Launch of The Young Lawyer’s Rule

The International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), a global non-profit organization that advances dispute prevention and resolution practices, has launched the 2018 revised Non-Administered Rules for Arbitration of Domestic and International Disputes, adding a new rule that aims to increase opportunities for junior lawyers to take a more active role in arbitration hearings.

The new “Young Lawyer Rule” empowers tribunals to encourage lead counsel to share witness examination and/or legal argument with more junior attorneys. The Young Lawyer Rule has been added under Rule 12 and reads as follows:

12.5     In order to support the development of the next generation of lawyers, the Tribunal, in its discretion, may encourage lead counsel to permit more junior lawyers with significantly less arbitration experience than lead counsel to examine witnesses at the hearing and present argument. The Tribunal, in its discretion, may permit experienced counsel to provide assistance or support, where appropriate, to a lawyer with significantly less experience during the examination of witnesses or argument. Notwithstanding the contents of this Rule 12.5, the ultimate decision of who speaks on behalf of the client in an arbitration is for the parties and their counsel, not the Tribunal.

CPR is the first arbitral institution to formally incorporate a rule of this kind. The revised 2018 Non-Administered Rules for Arbitration of Domestic and International Disputes can be found here and have come into effect on March 1, 2018.

Written by Ruxandra Gheorghe.

Ruxandra Gheorghe is completing her Masters in International Migration and Human Rights Law at the Brussels School of International Studies, specializing in anti-human trafficking.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Shopping Basket
Scroll to Top