ABSTRACT
In this chapter I would like to argue that international commercial arbitration practice is a protected practice in two ways. Firstly, a practice that is colonized by litigation experts and hence primarily dominated by lawyers, judges and other legal experts; and secondly, a practice that is controlled by a limited number of established legal experts, and hence largely denied to a wider community of legal experts, in particular to junior and non-initiated practitioners. Bhatia, Candlin and Gotti (2012) have discussed protectionism of the first kind in considerable detail; in this chapter, I would like to give substance to the second kind of protectionism which does not encourage the institution of arbitration to open the practice to new and less experienced members of the arbitration community, legal as well as non-legal experts. However, before offering the main argument, I would like to give a brief introduction to the institution and practice of international commercial arbitration to resolve cross-border disputes.
