Justifiable doubts – questioning the repeat appointment of arbitrators

It is critical to the integrity of the commercial arbitration process that the arbitrator is both impartial and seen to be impartial. One factor that can affect the perceived impartiality of an arbitrator is the repeated appointment of that arbitrator by the same party.

The recent English High Court case of Arthur Aldcroft v International Cotton Association Limited [2017] EWHC 642 (Comm) has raised a number of interesting issues in relation to the repeat appointments of arbitrators and the steps that are being taken by institutions to protect against any perception of bias. In that case, the Court held that a rule restricting the number of appointments that an arbitrator can accept from the same party was valid.