The award writing exam will assess your ability, in the context of an ad hoc arbitration, to write an award as a sole arbitrator that withstands scrutiny under the NYC Model Law and UNCITRAL procedural rules.

The award will be assessed on:

Technical merit: The drafting of the formalities and the operative award is technically accurate, comprehensive, and comprehensible.

• Comprehensive: includes a Header; names the Award, identifies the Parties, the Arbitrator and Counsel, an Introduction; the Facts of the Case; the Arbitration Agreement; the Applicable Laws and Rules to the Procedure and Substance; the Procedure for appointing the arbitrator; the Procedural History; the Jurisdiction; the Reasoning and Issues in Dispute; Pre and Post Award Interest; Costs; Dispositive, Place, Date and Signature.

• Accurate: The above details are complete and accurate including the Tribunal’s Jurisdiction and Governing Parameters, and that the Procedural History demonstrates due process and that all parties had full opportunity to present their cases.#

• Comprehensible: Language, formatting and numbering do not fundamentally obscure the meaning through incoherence, or ambiguity.

Juridical Merit: All the discrete Issues in the Dispute are identified, analysed with an appropriate level of factual and legal rigour, and effectively addressed. The findings are logically and unambiguously summarised as an enforceable Award.

• The Factual and Legal Analysis: For each issue the Facts and Law are identified; the Application of the Law to the Facts is explained; a Conclusion on the resulting liability and quantum is clearly articulated. Each Issue is effectively addressed, whether Interlocutory/Preliminary, Substantive, or Evidential.

• Due Process: The Procedural History is comprehensive from the Notice of Arbitration to the Award. It includes representation and witnesses; demonstrates due process and that all parties had full opportunity to present their case; it leaves nothing unfinished.

• Costs and Interest: The award consolidates the findings on Costs and Interest comprehensively and coherently, taking account of compliance and sequencing. It includes the arbitrator’s fee, the hearing costs, procedural costs and the parties’ costs, and other costs.

• Scrutiny: The award is drafted to the standards required by the NYC and UNCITRAL Law, contains the necessary facts to counter grounds for vacatur and addresses scrutiny points including defective arbitration agreements, denial of procedural fairness, improper tribunal composition and/or procedure, excess of jurisdiction.

This assessment is completed via LearnADR, Ciarb's online learning platform. Candidates will be given 48 consecutive hours within a 5-day window to submit their award online. Candidates must achieve 70% in Part A, Part B and overall to pass the assessment.

Part A: Focuses on the technical merit and counts as 40% towards the overall mark.

Part B: Focuses on the judicial merit and counts as 60% towards the overall mark.

The assessment is split into two stages:

Stage One: This consists of the papers in the case. They are sufficient to enable you to grasp the nature of the case and the likely legal problems. Most of the documents are extracts only. You should consider the recitals you intend to include and the relevant law.

Stage Two: This is the equivalent of the hearing stage. It includes an extract from your (i.e. the arbitrator’s) notebook. This records the oral evidence and arguments the arbitrator has heard, as well as any other relevant documents. From the evidence you must make your findings of fact. Different candidates will no doubt make different findings. This is of no consequence, except that it means there are a great many possible answers to the question. When you have made your findings of fact, write the award. It must be a final award as regards the issues you decide.

Stage One of the assessment is released via LearnADR 10 days before the assessment start date.

Stage Two is released at 12pm noon London Time on the assessment start date via LearnADR too.

Stage 2 will be available for 5 days from the assessment start date and within those 5 days, you will have 48 consecutive hours to submit your award back onto LearnADR.

The assessment fee is not included in the course fee. It must be registered and paid for separately. The assessment fee is £408 inclusive of VAT.

Results are dispatched to candidates normally twelve weeks from the deadline date of the submission. Candidates will be informed of any delays.

Please note: Success in the assessment is directly linked to tutorial attendance. Please ensure you attend all of the tutorials, and engage with the tutor. The tutorials are your opportunity to ask the tutor any questions you may have and gain further understanding on any course topics you feel you need further clarity on.

Stage One of the assessment is released via LearnADR 10 days before the assessment start date of 20 June 2025.

The booking deadline for this assessment is 5 June 2025.

Candidates must have first booked the corresponding Module 3 in International Arbitration course in order to book this assessment.

Candidates enrolling on any Ciarb course/assessment are required to ensure that their command of spoken and written English is adequate for the course/assessment for which they have applied. Ciarb does not require any evidence of this standard prior to enrolment on a course/assessment. However, it is the candidate's responsibility to ensure their English language skills are at a Professional Working Proficiency level, in order to meet the required standard when enrolling for any Ciarb course/assessment. It is recommended that candidates have achieved a standard that is, as a minimum, equivalent to the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) level 7 or a score of 94-101 in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) system. (Please note that we do not require an official IELTS or TOEFL result).

Please contact the British Council for further details on how to improve your English skills: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/

The assessment fee is £408.00 inclusive of VAT.  The fee includes registration on the assessment.