Arbitration
Arbitral proceedings, and the court applications that surround them.
The forum
Arbitration is not a court, but it sits in a firm's diary alongside them: hearings before an arbitrator, and the applications to court that begin, support and end the process. The surrounding court work is real litigation: applications to appoint an arbitrator, to stay a suit, to remit or set aside an award, and finally to make an award a decree of the court.
Where it sits
This court sits in every district, and in most tehsils. The cities below are the ones with the rest of the court structure around them, but a matter here can be anywhere in the country — which is why CaseMate carries every city and tehsil rather than a short list.
What a firm has to track
Arbitration dates are agreed rather than given, which makes them easier to move and easier to forget. They belong in the same diary as everything else, because the client does not distinguish. So a matter runs on two tracks — sittings before the arbitrator, and dates before a court — and both belong in one diary, because the client sees one dispute. A firm that keeps arbitration in somebody's own calendar is the firm that misses the court date.
The date the court gives is a fact. Whoever is standing there records it in CaseMate before they leave the building, and the office acknowledges it — it does not wait to be approved.
The firm decides who goes to the next hearing, against the hearing itself. A matter at a distant bench is a travel arrangement, not a line in a list.
Every previous date, its outcome and the note taken at the time — so a partner can be answered without opening the file.
A hearing in the past with nothing recorded against it is the one thing a diary must never hide. CaseMate lists them separately.
Other courts in the same work
Start with today's list.
Set your firm up in a couple of minutes, enter the cases you are running this week, and let your associates report from court.