The 2013 Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre Kaplan Lecture – Arbitral Decision-Making: Art, Science or Sport?

Abstract

The following article is a print version of the annual Kaplan Lecture delivered by Lucy Reed in Hong Kong in December 2012.The lecture is divided into two parts. It begins with a discussion of heuristics and cognitive biases in adjudication. It relates various findings in experimental settings of how cognitive biases such as the anchoring effect, hindsight bias, egocentric bias, cultural effects and extremeness aversion may have an impact on adjudicators. The second part describes how, from a practical point of view, both advocates and arbitrators can reduce the potential for bias, and increase efficiency and responsiveness in arbitral proceedings.