A new paradigm for commercial arbitration: Rethinking the relationship between reasoned awards and the judicial standards for vacatur

This article calls for a reassessment of the contemporary paradigm for commercial arbitration whereby the threat of judicial vacatur effectively precludes the use of reasoned arbitration awards. After reviewing the nature and effect of the statutory and nonstatutory grounds for vacatur and critiquing the current case law interpreting and applying those standards, a new paradigm for commercial arbitration is proposed. That model centers on a redefined relationship between reasoned awards and the judicial standards for vacatur.