Drafting a dispute clause you would actually want to rely on

The clause at the back of the agreement is the one nobody negotiates and everybody relies on. Under the Arbitration and Mediation Act 2023 parties have a modern framework available to them, but the framework only helps if the clause is drafted to work.

The recurring defects are simple. A clause that names an institution that no longer administers arbitrations. A clause that requires mediation first but sets no time limit, so a party can stall for months. A clause silent on the seat, the number of arbitrators or the language. A clause that sends the parties to arbitration in one paragraph and to the courts in the next.

Decide three things and the clause will hold: where the dispute is heard, who decides it, and what has to happen before proceedings can start. Then check that the rest of the contract does not contradict any of them.

We review dispute clauses as part of every commercial drafting instruction, and we say plainly when a clause a client has been using for years would cost them time at the worst possible moment.