Not all conflicts are settled before ordinary courts. A growing number of international business relationships provide for arbitration in the event of a dispute, e.g. to avoid the feared partiality of a national court. Arbitration also offers other advantages: It is usually non-public, allows greater flexibility in the design of procedural rules and often offers better enforcement possibilities in Asian and South American countries than German court decisions. Even in national matters, arbitration clauses are agreed in certain industries in order to have the matter decided by arbitrators with industry expertise.
BLD lawyers have been representing clients in national and international arbitration proceedings for years or have been appointed as arbitrators. Therefore, our experts are familiar with the rules and practices of all recognised arbitration institutions. In the past, BLD lawyers have been involved in ICC and DIS arbitrations in particular, but also GAFTA in continental Europe, the UK, the USA and Asia, and in a wide range of areas, including product liability cases and recalls in the automotive, food, construction products and plant engineering sectors in arbitration proceedings. We also regularly provide arbitration opinions and act as expert witnesses on liability and insurance law issues.
In order to increase the chances of success, it is advisable to make use of our services at an early stage in a potential conflict. Together with our clients, we can thus regularly analyse the factual situation and possible liability risks or obligations to perform in good time and, on this basis, work out promising options for action in order to settle the dispute or, ideally, even avoid it.
If a dispute arises, we provide our clients with comprehensive legal advice. We evaluate legal positions, develop procedural strategies, conduct correspondence, document facts to preserve evidence, initiate proceedings, recommend arbitrators and experts and represent the client comprehensively in negotiations. BLD has particular experience in discovery and evidence gathering, which is often necessary in Anglo-American proceedings. Our aim is always to achieve the best possible result for the client in a cost-effective manner.
