Thought Leadership

Mr. Buckley has been a leader in the development of arbitral rules and procedures. As co-chair of CPR’s Rules of Revision Committee since 2018, he has led the revisions of CPR’s domestic and international rules, both administered and non-administered. These revisions introduced many important provisions to promote efficient, cost-effective and fair resolution of commercial disputes, including for sole arbitrators to handle claims below a certain monetary threshold; early disposition of claims, defenses and other issues; and express authorization tribunals and CPR to inquire about settlement and advise the parties of potential mediation opportunities.

He also chaired the CPR committee that produced the Fast Track Rules for Administered Arbitration (2020) and co-chaired the committee that produced CPR’s Concurrent Mediation/Arbitration Clause and Protocol and Commentary (2020).

Mr. Buckley headed the CPR committee that produced its Model Clause for Allocating Responsibility for Determining Arbitrability (2020) and related Commentary. The Model Clause allows the parties to clearly and unmistakably indicate whether they have elected to assign to the arbitral tribunal or to the court the primary responsibility for deciding gateway issues of jurisdiction.

He was a delegate to UNCITRAL Working Group II (Expedited Procedures), which produced the UNICITRAL Expedited Arbitration Rules (2021).

He is a member of the Task Force of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR which produced ICC’s Report “Facilitating Settlement in International Arbitration” (June 2023).

For further information on Mr. Buckley’s leadership in this area, see Publications and Presentations.