An arbitration dilemma: party-appointed experts vs. tribunal-appointed experts. A comparative study

Arbitration, as an alternate method of solving disputes, is greatly reliant on its capacity to offer an efficient procedure, in terms of costs involved and time consumed to reach a decision on parties’ disputes. Taking of evidence in a cost and time effective manner is, therefore, a vital issue, one that the parties and the arbitral tribunal consider with the utmost care; it is the screen that reflects the image that the parties are trying to credit as being the truth. Expert witnesses are often called upon to present a professional view on technical or economic aspects that cannot be decided by the arbitral tribunal without proper expert information. The object of this study is to offer a comparative analysis of the choices that the parties and the arbitral tribunal have to make in taking expert evidence as well as the implications of these choices.