The Arbitration Boot Camp

The first thing you want to do is figure out what it is that YOU want in an arbitrator, which is not necessarily the same thing as what other people want in an arbitrator. I will mention several things.

One is you probably want an arbitrator who will conduct an orderly hearing. But what does that really mean? Do you want an arbitrator who is active, and interjects in the case and moves things around? Or do you want an arbitrator who is passive and really just sits and listens? Most arbitrators are somewhere in between. Myself, I like to sit and listen, but I will ask questions if I don't understand what's going on or if there are words or phrases or acronyms that are being used that don't make sense to me.

You want an arbitrator who has intelligence. Now, that's not just IQ.
You want emotional intelligence.
You want common sense, which is after all is a form of intelligence.

You probably want an arbitrator who is timely. Getting the hearing scheduled, answering emails, getting the decision completed. All of these things being done on time without delay.

You probably want an arbitrator who writes clear decisions. You want to know how the arbitrator got from A to B to reach a conclusion. And you want to have the award be clear, so you know what it is that everybody has to do.

Your main source is going to be the arbitrator's resume which you get from AAA or from FMCS or from some other agency. And you want to read that carefully. The thing I would be very careful about reading in that resume is whether that arbitrator is on permanent panels. What that tells you is that other parties who have used that arbitrator have both decided on both sides that they want this arbitrator to decide more of their cases. So that arbitrator has already been vetted by other people which tells you a great deal about their acceptability.

Of course, you want to use the World Wide Web. You want to go to Google, ChatGPT, Facebook, LinkedIn. You're looking for whether the arbitrator has their own website. Can you find decisions that the arbitrator has written? And can you find articles that have been written? Can you find out their activities?

And my very favorite source is going to be your telephone. I want you to get on the phone and call other people who have used arbitrators and see if they know something that you can't find out from any other source.

More from The Arbitration Boot Camp: www.RossRunkel.com/ABC