LCIA arbitration procedure — from Request for Arbitration to award

LCIA arbitration runs on a defined sequence with a small number of hard deadlines and one recurring rhythm: 28 days. This is the procedure as the LCIA Rules effective 1 October 2020 set it out, from the Request for Arbitration to the final award, with the article numbers so each step can be checked against the text.

Commencement — the Request

The claimant delivers a written Request for Arbitration to the Registrar (Article 1.1), electronically (Article 1.3). It must contain the parties’ full details, the full terms of the arbitration agreement with the contract it sits in, a summary of the dispute and its estimated monetary value, the claimant’s position on procedural matters — seat, language, number of arbitrators — any nominee where the agreement calls for party nomination, and confirmation that the registration fee has been paid and that copies have gone to every other party.

The date that matters is the Commencement Date: the day the Registrar receives the Request electronically, provided the LCIA has received the registration fee. If the fee arrives later, the Commencement Date moves to the date of actual receipt of the fee (Article 1.4). A Request unaccompanied by the fee is treated as not delivered and the arbitration as not commenced (Article 1.1(vi)). Where a limitation period is close, that is the provision to watch.

A claimant bringing several arbitrations may serve a composite Request, but must separately identify the amount in dispute, the transaction and the claim in each (Article 1.2). Each proceeds separately unless the LCIA Court or the tribunal decides otherwise.

The Response

The respondent has 28 days from the Commencement Date to deliver a Response (Article 2.1), containing its contact details, confirmation or denial of the claim, a summary of its defence and any counterclaim or cross-claim, its position on the procedural matters raised in the Request, any nominee, and confirmation of delivery to the other parties.

Two consequences of missing that deadline are asymmetric and worth separating. Failing to nominate an arbitrator within the time for the Response is an irrevocable waiver of the opportunity to nominate (Article 2.4). Failing to deliver the Response itself is not: it does not by itself preclude the respondent from denying the claim or advancing a defence or counterclaim later. The tribunal is formed regardless — a missing, late or incomplete Response does not impede formation (Article 5.1).

Formation of the tribunal

The LCIA Court appoints promptly after the Response, or promptly after 28 days from the Commencement Date if none arrives (Article 5.6). No party or third person appoints an arbitrator: the LCIA Court alone is empowered to do so, taking party nominations into account (Article 5.7). A party nomination is treated as exactly that — a nomination — and the Court will refuse a nominee who is not compliant or is otherwise unsuitable (Article 7.1).

The default is a sole arbitrator unless the parties have agreed otherwise in writing or the Court decides a three-member tribunal is appropriate (Article 5.8). Where the parties are of different nationalities, a sole or presiding arbitrator will not share a party’s nationality unless the others agree in writing (Article 6.1) — and nationality for a company includes the nationalities of its controlling shareholders (Article 6.2), which catches more structures than parties expect.

With three or more parties who have not agreed to be treated as two “sides”, the Court appoints the whole tribunal without regard to any party’s nomination (Article 8.1).

Expedited formation and the Emergency Arbitrator

Two distinct routes address urgency, and they are not alternatives to each other.

Expedited formation (Article 9A) asks the Court to abridge the timetable for constituting the tribunal in a case of exceptional urgency.

The Emergency Arbitrator (Article 9B) asks for a temporary sole arbitrator to decide emergency relief before the tribunal exists. The application must set out the grounds of urgency and the specific relief claimed, and be accompanied by confirmation that the Special Fee has been paid — without actual receipt the application is dismissed (Article 9.5). The Court appoints within three days of receipt (Article 9.6), and the Emergency Arbitrator decides no later than 14 days after appointment (Article 9.8). The tribunal, once formed, may confirm, vary, discharge or revoke that order (Article 9.11).

Article 9B does not apply where the arbitration agreement predates 1 October 2014 and the parties have not opted in, or where they have opted out in writing (Article 9.16). Neither route displaces the right to seek interim measures from a state court before the tribunal is formed (Article 9.13).

Challenges and replacement

A challenge must be brought within 14 days of the tribunal’s formation or of becoming aware of the grounds (Article 10.3). A party may challenge an arbitrator it nominated only on grounds arising after the appointment. If the other parties agree within 14 days, the Court revokes the appointment without reasons (Article 10.4); otherwise the Court decides, in writing and with reasons (Article 10.6).

Unfitness is defined: deliberate violation of the arbitration agreement, failure to act fairly and impartially, or failure to conduct the arbitration with reasonable efficiency, diligence and industry (Article 10.2).

The written stage

Unless the parties or the tribunal decide otherwise, the written stage follows a 28-day cycle (Article 15):

• Within 28 days of notification of the tribunal’s formation, the claimant elects to treat its Request as its Statement of Case, or delivers a Statement of Case (Article 15.2).
• Within 28 days of that, the respondent elects to treat its Response as its Statement of Defence, or delivers a Statement of Defence and any Counterclaim (Article 15.3).
• Within 28 days of that, the claimant delivers a Statement of Reply, including a Defence to Counterclaim where there is one (Article 15.4).
• Where the Reply contains a Defence to Counterclaim, the respondent has 28 days to reply to it (Article 15.5).

No further written statement may be submitted without an order (Article 15.6). The election mechanism is worth noting at the drafting stage: a Request or Response prepared thoroughly enough can be adopted as the pleading, removing a round.

Seat, law and language

The parties may agree the seat before the tribunal is formed, and after formation with the tribunal’s written consent (Article 16.1). In default, the seat is London, unless the tribunal orders another seat as more appropriate after hearing the parties (Article 16.2). Hearings and deliberations may take place anywhere, or remotely, without changing the seat: the arbitration is treated for all purposes as conducted at the seat and the award as made there (Article 16.3).

The law applicable to the arbitration agreement is the law of the seat unless the parties agreed otherwise in writing (Article 16.4) — but the LCIA Rules themselves are interpreted under English law regardless (Article 16.5).

Hearings, witnesses and experts

A party has the right to a hearing before any ruling on jurisdiction or any award on the merits, unless the parties agreed in writing to a documents-only arbitration (Article 19.1). A hearing may be in person, virtual, or a combination, and may run as several part-hearings (Article 19.2). All hearings are held in private unless the parties agree otherwise in writing (Article 19.4).

Witness evidence may be presented in written form (Article 20.3), and a party or the tribunal may require a witness to attend for oral questioning; refusal without good cause lets the tribunal discount or exclude the written testimony (Article 20.5). A party or its representatives may interview potential witnesses (Article 20.6), and a party’s own officers, employees or shareholders may testify as witnesses (Article 20.7). The tribunal may appoint its own expert after consulting the parties (Article 21.1).

Interim and conservatory measures

The tribunal may order security for the amount in dispute, preservation or sale of property, and provisional relief of a kind it could grant in an award (Article 25.1). It may also order a claimant to provide security for legal and arbitration costs, and may stay or dismiss the claim if the order is not complied with (Article 25.2).

State court applications are available before the tribunal is formed, and afterwards only in exceptional cases with the tribunal’s authorisation (Article 25.3). By agreeing to LCIA arbitration the parties are taken to have agreed not to apply to a state court for security for costs (Article 25.4).

The award

The tribunal must seek to make its final award as soon as reasonably possible and endeavour to do so no later than three months following the last submission, on a timetable notified to the parties (Article 15.10). Awards are in writing with reasons unless all parties agree otherwise, state the date and the seat, and may be signed electronically and in counterparts (Article 26.2). An award may be expressed in any currency (Article 26.3).

Where a three-member tribunal cannot agree, the issue is decided by majority; failing a majority, the presiding arbitrator decides alone (Article 26.5). If an arbitrator refuses to sign, the remaining signatures suffice provided the reason is stated (Article 26.6).

The award is transmitted to the parties by the Registrar only once all Arbitration Costs have been paid in full (Article 26.7) — a practical point where one side has funded the arbitration alone. Every award is final and binding, and the parties irrevocably waive any appeal or review so far as the law permits (Article 26.8).

Within 28 days of receipt, a party may request correction of a computational, clerical or typographical error or an ambiguity (Article 27.1), or an additional award on a claim presented but not decided (Article 27.3).

Costs

Arbitration Costs are determined by the LCIA Court under the Schedule of Costs, and the parties are jointly and severally liable to the LCIA and the tribunal for them (Article 28.1). Under the Schedule effective 1 December 2023 these comprise a £1,950 registration fee, Secretariat time charged hourly by role, tribunal fees at hourly rates in the range £250–650, and a sum equivalent to 5% of tribunal fees as LCIA overhead. Time is charged in minimum units of six minutes.

The general principle is that costs follow the event — they should reflect the parties’ relative success and failure — but the tribunal may also weigh the parties’ conduct, including cooperation on time and cost and any non-cooperation causing delay and expense (Article 28.4).

An agreement made before a dispute that one party will bear the costs whatever the outcome is effective only if confirmed in writing after the Commencement Date (Article 28.5). If the arbitration is abandoned or settled before the final award, the parties remain jointly and severally liable for the costs determined by the Court (Article 28.6).

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Confidentiality

The parties undertake as a general principle to keep awards and materials created for the arbitration confidential, save where disclosure is required by legal duty, to protect or pursue a legal right, or to enforce or challenge an award before a court (Article 30.1). The same undertaking must be sought from everyone the party involves — representatives, witnesses, experts, service providers. Tribunal deliberations remain confidential to its members (Article 30.2), and the LCIA does not publish any award without the written consent of all parties and the tribunal (Article 30.3).

Frequently asked questions

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