ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 provides an introduction to this book. It starts by giving an overview of the current international commercial dispute resolution landscape, in which the combined use of mediation and arbitration, and particularly a combination where the same neutral acts as a mediator and an arbitrator (same neutral (arb)-med-arb), has emerged as a dispute resolution approach capable of offering fast, inexpensive and enforceable redress. It then goes on to highlight little agreement on several aspects of the combined use of processes, which is often explained by reference to the practitioner’s legal culture. It further formulates the purpose of the book – it is concerned with investigating the value of combinations in international commercial dispute resolution and the same neutral (arb)-med-arb is in the centre of this investigation. Chapter 1 concludes by outlining the methodology and the structure of the book.
