The Modus Operandi of Litigation in Arbitration

The analysis of some Italian awards has shown that they are conceived as judicial sentences. While the UNCITRAL MODEL LAW calls for international arbitral alignment and harmonization, the 2006 Italian Reform seems to act as the national response to a global request, reflecting the different legal cultures underlying arbitration in those countries. Indeed, arbitral awards seem to be pronounced according to the legal system of the nation in which they have been issued. Therefore, not only do awards take a legal form but also the legal language typical of their legal cultures. Such an adaptation of international arbitration to national legal procedures seems to be particularly evident in the realization of Italian awards, which are characterized by lengthy sentences. Despite the fact that arbitration is essentially commercial, the Italian award is treated as if it were a legal sentence. Although sentences and awards are issued for laymen wishing for clear resolutions to resolve their disputes, the documents are compiled by legal experts who express their legal voice. Hence, syntactic patterns typical of legal language are exploited to the full: complex sentences are mainly used, with left-, right-dislocated and embedded sentences and exophoric and endophoric references.