Arbitration is a process similar to going to Court, but with a number of advantages. Our arbitrators can give you a fair and legally binding decision. They have the powers of a court without the delay and cost of court proceeding. A case which would take many months in court proceedings can often be resolved, confidentially, in a matter of weeks before an arbitrator.

The parties, with the guidance of the arbitrator, agree a procedure which meets their needs, or can adopt a fuller court-type process but without the delays and administrative oversights which so often plague court proceedings. The arbitrator can adapt the process to the needs of your particular case. Any hearings can usually be arranged around your work or childcare commitments at a place convenient to you.

Once the arbitrator has made an award, the Court will convert the award into a formal court order through an expedited process.  They will have routes of appeal open to them just they would following court proceedings.  Unless there is something very wrong with the arbitrator’s award (in similar circumstances to where a court judgment could be appealed), a court will uphold the arbitral award and the parties will be bound by it.

Ordinarily, arbitrators (once appointed) have the same powers to make directions and orders as a High Court Judge.  The arbitrator can therefore order disclosure and expert evidence in the same way as a court would, and can make all the final orders available to the court.  The courts and arbitrators co-operate, so that if the parties need access to a power of the court which is not available to the arbitrator (usually injunctions or enforcements orders, such as freezing orders or committal to prison for contempt of court), an urgent application can be made to a judge on that discrete issue.  The final order is enforceable in all the same ways as a normal court order, and in a number of additional ways.

One Pump Court arbitrators are experienced lawyers, who following judicial references, training and assessment, have been appointed to the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and are regulated by it.  They have to decide the case in the same fair, independent way as a judge would.