Part IX Costs, Funding, and Ideas for Optimization, 27 ‘Other Costs’ in International Arbitration: A Review of the Recoverability of Internal and Third-Party Funding Costs

Subject(s):

Jurisdiction — Arbitral tribunals — Arbitrators — International courts and tribunals, decisions — International courts and tribunals, procedure

This chapter explores the types of costs that may be awarded in arbitral proceedings, analysing the underlying principles governing the recoverability of costs in international arbitration. In particular, it focuses on how claims relating to the costs of in-house legal counsel; staff and senior management; and third-party funding arrangements are generally decided by arbitral tribunals. While most arbitral rules expressly allow for the recovery of arbitral costs and reasonable legal fees incurred by external counsel, the position is less clear where the fees of in-house lawyers, lost management time, or third-party funding arrangements are concerned. In theory, in-house counsel fees should be recoverable where parties are able to demonstrate the reasonableness and necessity of these costs. As for management costs, a party should in principle be able to recover such costs in arbitration if it can prove that the time spent on the arbitration caused substantial disruption to its business. Costs underwritten by a third-party funding arrangement should, in principle, be similarly recoverable provided the funding arrangement was agreed at arm’s length and is permitted under the applicable laws.