# Arbitration clause review
> Source: https://legalcode.md/skills/legalcode-arbitration-clause-review | [HTML version](https://legalcode.md/skills/legalcode-arbitration-clause-review)

Review and analyze arbitration clauses for enforceability, pathological defects, and commercial suitability — identify unclear scope, missing essential elements, inconsistent provisions, and jurisdiction-specific risks.

Review and analyze arbitration clauses for enforceability, pathological defects, and commercial suitability — identify unclear scope, missing essential elements, inconsistent provisions, and jurisdiction-specific risks. Use when reviewing dispute resolution provisions in commercial contracts, evaluating arbitration clauses for New York Convention enforceability, assessing institutional arbitration clause compliance (ICC, LCIA, AAA/ICDR, SIAC, HKIAC, SCC), checking for multi-tiered escalation clause defects, or advising on seat selection and procedural adequacy. Covers ad hoc and institutional arbitration, emergency arbitrator provisions, consolidation rights, joinder clauses, confidentiality obligations, cost allocation mechanisms, and waiver provisions (class action, jury, punitive damages). Detects pathological clauses (Eisemann defects), forum non conveniens risks, and consumer/employment-specific enforceability issues under US federal law (FAA, EFAA) and state unconscionability doctrines. Produces severity-classified findings (GREEN/YELLOW/RED), redline suggestions with fallback positions, and a Glass Box audit trail. Jurisdiction-agnostic with [JURISDICTION-SPECIFIC] markers for US, UK, EU, Singapore, Hong Kong, and civil law systems. Integrates with legalcode-contract-review for full contract analysis and legalcode-mcp for legal authority verification.

This skill reviews arbitration and dispute resolution clauses in commercial contracts to identify enforceability risks, pathological defects, missing essential elements, and misalignment with the parties' commercial objectives. It produces severity-classified findings, actionable redline suggestions, and a Glass Box audit trail for traceability. **Covers:** - Pathological clause detection (Eisemann's four functions framework) - Essential element completeness (seat, rules, institution, number of arbitrators, language) - Multi-tiered dispute resolution clause analysis (negotiation, mediation, arbitration sequencing) - Institutional arbitration clause compliance (ICC, LCIA, AAA/ICDR, SIAC, HKIAC, SCC, JAMS) - New York Convention enforceability assessment - Seat selection analysis and lex arbitri implications - Consumer and employment arbitration special rules (FAA, EFAA, state unconscionability) - Emergency arbitrator, consolidation, and joinder provisions - Confidentiality and cost allocation mechanisms - Waiver provisions (class action, jury, punitive damages) - Conflict detection with other contract provisions (forum selection, governing law) **Does not:** - Draft complete arbitration agreements from scratch (see drafting-specific skills) - Provide legal advice or replace qualified counsel - Replace institutional guidance on model clause usage - Apply to criminal proceedings or regulatory enforcement actions **Related skills:** - `legalcode-contract-review` — Full contract clause-by-clause analysis (includes dispute resolution as one of 14 categories) - `legalcode-mediation-preparation` — Mediation strategy ...

## Jurisdictions

Global



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