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I am, and have been for a long time, an arbitrator in a similar forum, albeit with much less impact and disputes with little monetary implication. As such it should not be surprising that I feel no qualms with the concept of declaring such a forum the venue for disputes.

Having supranational arbitration as the ultimate recourse does have value especially if one of the parties may be a nation. We might be willing to trust that a UK court would act with impartiality, but do we place that same trust in a U.S. court; a Russian court; a Somali court; or another of your choice?

However this particular establishment is a blemish on the concept and reputation of arbitration in general. The most important thing about any institution of justice, whether national or not, is transparency. Only through transparency can there ever be any trust in the impartiality of such a forum.

Of course confidentiality may be required to protect the innocent from time to time. I have myself been involved in such cases. However this needs to be a well documented and explained exception and by no means the rule.

The LCIA does an incredible injustice to arbitration, judicial institutions and the world in general. I would therefore advise anyone agreeing to any arbitration (and we all do more often than one would think) to refrain from ever accepting the jurisdiction of a forum that insists on confidentiality as a general rule.