PIL.OT / DEVELOPMENT
PIL.OTv0.59.0
The article starts from the now common role of arbitral secretaries in legal research and award preparation, rather than mere clerical support. Tariq Kamal Alhasan examines that development through doctrine, leading decisions and six institutional regimes — ICC, ICSID, LCIA, HKIAC, CIArb and ASA — and distils a disclosure–impact–consent standard: an award is vulnerable only if undisclosed secretarial assistance penetrates the tribunal’s core deliberative or decisional functions without informed party consent.
The effect of undisclosed arbitral-secretary assistance on an award’s validity and vulnerability to challenge in relation to delegation of decision-making and informed party consent.
Arbitration International · 2026
DOI 10.1093/arbint/aiaf020
Tariq Kamal Alhasan, “Arbitral secretaries and the validity of awards: a doctrinal and case law-based evaluation of challenges based on undisclosed assistance”, Arbitration International, 2026-03-01, 10.1093/arbint/aiaf020. https://doi.org/10.1093/arbint/aiaf020