COMMENT OF THE DAY #54

ARBITRATION

If being an arbitrator is your career, you will be mixing hearings with reading submissions +drafting awards/directions. In the course of a month, challenges arise that can throw you off course – a bereavement; an ailment; a relative in difficulties; an unexpected tax bill; a matrimonial upset; transport delays in getting to a hearing.

You do not hear about this in ~Winfield on Torts or the Law of Contract or in the Arbitration Act – and yet these things matter so much. It’s a mixture of life’s random events + daily personal issues. They are as much a part of your make up as your review of the law of document disclosure. You may be an arbitrator but you are also a human being + you need plans, strategies, + discipline to handle the flotsam + jetsom of life.

First thing – as Corporal Jones used to say – Don’t Panic! Expect problems. Allow for problems. Recognise them. Address them. Assess the strength + weakness of the issue, then learn how to put it to one side so that you limit the damage that it can create. Be strong – be clear-headed – be analytical and then move on.

If you can keep your head when all around you…