As with litigation, arbitration also makes use of an adversarial approach to dispute resolution. Instead of a court-appointed judge, the arbitrator is an independent private person, such as a senior advocate or attorney, decided upon by the parties involved.

Arbitration is usually agreed upon by parties when signing a contract as the dispute resolution forum to which the parties to the contract are bound. In the event that an arbitrator cannot be mutually agreed upon by the parties to the dispute, an independent third party will nominate the arbitrator. Such a third party might be the current president of the Law Society.

Depending on the terms of the arbitration agreement entered into between the parties, the arbitrator usually has the discretion to set the rules for the arbitration. This often leads to a more robust, practical, time-efficient and cost-effective manner of resolving disputes. A significant positive aspect of arbitration is that it is much quicker than High Court litigation. There, case backlogs currently result in delays of two years or more. GSM Law can add considerable value in using arbitration to resolve disputes which may otherwise take far too long

There are other pros and cons to arbitration, and each case should be considered on its own merits. GSM Law should be contacted, either to act as independent arbitrators or represent parties in arbitration proceedings.

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