Why Is It Essential for Lawyers to Refer to Guides On Institutional Rules?

Institutional arbitration rules apply whenever a case is administered by an arbitration institution like ICC, HKIAC, LCIA, SIAC, etc. The procedural rules can be easily found online on their official website. They vitally govern the procedures and thus, their applications inevitably have a tremendous impact on the outcome and the process of a case. However, the rules are usually drafted in a broad manner, and thus, open to interpretations.Nevertheless, as the institutional decisions (which is the primary source of interpretations as law) on the procedural issues are confidential (and hence are neither necessarily fully published nor accessible), it can be difficult for lawyers to grasp the style of interpretation.The thrust of the problem is, lawyers from different legal systems or jurisdictions are accustomed to their own styles/methods of interpretation, and they easily overlook the fact that the institutional rules are subject to their own unique style of interpretation (by e.g. the Secretariat of the arbitration institutions, like the ICC). If lawyers do not apply the right method of interpretation and interpret the arbitration rules inaccurately, naturally the Secretariat will view the lawyers' submissions as less effective/helpful when dealing with procedural issues - thus hindering the case.However, there is a simple solution, and this article will explain this. In simple terms, The institutional guides - published by the institutions themselves - become the most practical resource for learning the interpretations, despite being a secondary source of law. They vitally describe the rationale/approach of the decisions and the interpretations.This work first appeared on the RMLNLU Arbitration Law Blog (Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University)