"Before You Commit to Arbitrate, Here are Things to Contemplate"
Below is an excerpt:
While parties can enter into agreements to arbitrate after disputes have arisen, the vast majority of agreements to arbitrate appear in business contracts written before disputes arise. Therefore, the parties need to take care to ensure that the agreement adequately addresses and anticipates the arbitration process.
Generic or specific clause?
In drafting the arbitration agreement, the parties must include a generic arbitration clause if they want to arbitrate all claims arising out of or relating to the contract at issue. Fiala v. Brickford Senior Living Group LLC, 2015 IL App (2d) 141160. If the parties wish to arbitrate only specific issues, then the arbitration clause must set forth those issues.
Remember, whether a particular dispute is covered by the agreement to arbitrate is itself an arbitrable issue. Nagle v. Nadelhoffer, Nagle, Kuhn, Mitchell, Moss and Saloga P.C., 244 Ill.App.3d 920, 928 (2d Dist. 1993).