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LEGAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT - EXPEDITED & ADJUDICATED ARBITRATION

ADJUDICATED ARBITRATION

The occurrence of a dispute may itself give rise to delays in a project, and may also breed additional legal processes such as lien claims.  Both parties may agree that the arbitrator shall determine a dispute on an expedited basis, but that the outcome may be reconsidered after the project is complete on the request of either party.  Although this ‘temporary finality’ process must be used with care, the British experience over the past decade has found that matters decided on this basis are rarely re-opened after the project is complete.

ARBITRATION

An adjudicative process that is governed by contract between two disputing parties and by statute, arbitration provides an alternative to the civil litigation process.  Although the statute provides for judicial overview and intervention in limited circumstances, the parties choose an arbitrator, the process by which the arbitration will be conducted, and the finality of the result.  On account of the ‘learning of the law’ obtained and practised by the legal profession, most arbitrations emulate the civil litigation process and the well-defined rules governing it.  Arbitrations, however, are not bound by those rules of civil procedure, and the parties can choose how they want their dispute to be governed and determined. 

EXPEDITED ARBITRATION

The parties may agree that a dispute shall be governed by rules that expedite the selection of the arbitrator, the scope of the claims, the timing of the exchange of claims and responses, the extent of the documents to be produced, the number of witnesses and the length of the hearing, and the timing and extent of the decision to be rendered by the arbitrator.  Pre-selecting the arbitrator at the time the contract is negotiated will both expedite the process and reduce the likelihood of unanticipated legal pitfalls being encountered when the parties create their own procedures.

APPLYING LEGAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

Applying project management processes in conjunction with expedited and adjudicated arbitration returns to the project manager and to the project stakeholders the balancing of scope, cost, time, risk and quality of those legal disputes.