This year’s survey considers the role of party-appointed experts in international arbitration: a topic that has been the subject of debate for a number of years.

Party-appointed expert evidence is an established feature of international arbitration practice. The primary role of a party-appointed expert is to assist the tribunal on matters outside the expertise of the tribunal and to do so on an objective and independent basis. However, to meet their obligations, the party-appointed expert must tread a delicate line. On the one hand, they owe contractual duties to the appointing party and, naturally, there is a desire to support that party and potentially secure repeat instructions. On the other hand, they have a duty to remain independent and assist the tribunal with genuinely objective opinions on issues within their field of expertise. Managing such obligations, which often at least appear to be in conflict, can be difficult. Some would say in reality it is impossible, and that party-appointed experts will always in the end be partisan.