Seat And Venue Of Arbitration: Which One Binds?

In arbitration, when two parties fall into a dispute, they go back to their agreement. That agreement usually names a place where the arbitration will happen. Sometimes it names two places, one where the proceedings will be legally anchored and one where the hearings will physically take place. These two places are not the same thing. They do different jobs and carry different legal weight. The legal anchor is called the seat. The place of hearings is called the venue. The seat determines jurisdiction and the applicable law. The venue decides where the lawyers and arbitrators will sit. One is about law. The other is about logistics. In short, the seat is where the law sits. The venue is just where everyone else does. Though as the law shows, the line between the two is not always drawn clearly in the agreement itself. Many agreements name only a venue without ever using the word “seat”. When that happens, questions arise. Can that venue be treated as the seat? Does naming a place for