Why resort to arbitration?

Rights and obligations are reliable only as far as the means of protection are. In this context, belligerents resort more and more frequently to arbitration (ADR), a private and confidential alternate procedure, to resolve disputes involving (or putting at stake) rights or obligations, (particularly when the parties are from different jurisdictions). Moreover, some disputes have certain numbers of peculiarities which can be better approached within the framework of an arbitration procedure rather than within the state run judicial systems.

Comparative table on why to resort to arbitration for a common law or international (private and/or public) dispute

Characteristics common to numerous disputes	Legal proceedings	Arbitration
International dimension	multiple proceedings with different legislations that may come to differing results possibility of a real or presumed advantage for the party in whose country the proceedings are held	unique proceedings in accordance with the legislation determined by the parties arbitration proceedings and the arbitrator’s nationality may differ from the legislation, language and institutional culture of the parties
Technical matter	the adjudicator may not have the required expertise(s)	the parties may choose one or several arbitrators with the required expertise(s)
Matter of urgency	proceedings are often very long protective measures allowed in certain jurisdictions	the arbitrator(s) may shorten the proceedings arbitration may allow for protective measures; it will not oppose a protective measure before a judiciary power
Necessity of a final decision	Possibility to lodge one/several appeal(s)	Very few possibilities to lodge one/several appeal(s)
Confidentiality, business secrets and reputation	proceedings and decisions are public knowledge	proceedings and decisions are confidential