The IBA Guidelines on Party Representation in International Arbitration - Levelling the Playing Field?

Abstract

On 25 May 2013 the International Bar Association Council adopted the IBA Guidelines on Pgrty Representation in International Arbitration. This relatively short document responds to the increasingly frequent pleas made by practitioners for guidance on the ethical standards applicable to party representatives in international arbitration. The IBA Guidelines have already generated substantial interest within the arbitration community. This article considers the background to the IBA Guidelines, the difficulties which arise in relation to the ethical conduct of counsel in international arbitration, and specific practical issues which face arbitration practitioners such as the application of multiple ethical standards ('double deontology') and the perceived proliferation of so-called guerrilla arbitration tactics. It also reviews previous attempts to codify ethical standards by leading practitioners such as Cyrus Benson and R. Doak Bishop, and compares them to the approach adopted in the IBA Guidelines. The article closes by considering the new IBA Guidelines in detail, critiquing its provisions, considering what has been omitted and draws tentative conclusions about the likelihood of the IBA Guidelines proving to be a successful addition to the 'soft law' of international arbitration.