International Arbitration Summer School 2026 by Central Asia Dispute Resolution Association
Session 5 of 13: The Role of Arbitral Institutions and Arbitration Rules - ICC Arbitration
Today’s session on arbitral institutions added useful context to a question I raised at the ICC China Arbitration Day in Chengdu on 2 July 2026:
…if arbitration Costs and timelines keep rising, would clients be willing to instruct a highly capable local practitioner who can do the work at materially lower cost?
The answer emerging from Chengdu was clear: …users want counsel who are capable of doing the job, not simply an expensive or branded firm...
Today’s discussion helps explain why that matters. The speaker referred to an ICC cost analysis under which, on average, around 82% of expenditure comprised party-side costs, including lawyers, experts, witnesses, travel and hearings; around 16% related to tribunal fees and expenses, while approximately 2% related to ICC administrative charges.
The practical implication is not that parties should automatically choose local counsel or the cheapest option. It is that counsel selection should be driven by competence, relevant governing-law knowledge, procedural experience, language, sector expertise and value.
Where a local or regional firm has those capabilities, there is no reason to assume that international arbitration requires premium foreign counsel merely because of the institution, seat or label attached to the dispute.
For more complex, high-value or multi-jurisdictional matters, the appropriate solution may be a specialist boutique or a combined local–international team.
One further practical reminder from the session: arbitration is not automatically confidential. The ICC Rules do not impose a general default confidentiality obligation on the parties. If confidentiality is commercially important, parties should address it expressly in their arbitration agreement and consider the scope of any confidentiality protections needed for the proceedings, documents and award.
Thanks to speaker Ulrich Kopetzki of ICC Arbitration and today’s moderators of the Central Asia Dispute Resolution Association!
#icc #hkiac #cadra #siac #cietac #Lcia
