2 The Impact of U.S. Litigation »
Oliver J. Armas, Thomas N. Pieper
From: International Commercial Arbitration in New York (2nd Edition)
Edited By: James H. Carter, John Fellas
This chapter provides an account of some of the salient aspects of the U.S. legal system that will help non-U.S. readers identify the “litigation baggage” U.S. lawyers may bring to an international arbitration. U.S.-trained lawyers acting as counsel or arbitrators in such cases will naturally bring with them into arbitration certain expectations that flow from their U.S. litigation experience (i.e., the so-called “litigation baggage”), which may differ from those of their non-U.S. trained colleagues. This is a direct product of the adversarial model employed by the U.S. common-law legal system. In the adversarial model, the lawyers take control of the litigation as advocates through much of the process. U.S. litigators will seek to be more involved in case management, feel greater entitlement to broad discovery, and prepare for a witness-oriented hearing.
