Advanced International Arbitration Strategy and Procedure Training Course

Course overview

International arbitration disputes are won or lost well before the hearing: in the arbitration clause, early case assessment, procedural timetable, document strategy, expert instructions and submissions architecture. Counsel, in-house lawyers and dispute managers must make defensible procedural choices across different institutional rules while controlling cost, preserving evidence and maintaining settlement leverage. This course addresses the practical challenge of converting a complex cross-border dispute into an executable arbitration strategy from notice of arbitration to award and enforcement.

Participants work through the strategic and procedural decisions that shape ICC, UNCITRAL and other institutional proceedings. They learn to analyse arbitration agreements, select and challenge arbitrators, prepare jurisdictional objections, frame claims and counterclaims, build a document-production case using Redfern Schedules, manage factual and expert evidence, and plan oral hearings. Particular attention is given to procedural orders, bifurcation, emergency and interim relief, privilege, confidentiality, damages presentations, post-award remedies and enforcement risk.

The programme is delivered through instructor-led analysis of realistic cross-border disputes, drafting workshops, tribunal simulations and peer critique. Participants prepare and refine a practical arbitration case strategy pack containing a dispute map, procedural roadmap, evidence plan, document-production requests, hearing plan and enforcement checklist. This provides both the attendee and their organisation with a reusable framework for managing live disputes, instructing external counsel and assessing arbitration exposure with greater discipline.

It is designed for professionals who already understand commercial contracts and dispute resolution fundamentals and now need stronger command of international arbitration procedure, case strategy and decision-making.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Assess arbitration clauses for seat, institution, governing law, appointment and enforcement risks
• Construct an early case assessment matrix covering merits, quantum, evidence, cost and settlement exposure
• Draft a procedural strategy using ICC, UNCITRAL and tribunal-case-management mechanisms
• Prepare jurisdictional objections and responses based on consent, scope, admissibility and arbitrability issues
• Build a Redfern Schedule that links document requests to pleaded issues and evidential relevance
• Design witness and expert evidence plans, including memorials, conferencing and cross-examination objectives
• Develop a hearing bundle and oral advocacy plan aligned to the tribunal’s procedural order
• Produce an award-to-enforcement action plan addressing annulment, recognition and asset-recovery risks

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• In-house Legal Counsel — who manage cross-border contractual disputes and instruct external arbitration counsel
• International Arbitration Lawyers — who need sharper procedural and evidential strategy for complex cases
• Disputes Partners and Senior Associates — who lead pleadings, hearings and client case decisions
• Claims Managers — who quantify dispute exposure and coordinate evidence across projects or business units
• Commercial Contract Managers — who administer disputed contracts and preserve records for arbitral proceedings
• Project Directors — who oversee major international projects where claims, delay and enforcement exposure affect delivery

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical familiarity with commercial contracts, dispute-resolution clauses and the basic stages of litigation or arbitration. The course assumes that attendees can read contractual provisions, identify governing-law and jurisdiction issues, and work with pleadings, witness statements and documentary evidence at a working level. Prior exposure to ICC, UNCITRAL, LCIA or SIAC proceedings is useful but not essential. Participants do not need advocacy experience, an arbitral appointment, specialist e-discovery software, or prior experience serving as tribunal secretary. This is not a beginner’s introduction to contract law or civil procedure.

Training methodology

The instructor uses a single cross-border commercial dispute to connect each procedural decision across the five days. Short technical briefings on rules and tribunal practice are followed by clause analysis, procedural-order drafting, Redfern Schedule workshops, witness and expert planning, and a simulated case-management conference. Participants work in counsel teams, test decisions against opposing arguments, and receive structured feedback on their written materials. The final session converts the case exercise into an individual application plan for a current or anticipated organisational dispute.

Course outline

Day 1: Arbitration Architecture and Early Case Strategy

• Arbitration agreement validity, scope and separability analysis
• Seat, governing law and institutional-rule selection
• ICC, UNCITRAL and ad hoc arbitration procedural comparisons
• Notice of arbitration and request for arbitration strategy
• Constitution of the tribunal and arbitrator challenge considerations
• Early case assessment matrix for merits, quantum and collectability
• Settlement posture and dispute-governance decision gates

Workshop: Participants analyse a defective cross-border arbitration clause and produce an early case assessment matrix with recommended commencement options.

Day 2: Pleadings, Jurisdiction and Procedural Design

• Statement of claim and statement of defence architecture
• Jurisdiction, admissibility and arbitrability objections
• Counterclaims, joinder and consolidation strategy
• Terms of reference and case-management conference preparation
• Procedural Order No. 1 drafting principles
• Bifurcation of jurisdiction, liability and quantum issues
• Emergency arbitrator and interim-measures applications

Workshop: Teams draft key provisions of a Procedural Order No. 1 and present a bifurcation recommendation at a simulated case-management conference.

Day 3: Evidence, Disclosure and Experts

• IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence framework
• Document preservation, legal hold and data-source mapping
• Redfern Schedule requests, objections and tribunal rulings
• Privilege, confidentiality and without-prejudice material
• Witness statement design and fact-witness preparation
• Party-appointed experts and tribunal-appointed experts
• Quantum evidence, damages models and expert conferencing

Workshop: Participants prepare a Redfern Schedule and evidence plan that prioritises documents, witnesses, privilege review and expert issues.

Day 4: Hearing Strategy and Oral Presentation

• Pre-hearing submissions and agreed-list-of-issues development
• Hearing bundle architecture and electronic hearing-room workflow
• Opening submissions and tribunal-focused case theory
• Cross-examination objectives and witness-control techniques
• Re-examination, tribunal questions and demonstrative evidence
• Witness conferencing and hot-tubbing protocols
• Post-hearing briefs, costs submissions and record preservation

Workshop: Participants conduct a focused witness examination simulation and produce a hearing plan with issue sequence, exhibit references and advocacy objectives.

Day 5: Awards, Remedies and Enforcement Risk

• Tribunal deliberation, award drafting expectations and scrutiny
• Correction, interpretation and additional-award requests
• Set-aside grounds at the seat of arbitration
• New York Convention recognition and enforcement analysis
• Sovereign immunity, sanctions and public-policy barriers
• Asset tracing and enforcement-forum prioritisation
• Post-award settlement strategy and lessons-learned governance

Workshop: Participants complete and defend an arbitration case strategy pack covering procedure, evidence, hearing, award challenge and enforcement actions.

Tools & standards covered

ICC Arbitration Rules 2021, UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules 2021, IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration 2020, Opus 2 Magnum

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions