The Commercial Arbitration Playbook: From Arbitrator Selection to the Final Award

Arbitration is no longer the informal, low-stakes alternative to litigation it is often assumed to be. Parties routinely commit seven- and eight-figure disputes to a single arbitrator or a small panel, with limited grounds for appeal — which means the case is largely won or lost in the procedural middle of the proceeding: the preliminary conference, the exchange of information, motion practice, and the presentation of evidence at the hearing.

Let the scheduling order drift, and the case loses focus before the first witness is prepared. Let discovery run unchecked, and costs balloon while the record grows unmanageable. Try the case the way you would try it to a jury, and even strong evidence can miss the decision points the arbitrator actually needs resolved.

This program walks counsel through the working life of a commercial arbitration — the preliminary conference, the scheduling order, discovery and ESI, dispositive and emergency motions, witness and expert presentation, and post-hearing briefing — and delivers practitioner frameworks for each stage: how to use the preliminary conference to control the case, how to keep information exchange proportional, how to examine witnesses and manage exhibits in front of an arbitrator rather than a jury, and how to use closing submissions to frame the issues for decision.