Fixed-Fee Arbitration for SMEs: Predictability, Access and Commercial Confidence

Abstract

Arbitration has long promised a flexible, neutral, and expert route to resolve cross-border disputes. Yet for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the in-house lawyers who support them, it has too often become an unaffordable luxury. The open-ended hourly billing, rising tribunal fees and the procedural escalation that often accompanies complex rules have transformed arbitration into a process that is barely recognisable from its original concept. This article sets out a practical solution: a Fixed-Fee Arbitration option (FFA) designed specifically for SMEs. Th model embeds cost predictability directly into the dispute resolution process and, crucially, allows parties to pre-agree cost structures. By doing so, businesses and their legal advisers can manage exposure, maintain proportionality, and restore commercial confidence in arbitration as a realistic alternative to court proceedings. Drawing on current institutional practice, legal-services innovation and commercial realities, the authors present a pragmatic pathway for reform that keeps party autonomy at the centre. The framework’s objectives are threefold: to make arbitration affordable, predictable, and strategically usable by business.