International Commercial Arbitration Research Guide

• Search Tips
• Subscription Databases
• Free Electronic Resources
   

Search Tips

The resources described below provide electronic access to arbitral awards and/or court decisions related to international commercial arbitration.  Bear in mind that all of these resources are selective, not comprehensive, in their coverage.  Therefore, you may need to consult multiple resources in order to find what you are seeking.

Search Tips for Arbitral Awards:  If the award you are seeking was issued in a proceeding administered by the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC and you know the ICC case number, start with the ICC Dispute Resolution Library.  For awards issued in proceedings administered by other institutions (or in ad hoc arbitrations), bear in mind that most of the electronic resources described below allow you to filter by institution, by arbitration rules, by date, and by other criteria before or after searching by keyword.  Take advantage of these filters to narrow your search.

Search Tips for Court Decisions:  If you are seeking court decisions that interpret the New York Convention, start with Kluwer Arbitration's New York Convention Tool or the free New York Convention Case Law database.  If you are seeking court decisions applying the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, use the CISG Database, CISG Online or the CLOUT database, all of which are described below.
 

Subscription Databases

ICC Dispute Resolution Library (ICC DLR)
This International Chamber of Commerce database includes extracts from selected arbitral awards issued in proceedings administered by the ICC's International Court of Arbitration from 1990.  These extracts are published in the ICC Dispute Resolution Bulletin and are arranged by ICC case number.  Descriptions of the parties are provided, but their names are omitted.  Coverage is selective, not comprehensive. 

Note:  ICC DLR content is now hosted on the Jus Mundi platform.  If you know the ICC case number as a starting point, use the "Explore the Resources" menu on the ICC DLR homepage and click on "search all awards" (under the heading "Awards") or click on "search all procedural decisions" (under the heading "Procedural Decisions").  After the page refreshes and you are redirected to the Jus Mundi platform, search for the case number.  If you have a citation to a summary of an award published in the ICC Dispute Resolution Bulletin, click on "See Full List of Bulletins" (under the heading "Bulletins").  After the page refreshes, browse by the year and volume number of the Bulletin.
 

Jus Mundi
Jus Mundi offers the broadest coverage of arbitral awards issued in international commercial disputes between private parties -- more than 18,000 in total.  To browse or search by keyword, select "Cases" from the main menu.  After the page refreshes, use the filters to narrow by type of case ("Commercial Arbitration").  Apply additional filters, if desired, or enter search terms in the search box at the top of the page.

If the parties have consented to disclosure, Jus Mundi usually provides a link to the full text of the arbitral award in its original language.  If not, Jus Mundi provides as much information as it can (party names, nature of the dispute, applicable law and arbitration rules, etc.). 
 

Kluwer Arbitration
Kluwer Arbitration provides selective coverage of arbitral awards and court decisions on matters of law pertaining to international commercial arbitration, including arbitrability, validity, annulment, and enforcement.  It also offers a separate tool that can be used to search or browse for court decisions concerning the enforcement of awards under the New York Convention.

• Arbitral Awards
  From the Kluwer Arbitration homepage, scroll down below the search box and click on Cases and Awards.  After the page refreshes, you will see a search template displayed.  To search by keyword, enter words or phrases in the search box linked by Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT, NEAR), if desired.  It is also possible to search by party names and by citation.  Use the filters on the left to limit a search by the applicable arbitration rules, by arbitral institution, by the applicable treaty, and by other criteria.  Filters also may be applied after running a search.    For additional guidance, click on the Tutorial button above the search box.
   
• Court Decisions
  To locate decisions issued by national courts on matters pertaining to international commercial arbitration, click on the two horizontal bars on the left side of the search box on the Kluwer Arbitration homepage to display the search filters.  Select "Court Decisions" as the Content Type.   Scroll down to apply additional filters (Jurisdiction, Court Name, Time Period, etc.).  Then click on the "Apply Filters" button.  Once the filters have been applied, enter words or phrases or party names in the search box.  Bear in mind that Kluwer Arbitration's coverage of court decisions is selective, not comprehensive.
   
• New York Convention Decisions Search Tool
  Select "New York Convention Tool" from the "Our Tools" menu on the main menu bar near the top of the Kluwer Arbitration homepage.  After the page refreshes, you will see a search template displayed.    Enter keywords in the search box to locate court decisions that have interpreted the New York Convention.  Use the filters below the search box to limit searches by topic, by article of the New York Convention (provisions) or by jurisdiction.  Alternatively, you may browse for decisions by applying multiple filters without entering any search terms.  Note:  Court decisions retrieved by the tool are limited to those that have been published in Kluwer's Yearbook:  Commercial Arbitration.
   

Transnational Dispute Management (TDM)
To search for arbitral awards and court decisions, click on the "Legal and Regulatory Docs" button on the main menu bar.  After the page refreshes, click on the "Search" button in the menu bar.  Then scroll down to access the Advanced Search template.  Select "Cases" as the Category.  Searches may limited by country and by year.  To browse, click on the "L&R by Category" button on the Legal and Regulatory Docs menu.  After the page refreshes, scroll down to select the desired content to browse (cases, international commercial arbitration awards, etc.). 
 

Westlaw offers the following resources:  

• International Arbitration Awards
  This database has arbitral decisions awards issued under the rules of several major arbitral institutions, including the ICC, the LCIA, and the PCA.  Coverage is selective, and the dates of coverage vary by arbitral institution. The database also incudes decisions and awards issued in investor-state disputes and in certain types of trade disputes.
   
• International Arbitration Cases
  This database of court decisions is limited to the following jurisdictions: the European Union, Hong Kong, the U.K., and the U.S.  To search by party name, open the Advanced Search template (link to the right of the basic search box) and enter the party name(s) in the Title field.
   

Free Electronic Resources

New York Convention Case Law Database
This searchable database of cases that apply and interpret the New York Convention is provided by UNCITRAL, in partnership with Shearman & Sterling, LLP, and Columbia Law School.  Use the basic search box to search by keyword and filter the results by year, language, jurisdiction, and convention article.  Use the Advanced Search template to search by title (caption), docket number, and party name.  For most cases, an English summary is provided.  The full text of the opinion in its original language can be viewed in your browser or downloaded in PDF format.
 

CISG (Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods) Database
Pace Law School maintains this searchable database of cases from multiple jurisdictions that interpret and apply the CISG.  It contains more than 10,000 case abstracts (summaries) and more than 3,000 full-text opinions.  The database also includes a much smaller number of decisions issued by arbitral tribunals. 

• The database is free to access, but you must must register and create an account a free account.  You must be logged in to your account in order to run searches and download content.
• The search template for cae law recognizes Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT).  Searches may be limited by jurisdiction and/or by CISG article number.
• The annotated texts of CISG articles provide convenient links to relevant legislative (drafting) history doucments, as well as links to secondary sources that explain and interpret each article.
   

CISG Online
This free resource, maintained by the Faculty of Law at the University of Basel, offers a searchable database of more than 5,000 court decisions (from 69 jurisdictions) and more than 800 arbitral decisions that interpret and apply the CISG.  Links to the full texts of decisions in their original language are provided.  The search template allow you to apply multiple filters (jurisdiction, tribunal, party name, category of goods, CISG provision cited, etc.).  No registration required.
 

CLOUT (Case Law on UNCITRAL Texts) Database
The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) maintains this searchable database of cases that interpret and apply treaties and model laws drafted by UNCITRAL.  Court decisions constitute the majority of the content, but some arbitral decisions also are included.  Only abstracts (summaries) of the court decisions and arbitral awards are provided, not the full texts.  The abstracts are available in all six of the U.N.'s official languages.  For additional information about the database, consult this Quick Start Guide or this more detailed User Guide.