Practice area
Arbitration & Alternative Dispute ResolutionArbitration (Arbitration Act 1996)Arbitration and alternative dispute resolution
Define the intended work in Arbitration & Alternative Dispute Resolution, confirm the applicable requirements and select a task to plan the necessary review.
Key facts
- Tasks covered
- 23
- Tasks with a step-by-step checklist
- 3
- Local differences
- 3 jurisdictions where this area changes
Jurisdiction
Tasks
GreenLawyer reviewYellowClose supervisionRedLawyer-led
| Task | How AI is used | Human involvement | What the lawyer must review |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audit the arbitration clause and draft a workable replacement | Extract seat, rules, number of arbitrators, language, governing law and court path from the clause, flag gaps and draft a replacement on the client's preferred rules. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Draft or audit a New Zealand-seat arbitration clause under the Arbitration Act 1996 | Extract seat, governing law, number of arbitrators, language and any opt-in or opt-out of Schedule 2 into a clause table. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Build a Redfern schedule from the document requests | Turn requests, objections and the responsive-document index into a Redfern or disclosure schedule with columns for request, objection, proposed search and status. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Draft the memorial or statement of claim from the evidence index | Build a structured memorial or defence with proposed exhibit citations from the evidence index and the issues list. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Check a draft witness statement or expert report against the proof and index the exhibits | The tool writes no part of the witness statement and no part of the expert report — no draft, no first draft, no scaffold, no skeleton, no outline, no suggested paragraphs. On the lawyer's draft statement: index the exhibits the draft refers to, compare the draft paragraph by paragraph against the proofing note and the source documents, and list every assertion in the draft for which no source is identified. On the expert's own draft report: list every opinion for which the report states no fact, assumption or reasoning, without suggesting what the opinion or its basis should be, and check that the expert's independence and code-of-conduct declaration is present and in the form the applicable rules require. For each of the two documents separately, also list the topics covered in the proof that the draft does not yet address, proposing no wording for them, and flag any departure from the tribunal's procedural orders on the form and length of the document. | RedLawyer-led | Before any of this material is uploaded, the lawyer settles the confidentiality position and confirms the tool's use is consistent with it — the confidentiality provisions of the Commercial Arbitration Act (ss 27E–27F) or, for an international arbitration, the International Arbitration Act 1974 (Cth) (ss 23C–23G), together with any confidentiality order of the tribunal or agreement of the parties. The lawyer takes the evidence from the witness and drafts the statement in the witness's own words, and the witness reads and adopts it before signing. The expert writes and signs their own report; the lawyer checks the independence and code-of-conduct declaration against the applicable rules, and if any gap list is given to the expert the lawyer records it as part of the expert's instructions and treats it as disclosable with them. |
| Draft the mediation position paper and negotiation analysis | From the file, draft a position paper and a confidential negotiation note (interests, ranges, open issues) for the lawyer. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Review an award for enforcement or set-aside points | Extract the dispositive orders, reasons structure, and any apparent due-process or jurisdiction issues into a table with paragraph references. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Review an award for enforcement or set-aside under IAA s 8(7A) or the state Act | Extract the orders, reasons structure and any fraud, natural-justice or public-policy issues under IAA s 8(7A) or the Commercial Arbitration Act; map New York Convention enforceability. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Analyse recognition or enforcement of an award under the Arbitration Act 1996 | List the award date, seat, convention relied on, and any article 34 or 36 refusal grounds mentioned in the draft. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Compile the hearing bundle, chronology and agreed-facts draft | From the exhibit list, draft a bundle index, a chronology and a first-cut agreed-facts statement with sources. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Screen arbitrator disclosures against the parties and counsel | Compare the arbitrator's disclosure, CV and published cases with the party/counsel/related-entity list and flag possible connections for the lawyer. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Screen arbitrator disclosures under ACICA Rules Art 20 or Commercial Arbitration Acts s 12 | Compare the arbitrator's disclosure, CV and cases with parties, counsel and related entities; flag connections to disclose under ACICA Art 20, CAA s 12 or the IBA Guidelines. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Draft the settlement agreement or consent award | Turn the settlement terms into a draft settlement agreement or consent-award request matching the tribunal's procedure. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Draft costs submissions from the costs file | From the costs ledger and the award on liability, draft a costs submission structure with proposed categories and a list of items that need invoices. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Prepare a working translation log of multilingual exhibits | List foreign-language exhibits, produce a working English summary, and flag passages that need a certified translation. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Draft procedural correspondence and a proposed procedural order | Draft letters to the tribunal and a marked-up procedural order from the parties' agreed timetable and the rules. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Review arbitrator AI-use disclosure and assess a challenge | Extract the arbitrator's AI disclosure (if any) and the applicable rules/guidance into a comparison table for the lawyer. | RedLawyer-led |
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| Compare the memorial against the evidence index and list unsourced facts | Check each factual assertion in the draft memorial against the evidence index and list statements with no exhibit, broken cites and exhibits not used. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Draft the notice of arbitration or response from the contract and facts brief | Produce a first-draft notice of arbitration or answer from the arbitration clause, the facts brief and the chosen rules' required contents. | YellowClose supervision |
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| Summarise an arbitration hearing transcript | Produce issue-based summaries. | GreenLawyer review | Check against transcript. |
| Check an award draft for consistency | Flag inconsistent defined terms and figures. | GreenLawyer review | Tribunal and counsel review. |
| Draft a disclosure statement on AI use in arbitration | Draft a protocol on AI use by parties. | YellowClose supervision | Tribunal approves. |
| Translate exhibits for internal review | Produce working translations. | YellowClose supervision | Certified translation for filing. |
| Prepare a mediation summary for the client | Summarise positions and outcomes. | GreenLawyer review | Lawyer checks. |
| Use AI for mediation preparation | Prepare summaries and options. | YellowClose supervision | Mediator reviews. |
| Verify AI-assisted arbitration submissions | Verify authorities. | YellowClose supervision | Counsel signs off. |
| Brief the tribunal on AI use | Draft protocol. | YellowClose supervision | Tribunal approves. |
Firm-wide obligations
| Obligation | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Trust accounting & handling client money | Checks that apply across files. |
| Costs, billing & litigation funding | Checks that apply across files. |
| Client-facing & access-to-justice AI tools | Checks that apply across files. |
| Incoming evidence — deepfakes & synthetic documents | Checks that apply across files. |
| AI decision systems | Checks that apply across files. |
| Confidentiality & client information | Checks that apply across files. |
| AML/CTF — the practice as a reporting entity | Checks that apply across files. |
What changes in Australia
| Topic | What changes |
|---|---|
| Law | International arbitration: International Arbitration Act 1974 (Cth) and the UNCITRAL Model Law. Domestic: the uniform Commercial Arbitration Acts. Also court-annexed mediation, expert determination and conciliation. |
| Confidentiality | Arbitral proceedings carry statutory confidentiality (IAA s 23C). Check it before any material goes into an AI tool. |
| No merits appeal | International awards have no merits appeal, so an AI error in the substantive analysis may be unrecoverable. |
| Citations | Fabricated citations in submissions or awards can ground natural-justice challenges and non-enforcement under IAA s 8(7A). |
| Arbitrator AI use | LaPaglia v Valve (US, 2025): an award challenged on the ground the arbitrator outsourced reasoning to AI. Australian-seated awards face similar applications under Commercial Arbitration Acts s 34. |
What changes in New Zealand
Known here as: Arbitration (Arbitration Act 1996)
| Topic | What changes |
|---|---|
| Governing Act | Arbitration Act 1996, not an Australian Commercial Arbitration Act or the International Arbitration Act 1974 (Cth). |
| Purposes (s 5) | Include consistency with the UNCITRAL Model Law and giving effect to the 1923 Protocol, 1927 Geneva Convention and 1958 New York Convention (texts in Schedule 3). |
| Schedules | Schedule 1 applies to a New Zealand seat. Schedule 2 applies to international arbitrations only by agreement, and to other New Zealand-seat arbitrations unless the parties opt out. |
| Foreign seat | Articles 8, 9, 35 and 36 of Schedule 1 still apply. Section 6A: the Minister of Justice appoints a body for certain article 11 appointment matters. |
| Court applications | Before a High Court stay, set-aside or enforcement filing, open the Courts of New Zealand lawyer guidelines. |
| Limits on AI assistance |
|
- Arbitration Act 1996 · 2026-09-23
- Courts of New Zealand: GenAI guidelines — Lawyers (7 December 2023) · 2026-09-23
- NZLS: Generative AI guidance for lawyers (March 2024) · 2026-09-23
What changes in United States
Known here as: Arbitration and alternative dispute resolution
| Topic | What changes |
|---|---|
| Governing law | Federal Arbitration Act, the state arbitration statute and the chosen institutional rules replace the Australian arbitration statutes. |
| AI protocols | Open any seat or institution AI protocol. A federal court standing order does not apply inside the arbitration. |
| Ethics | Formal Opinion 512: competence, confidentiality and candor still apply. |
Precedents for this area
- ACICA model arbitration clause (standard and expedited): choosing and completing it (Clause, AI use Yellow). Points to ACICA's current published model clauses and explains how to complete them: rules, seat, language, number of arbitrators, optional add-ons and the drafting errors that make an arbitration clause unworkable.
- Notice of arbitration (ACICA Rules, with UNCITRAL and ad hoc variants) (Court document, AI use Yellow). An original notice of arbitration that contains everything the ACICA Rules require, with variants for UNCITRAL and ad hoc arbitrations, plus checks on conditions precedent, commencement and limitation before it is sent.
- Mediation agreement (with confidentiality and recording/AI-notetaker clause) (Agreement, AI use Yellow). An original tripartite mediation agreement between the parties and the mediator covering appointment, authority to settle, confidentiality and privilege, a ban on recording and AI notetakers without consent, fees, and how any settlement becomes binding.
- Redfern schedule for document production requests (with guidance) (Form, AI use Yellow). An original Redfern schedule template for document requests in arbitration, with guidance on writing narrow and specific requests, objections and replies, columns for electronic search parameters, and a status tracker after the tribunal rules.
- Procedural order (or party agreement) on the use of AI in the arbitration (Court document, AI use Yellow). An original procedural order regulating AI in an arbitration: confidentiality of inputs, disclosure of high-impact uses in evidence and expert reports, verification of authorities, the tribunal's own use of AI, and remedies for non-compliance.
- Notice and consent for AI transcription or notetaking in mediations and other ADR sessions (Notice, AI use Yellow). A notice to every participant explaining a proposed AI transcription or notetaking tool for a mediation, conciliation or settlement conference, with individual consent, privacy and confidentiality safeguards, deletion terms and an opening script for the session.
All precedents for Arbitration & Alternative Dispute Resolution. Signed-in accounts can read the full text.