Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Appointment definition

What does Appointment mean? In legal practice, an appointment is the contract by which a client/employer engages a professional consultant (for example an architect, engineer, quantity surveyor or project manager) and sets the services, fee basis and allocation of risk. The term is descriptive and used across multiple contexts; it is not generally defined by legislation, though particular regulations refer to specific appointments (for example, construction safety roles). An appointment may be executed as a deed or as a simple contract, including by a letter of appointment. In England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland this distinction affects limitation (typically around 12 years...

Tribunal secretaries in international arbitration: cost, efficiency, party autonomy, conflicts, transparency, and institutional versus ad hoc considerations

Published by a LexisNexis Arbitration expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note

This Practice Note explores the advantages and disadvantages of employing tribunal secretaries in international arbitration. It sets out the cases for and against their involvement and surveys the different forms of arbitration and the range of circumstances that may shape their value and the decision to appoint them.

For the reasons explained below, whether—and to what extent—it is beneficial for a tribunal to rely on a secretary turns on several matters, in particular:

the character and breadth of the dispute
whether the arbitration is institutional or ad hoc, and
the manner in which tribunal secretaries are appointed and managed

Accordingly, this Practice Note does not aim to reach any general conclusion on whether the advantages of tribunal secretaries outweigh their possible downsides. Secretaries tend to be engaged in large and/or complex arbitrations, including disputes over Infrastructure projects (see, for example, LALIVE’s comments on the position in Switzerland). The 2012 QMUL and White & Case International Arbitration Survey also suggests that tribunal secretaries:

are almost twice as likely to be used in civil lawyers’, as opposed to common...

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Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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