Arbitrator Accreditation study guide
Arbitrator Accreditation · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
Arbitrator Accreditation is a professional credential for dispute resolution practitioners who want formal recognition of their ability to conduct arbitrations and issue reasoned awards. Candidates typically come from legal practice, commercial advisory, construction and engineering disputes, and mediation backgrounds, and are usually seeking to move from party representation or facilitative practice into determinative decision-making. The assessment is organised around four equally weighted domains: arbitration practice and procedure; award writing and decision-making; arbitration law and regulatory framework; and ethics, conduct and professional standards. Because the domains carry equal weight, a candidate who is strong in procedure but weak in award drafting or ethics cannot rely on one area to compensate for another. The Arbitrator Accreditation study guide has 4 sections and about 1,292 words.
01Arbitration Practice and Procedure: Managing the Case from Notice to Hearing
Every arbitration moves through a recognisable sequence: the request and answer, constitution of the tribunal, the first procedural order, document production, witness exchange, the hearing, post-hearing briefs, and the award. Candidates should be able to place any interlocutory dispute on that spine, because the correct procedural response usually depends on the stage reached.
343 words, about 2 min02Award Writing and Decision-Making: Structure, Reasoning and Enforceability
The award must identify the parties, the tribunal, the procedural history, the parties' claims, the issues, the tribunal's reasoning, the operative dispositive section, and the place and date of issuance. It must be signed by the tribunal, and the seat must be stated.
348 words, about 2 min03Arbitration Law and Regulatory Framework: Seat, Law and Enforcement
Candidates must keep separate the law governing the arbitration agreement, the law of the seat (which governs procedural support and setting aside), and the law governing the substance of the dispute. Questions frequently conflate them.
310 words, about 2 min04Ethics, Conduct and Professional Standards for Arbitrators
Independence concerns relationships; impartiality concerns state of mind. Candidates must know that disclosure obligations are continuing and that the test is usually objective: whether a reasonable third party would doubt the arbitrator's impartiality.
291 words, about 1 min