6 LEXPERT
|
2016
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WWW.LEXPERT.CA
PHOTO:
SHUTTERSTOCK
ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Arbitration has evolved into
the preferred method for
efficient dispute resolution.
There is risk, however, in
bypassing the courtroom
By Paul McLaughlin
The Dominant Alternative
During the early 1990s, George MacDonald, QC,
a partner with Pink Larkin in Halifax, got a call,
via Montréal, regarding a contractor in France that
had a dispute with the Calgary company building
the Confederation Bridge, the 12.9-kilometre link
between PEI and mainland New Brunswick.
Rather than begin what could have been a
lengthy and expensive litigation process, MacDon-
ald recommended the parties agree to an arbitra-
tion hearing, which they did. Because his clients
wanted to give evidence in French, the arbitration
took place in Québec.
"We had a decision one year to the day aer the
process began," says MacDonald. "If we had gone
