header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
23 January 2026 / Gustavo Moser
Issue: 8146 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Arbitration , ADR , International
printer mail-detail

Early determination: an appetite for efficiency

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
240519
To gain ground in arbitration, measured early determination is key, writes Gustavo Moser
  • With early determination, tribunals can dismiss plainly hopeless claims or defences efficiently.
  • Recent institutional and legislative reforms codify this power, promoting efficiency while safeguarding fairness.
  • Tribunals must apply it carefully to avoid due-process risks.

Early determination reconciles two arbitral imperatives: efficiency and fairness. It allows tribunals to dispose swiftly of claims or defences that are plainly unsustainable, reducing costs and delay without compromising procedural integrity. Once exceptional, the mechanism is now a regular feature of modern rule sets and legislation.

Institutional & legislative momentum

Arbitral institutions worldwide now expressly empower tribunals to dismiss manifestly unmeritorious or clearly unsustainable claims or defences. The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes introduced this power in 2006 (r 41(5)), later adopted by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (2016 r 29; 2025 r 47), the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce Arbitration Institute (2017, art 40; 2023, art 39), and Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (2018

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

Senior appointments in insurance services and commercial services announced

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Aviation disputes practice strengthened by London partner hire

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Residential property lawyer promoted to partnership

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Renters’ Rights revolution begins—brace for tribunal chaos
he abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC
NLJ this week: Civil procedure gets a spring overhaul
Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
NLJ this week: Why GP complaints are going nowhere
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
NLJ this week: Prenups meet a jurisdictional brick wall
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
NLJ this week: Has Rylands v Fletcher come back from the dead?
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll