Practical Lessons From Arbitrating Claims From Foreign Investments In Hydocarbon Projects : Turkmenistan ~ Part 2

Trial lawyers view everything with hindsight: in litigation, the focus is on what went wrong and who is responsible. As a result, many lessons can be learned from arbitrations about how to avoid arbitration in the first place.

Problems begin with the contract. Parties negotiating agreements rarely think about litigation or arbitration: the focus is on the deal and particularly the economic aspects of the deal. No one wants to think about what might happen if a dispute arose, other than to say something about arbitration so as to avoid the horrible cost of litigation in the courts. The result can be a recipe for business as well as litigation disaster. But understanding the functions that a contract will play if a dispute does arise can both simplify any arbitration that follows and make a dispute less likely altogether.