If this procedure is not wholly successful, CPR will submit a list of candidates to the parties in writing. The parties are required to rank the nominees in order of preference. The parties will be encouraged to inform CPR of the qualifications they seek in an arbitrator. Individuals nominated by CPR are likely to be members of CPR's Panels. The degree of independence expected of a party-appointed arbitrator in the United States is not always clear.
Parties often expect the arbitrator they appoint to act as their advocate on the panel.
Our Committee does not favor this approach. The Committee believes that the advocacy role should be performed exclusively by each party's counsel or other representative, and that permitting arbitrators to play such a role is prejudicial to the disinterested and candid deliberations in which the panel should engage. The rationale for party appointment is to enable each party to select an individual it considers well qualified and whom it expects in turn to select a capable chairman of the Tribunal. A party may discuss the case in general terms with an individual before appointment, and the appointee may discuss the selection of the chairman with that party. Rule 7.2 recognizes that other time commitments of arbitrators may well delay the proceeding, particularly if the Tribunal consists of more than one arbitrator.