I am a lawyer working mainly in the field of international commercial dispute resolution, i.e., negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. I was qualified to practice in a common law jurisdiction, and for the last several years have been based in a civil law country, Italy, although most of my work is international.
Most people who work in this field tend to have strong views about commercial arbitration, whether of the pure domestic type, a domestic proceeding in which provisions are made for one or more foreign parties, or a true international arbitration. My own view is that arbitration is almost always an imperfect alternative to the problem or perception of unfair or inefficient court systems, but at times it is the only alternative. So we strive to recognize its shortcomings and, over time, make it better (not unlike Wikipedia!).