ESQ Legal Practice Magazine JUNE 2014 EDITION | Page 63

Arbitration and ADR has just
been recently released.
Arbitration under the ICC
Rules of Arbitration is a
formal procedure leading to a
binding decision from a
neutral arbitral Tribunal
susceptible to enforcement
pursuant to both domestic
arbitration laws and international treaties such as the New
jurisdictions in Nigeria are
also looking into adopting the York Convention.
same process. Lagos state has
also passed the Arbitration
The ADR (amicable dispute
law 2009 and Rules which
resolution) Rules aim to
projects Lagos as a seat of
facilitate a negotiable settlearbitration.
ment with the assistance of an
independent neutral. The
At a recent forum in London,
default procedure under the
experts agree that while litigation ADR Rules is mediation, but
appears the best option for
the procedures also encomdispute resolution in London,
Arbitration is preferred in Nigeria. pass conciliation, neutral
evaluation and a variety of
Why is arbitration the better
option?
combinations of these and
other techniques.
I think this suggestion has
been quoted out of context.
There is no preference in the
Both sets of Rules provides for
two regimes of litigation and administered procedures
arbitration both in England
which requires parties to file
and Nigeria. Arbitration is
an application with the
regarded as a private law
International Court of
system for the settlement of
Arbitration(“the court”) for
disputes under which the
arbitration or the International
parties agree to appoint their Centre for ADR (“the Centre”)
own judge or judges (arbitra- for ADR as appropriate.
tor(s)) who will decide
according to their agreement
The key innovation under the
and the parties agree to be
bound by their decision. It is 2012 Rules deals with –
different from litigation which (1) The general provisions
is a public law system
and the Arbitral Tribunal
whereby parties refer their
(2) Improving time and cost
disputes to the State Court for
efficiency – the inclusion
resolution and no previous
of case management
agreement is necessary for
conference to consult
litigation. Also in Litigation a
parties on procedural
trial Court consists of a
measures which may
judge(s) appointed by the
enhance the time table of
State and proceedings are
the arbitral proceedings.
public and open while
Examples of such case
procedures are in accordance
management techniques
with the Rules of Court.
are listed in APPENDIX
IV of the Rules and
includeArbitration takes a vibrant
place in the English judicial
(a) Bifurcating the
system, under the recent UK
proceedings or rendering
Arbitration Ac Ѐ