majority of the documents it sought, the judge highlighted “the general public interest in maintaining the quality of and standards of arbitrators". Public interest is therefore regarded as a sufficiently important consideration to justify erosion of the general rule of arbitral confidentiality. In general, however, this should not give rise to undue concern on the part of businesses that are considering using arbitration; the contents of the documents which were disclosed to CIArb were already largely in the public domain due to their use at trial.
The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of Kiana Banafshe, intern at CMS London, in preparing this article.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Adam Greaves Partner, London
Liz Williams Professional Support Lawyer London
CMS provides clients with specialist, business-focused advice in law and tax matters. With 3,000 legal professionals across the world, working in sector-based teams and trained in project management, our focus is on our clients and fulfilling their objectives.