Every lawyer knows that when a new client comes in with a commercial dispute, one of the first things you ask for is a copy of the governing contract. What may have sounded like a simple case, however, rapidly becomes more complicated when the parties have agreed to arbitration. And when the parties to the dispute are international, the case becomes still more complicated. The lawyer may suddenly be confronted with unfamiliar rules of procedure, foreign law, documents written in another language, and key witnesses whose command of English, while fine for a casual conversation, is insufficient for legal proceedings.
What are the first steps when confronted with international arbitration?