The course on arbitration was aimed at notaries and registrars. The session began with a welcome by the Dean of UIC Barcelona's Faculty of Law, Javier Junceda, who confirmed the faculty's clear commitment to teaching arbitration as a process for the resolution of conflicts. 

The training day was opened by the President of the TAB, Jesús de Alfonso, whose contribution focussed on the culture of arbitration, placing great emphasis on the ruling which is valid in law and carries the same weight as the final sentence of a judge. De Alfonso warned that some arbitrators wrongly rely on the Law of Civil Procedure whereas arbitration has its own law. He went on to explain that there are around a thousand private arbitration proceedings in Spain and that a fundamental requirement for them is the transparency and neutrality of the institutions involved, especially in the way conflicts of interest are managed, particularly those arising within the precincts of the arbitration court. He finished off his presentation speaking about the relevance of specialisation in the appointment of an arbitrator, taking into account the matter under dispute and giving as an example the fact that the TAB requires its potential arbitrators to have 15 years experience. 

Elias Campo, judge, notary and academic at The Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation of Catalonia, based his presentation around the fact that an arbitrator is not a judge. Campo established that it is very important for parties to decide which road they wish to go down, choosing either the judicial or the arbitration route. Arbitrators deal with matters of a private nature and judges with those of a public nature. He pointed out that judges cover all areas of the law and arbitrators manage matters within the free disposition of the parties. He concluded by warning that it is the mandatory application of the law that has done most damage to arbitration through its attempt to exclude arbitration from the law. 

He was followed by Manuel Conthe, lawyer, arbitrator and former president of the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), who talked about the attitude of the arbitrator. Specifically he spoke about two attitudes; the passive, where the arbitrator is an inscrutable figure observing how the process unfolds and then the active, the type he recommended, who questions the parties and requests evidence, and who asks key questions in order to resolve the conflict; questions that need to be shared with the president of the arbitration tribunal. He also explained that there were, at times, differences between parties that can cause problems such as those between a major bank and an SME. Conthe concluded by highlighting that it is the court which is responsible for service quality. The court must adopt a very proactive approach, proposing arbitrators and reviewing rulings. The courts need to be very strict. 

Josep M. Julià, lawyer and arbitrator, dealt with putting the position of the arbitrator into context. In this regard, he mentioned how important it is to consider all the past, present and future relationships involved between the parties in dispute, including the lawyers on each side, the arbitrators and the arbitration court. These relationships must be revealed in order to avoid an arbitrator being challenged. He emphasised the key importance of ensuring that arbitrators are independent and impartial. Any such relationships must not only be appropriate and fair but must be perceived as such. He concluded that it is better not to appoint an arbitrator whose independence can in any way be called into question. 

Next it was the turn of José Antonio Somalo, former president of the Catalonia High Court of Justice and former magistrate of the Supreme Court, reviewed all of the legal duties deriving from the Law, the Arbitration Association and the Ethical Codes.

Pedro Yúfera, lawyer, arbitrator and former Dean of the Barcelona Bar Association, addressed the duty of insight and disclosure. Specifically, he explained that insight is the act of self-assessment by arbitrators to determine if their experience is sufficient for arbitrating a dispute. Moreover, Yúfera added that arbitrators are obliged to reveal any doubts they may have in respect of their impartiality in the dispute which is called the duty of disclosure. 

Next, César Rivera, lawyer and arbitrator, expanded on the concepts of independence and impartiality as the golden rules of arbitration, stressing the duty of disclosure. He also explained how to react when an arbitrator is challenged and the consequences of non-compliance in respect of the parties and the arbitrator in question. 

Finally, there was a contribution from the lawyer and arbitrator Cristian Gual who detailed how the arbitration process works. First and foremost, he highlighted that arbitration generates the necessary levels of confidence if those taking part in the process are convinced about choosing it as the way to resolve disputes. He went on to deal with how the arbitration process is set up, the powers of the arbitrator, the evidence, the judgement and the winding up of the proceedings. 

The course was organised by the Barcelona Court of Arbitration (TAB) in collaboration with the Autonomous Deanery of Catalan Registrars and the Notary Association of Catalonia.