Confidentiality in Arbitration

Abstract

Confidentiality has long been part of the mythology of Alternative dispute resolution (ADR). It one of the apparent virtues of ADR is that its processes have been viewed as confidential. This aspect of the mythology has come under more scrutiny in recent years, particularly in the Arbitration Context . Arbitration has become a permanent fixture of the landscape of civil justice. Arbitration is promoted as a “private” or “confidential” process, raising some moral and perhaps ethical obligations on the part of the profession to be candid with consumers as to the meaning and limitations of arbitration confidentiality. Such candor is important because courts have begun to receive challenges to arbitration confidentiality, and more can be expected in the future as both voluntary and mandatory arbitration continue to expand and become more institutionalized.