EFFECTIVE USE OF ARBITRATION

[...]many companies choose arbitration as the preferred method of dispute resolution. [...]sometimes the arbitration agreement is silent as to important issues, or so ambiguous, or in conflict with other provisions of the contract documents, that the parties find themselves embroiled in court proceedings-just where they did not want to be-for purposes of interpreting or enforcing the arbitration agreement. Anecdotal but informative studies appear to indicate that many clients feel that pre-dispute negotiation of arbitration agreements is neither openended nor a priority, given many other, more significant business terms and conditions in play. [...]when the arbitration provisions of a contract are limited to a few sentences or even a clause that merely mandates arbitration pursuant to the rules of a particular institutional arbitration organization, parties may be reluctant to try to change this construct, even if they know that they would like to and probably could negotiate something better. [...]when parties enter into contractual relationships they can only hazard educated guesses about the nature and scope of disputes that might arise, requiring contractual templates to be flexible enough to accommodate whatever might happen.