...Remote hearings are nothing new, but the COVID-19 crisis has forced international arbitration out of its comfort zone. Most steps in an international arbitration are done remotely nowadays, including holding case management conferences at the outset and/or mid-stream (often organized as telephone or videoconferences rather than as physical meetings) and exchanging written submissions via document share platforms. Possibly the last “piece of the puzzle” that typically remains as physical meetings are hearings, either on the merits or on major procedural issues. But the current COVID-19 pandemic forces international arbitration practitioners to reconsider this point and assess whether those hearings, too, can be held remotely. Depending on its length, the current crisis has the potential of being a real game-changer if international arbitral tribunals, as well as national courts around the globe, become used to holding hearings remotely. Such a paradigm shift might be something that many arbitration users have wanted for some time.

Originally published in New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer: Viral Changes in ADR During the Pandemic - Summer 2020, Vol. 13, No. 2.