Civil Trial involves determining issues through a court which is presided by a judge or a jury.

Dispute between two parties decides the type of court and its jurisdiction. Normally
jurisdiction is based on the place of origin of dispute

Arbitration involves working with the third party to resolve the dispute between the two
parties. Here jurisdiction does not matter as the arbitrator is normally decided by the disputed
parties at the either at the time of making the contract through an arbitration clause or
afterwards mutually. Arbitrator is chosen on the basis of expertise.

Differences between Civil Trial and arbitration are mentioned below:

Nature of difference Civil Trial Arbitration

Proceeding Proceedings are conducted in
the courtrooms in the
presence of a Judge or jury
and are public proceedings
Evidence Requires full disclosure of
evidence
Selection of Judge/Arbitrator Parties have little or no say in Parties usually decide
selection of judges
Proceedings are conducted
between tow disputed parties
and selected arbitrator and
are private proceedings
Arbitrator controls the
allowance and non allowance
of evidence and hence
limited evidence is allowed
together who is going to be
an arbitrator except when
arbitrator is already
mentioned in the arbitration
clause of the contract.

Formality Civil Trial is a formal affair Informal affair

Appeal Appeal is allowed at multiple
levels in case of Civil Trial
Attorneys Attorneys are used
extensively in cases of Civil
Trial
Waiting time Must wait until the court has
time to hear the case. Can
take months and years
Costs Includes attorney fees, pre
trail costs for depositions and
interrogations, court costs
and record searches which
can be a very costly affair.
The decisions of arbitrator
are usually binding, however
contract can mention the
decision as non binding and
can also include the
provision of appeal in the
clause. If the arbitrator was
biased, the case may be
reviewed by Judge in some
cases.
Limited use of attorneys.
Used only at the discretion of
parties
Once the arbitrator is
selected, the process is fairly
quick.
Costs are limited to the
arbitrator fees and attorney
fees in case parties decide to
use the attorney. Hence, a
less costly as compared to
 Civil Trial

From the above differences we can also arrive at the advantages and disadvantages of both.
Let us discuss arbitration first. The advantages of arbitration are:

 Both parties select the arbitrator and hence the arbitrator will be the one who has the
faith and confidence of both the disputed parties being the one who is fair and
impartial.
 Once the arbitrator is selected the proceedings begin and the dispute is resolved much
sooner.
 It is a lot less expensive than Civil Trial as the costs normally includes arbitrators fee
which is based on the knowledge, expertise and experience of arbitrator and attorney
fees in case disputed parties decides to use the attorneys.
 It is a private procedure hence the parties can keep the dispute private and
confidential.
 Chances of appeal are very limited after arbitration and hence dispute is settled most
of the times after the arbitration.

Now let us discuss some disadvantages of arbitration:

 As discussed above after the arbitration parties give up their right to appeal. If one
party feels that it has been wronged, there is no real opportunity for him.
 There are no rules of evidence in arbitration and hence arbitrator can consider
evidence which may be rejected by a judge/jury.
 Many times arbitration is not agreed until parties are already in Civil Trial and costs
are incurred in discovery of information or documents. Hence arbitration in these
cases may prove costly then as the opportunity to avoid costs has already diminished.
 Many a times there is an arbitration clause in the contract and mandatory arbitration
may cause one party to force arbitration on other. If arbitrator is reliant on one party
for business then impartiality is lost.
 Sometimes the arbitrators rely their decisions on apparent fairness of respected parties
positions instead of due procedure of law, and hence this can create a problem to the
party who has a strong case on strict reading of law.

Now let us discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Civil Trial:

Advantages of Civil Trial are as follows:

 Since the proceedings are public as discussed above and therefore civil trials become
a part of the public record. The clear outcome helps in limiting and repairing
reputational damage.
 Civil trial allows the option of appeals in case a clear mistake is made.
  In civil trails there are strict rules regarding the evidence which can be allowed in
courts. This is a clear advantage if one has a strong case.
 It can be cost effective option in case a dispute is small and can be resolved in court
quickly.
 The most evident advantage of Civil trial is however long it takes, there is eventually
a result. Arbitration may breakdown and Civil trial is last and conclusive hope of
resolution.

Disadvantages of Civil Trial:

 It is a very costly affair as it includes attorney fees, pre trail costs for depositions and
interrogations, court costs and record searches etc.
 Attorneys are used extensively in cases of Civil Trial and it takes a good deal of time
and money to hire a good attorney.
 Parties must wait until the court has time to hear the case and it can take months and
years and can be very frustrating.
 If parties are engaged elsewhere in their business it can be really distracting.
 It is a tedious and boring process. Almost nothing happens quickly and it almost
never results in what parties actually want.

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