Arbitration and Oral Evidence

An indispensable guide for arbitrators, lawyers and anyone with an interest in arbitration procedures. In recent years, international commercial arbitration procedures have made great strides to bring into line different traditions of law and practice. According to some observers, written witness statements, taken in advance, have lessened the chance that surprises will be sprung upon counsel and arbitrators during oral testimony. But considerable problems remain. The aim of Arbitration and Oral Evidence, prepared by the ICC Institute of World Business Law, is to give the reader a thorough picture of the practical issues raised by the oral presentation of evidence and to present a balanced series of solutions to the problems involved. This is the second in a series of Dossiers from the ICC Institute.

The evidential relationship between contemporary documentation, written testimony and oral testimony is a permanent challenge to all arbitrators and counsel in an international arbitration. However experienced the factual or expert witness may be, an oral witness has to be prepared for his testimony and a witness statement has to be written, both with legal help. The issues divide counsel and arbitrators, and there is a need for a better understanding of what is right and wrong in the interaction between written and oral evidence. Arbitration and Oral Evidence lays out the issues in a transparent and easy-to-understand way.

Written by expert arbitrators and practitioners, some of whom are affiliated with the ICC’s Court of Arbitration, Arbitration and Oral Evidence, approaches the problems of oral evidence from several points of view, among them:

• Oral evidence vs documentary evidence
• Witness statements
• Benefiting from oral testimony of expert witnesses
• Counsel-witness relations

Taken together, these observations provide a comprehensive overview of the problems and possible solutions.