LCIA publishes arbitrator challenge decisions

Under the LCIA Arbitration Rules, a party to an LCIA administered arbitration can challenge the appointment or conduct of an arbitrator "if circumstances exist that give rise to justifiable doubts as to his impartiality or independence." The LCIA Court will decide the challenge and will write a reasoned decision which is conveyed to the parties in question. This requirement to provide reasons is unique among the institutions. It contrasts, for example, with the ICC which communicates only the result of its challenge decision and not the reasons for it.

In 2006, the LCIA voted to publish abstracts of its decisions on challenges to arbitrators, persuaded that the reasoned decisions would provide a wealth of learning to the arbitration community on the parameters of arbitrator independence and impartiality. The abstracts (one for each of the over thirty arbitrator challenges that have been decided to date by the LCIA Court) have finally been published (in 'sanitised' form) in a special edition of Arbitration International. Many relate to alleged relationships or connections between an arbitrator and one of the parties to the arbitration. Although they are not binding precedent, they provide important guidance when considering future challenge applications. Interestingly, challenges were only accepted in six of the total cases.