Introduction

This fifth edition of Global Arbitration Review’s The Guide to Advocacy builds on the success of its four prior editions. Each edition offers the opportunity to explore new aspects of the advocate’s role in international arbitration – from the artistry of oral and written advocacy to the expertise of regional or sector-specific arbitration to the guile of a master strategist. With this fifth edition, we are pleased to offer our esteemed readers new chapters on cultural considerations in the Arab world by Ziad Mahayni and Mohamed Mahayni and in Spanish-speaking Latin America by Paola Aldrete, Ana Sofía Mosqueda and Cecilia Azar of Galicia Abogados. In addition, we are pleased to present chapters on the role of the expert in arbitration by Luke Steadman and tips for second-chairing an oral argument by Tunde Oyewole, and finally a chapter on advocacy in virtual hearings by Kap-You (Kevin) Kim, John P Bang and Mino Han.

And yet, this fifth edition marks a pronounced departure from the prior editions of The Guide to Advocacy because it is the first edition of this publication in the post-covid era. Since the fourth edition was released, arbitration practitioners have been forced to explore new ways of pursuing the administration of justice. This has led practitioners to adopt tools of technology that have been available for some time, but ill exploited for a multitude of reasons. While this does not mean that old methods will become obsolete, advocates young and old must make do with the changes that covid disruption has wrought. Remote hearings, paperless filings and virtual bundles are now a common feature of any arbitration and here to stay for good.

And this is not without impact on the advocate’s job. In the past year, arbitration advocates have been forced to learn how to harness the ‘new’ technology to persuade tribunals effectively and adapt their skill set to new media. Our Guide responds to the changing face of the art of advocacy. To accompany the chapter on remote hearings by Messrs Kim, Bang and Han, we have asked all of our authors – returning and new – to update their contributions with content on post-covid advocacy. This new content, no doubt, will set the standard for advocacy in the post-covid era.

Advocacy in arbitration covers a limitless array of concepts, skills and viewpoints. It is, no doubt, the art of persuasion: the capacity to transcend legal, cultural, contextual, linguistic and technological barriers to secure a favourable outcome for one’s client. It is the arrows in the advocate’s quiver that allow him or her to marshal evidence and present it in such a way that it guides the arbitrators’ decision-making – the power of trenchant and tactful prose, a compelling opening presentation, the artfulness of a line of questioning in cross-examination, the ability to transcend distance and physical barriers to draw the decision-maker into one’s argument. But advocacy in arbitration is also the art of strategy: the ability to craft a case theory from a boundless set of facts and an exotic applicable law, the adroitness to tailor the arbitral process to suit one’s strategy. The Guide to Advocacy seeks to pull together the diverse strands of arbitral advocacy in one compendium and offer the reader the views of some of the most renowned practitioners in the field.

As you pore over the pages of this Guide, leading arbitration practitioners will invite you into their break-out room and offer you their thoughts on advocacy through each step of the arbitral process. They will share with you their meditations on how to forge a robust case strategy, execute eloquent written advocacy, conduct effective direct and cross-examination, act as an indispensable resource for the first chair in a hearing, deliver persuasive opening and closing presentations, and much more.

Notes