Ethics/Professional Responsibility,
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Jun. 21, 2002
New Ethical Rules Mirror the Judicial Erosion of the Arbitration Process
Intending to assure the public of integrity in the arbitration process, the Legislature has amended the California Arbitration Act to mandate arbitrator disclosure of "all matters that could cause a person aware of the facts to reasonably entertain a doubt ... of the impartiality of the neutral arbitrator." Code of Civil Procedure Section 1281.9(a).
Lawrence Waddington
Neutral, JAMS
Email: waddington1@aol.com
Lawrence is a retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge and former assistant attorney general for the state of California. He is author of "Disorder in the Court" at Amazon.com. He also edits the 9th Circuit blog, "The 9th Circuit Watch."
Intending to assure the public of integrity in the arbitration process, the Legislature has amended the California Arbitration Act to mandate arbitrator disclosure of "all matters that could cause a person aware of the facts to reasonably entertain a doubt ... of the impartiality of the neutral arbitrator." Code of Civil Procedure Section 1281.9(a).
Included within the ambit of gauging arbitrator "impartiality" are the grounds specified for judicial disqualification in Code of Civi...