For more than 80 years, arbitration has served as an alternative to litigation for the resolution of a wide range of disputes. Under the auspices of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), millions of disputes have been resolved quickly, fairly and efficiently. The FAA, in conjunction with two international conventions on arbitration codified in Title 9 of the U.S. Code, provides the framework for a vast number of domestic and international agreements that use impartial arbitration as a mechanism to provide efficient, fair and cost-effective dispute resolution.
However, the FAA is currently under siege. Several of the more serious threats are unintended consequences of legislative language and the erosion of 80-plus years of precedent regarding domestic and international cases. Other threats to arbitration, though perhaps well-intended, would needlessly abolish altogether the arbitration option in selected cases.
