International Construction Law Review
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DISPUTE BOARDS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
JEREMY GLOVER
Partner, Fenwick Elliott LLP
*
ABSTRACT
On the 50th anniversary of the first use of Dispute Boards, and in light of the Dispute Boards International Survey Report published by King’s College London in December 2024, this article reviews the history of research into the effectiveness of Dispute Boards. Starting with an insight into that very first Board, the article tracks the initial studies carried out in the US, reviews the project data accumulated by a number of US Transport Departments, considers the global research carried out by the DRBF and considers the position in South East Asia. Finally, the article compares the results of these surveys with the new Report which came out last year.
INTRODUCTION
The year 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of what is commonly believed to be the first project to use a formal Dispute Review Board (or DRB) as part of the original contract documents. Coincidentally at the end of 2024, Professor Renato Nazzini and Raquel Macedo Moreira of King’s College London released their Report “2024 Dispute Boards International Survey: A Study on the Worldwide Use of Dispute Boards over the Past Six Years”1 (“KCL Report”), which provides a number of valuable insights into the use and effectiveness of Dispute Boards (DBs)2 in the construction and infrastructure sectors.
The first project, the second bore of the Eisenhower Tunnel in Colorado, was bid on 8 August 1975. The members of that first DRB were two engineers, Al Mathews and Charles McGraw, and a lawyer, Palmer King.3 We know a
* Email: jglover@fenwickelliott.com.
1 https://www.kcl.ac.uk/law/assets/kcl-dpsl-2024-dispute-boards-international-survey-report-digital-aw.pdf (last accessed 4 March 2025). I was a member of the Steering Committee for this survey.
2 There are a number of different forms of Dispute Board (DB), of which the DRB is just one. The ICC Dispute Board Rules 2015 state that: “A Dispute Board is a standing body typically set up upon signature or commencement of performance of a mid- or long-term contract, to help the parties avoid or overcome any disagreements or disputes that arise during the implementation of the contract.” For ease of reference in this paper I will use the general term DB unless a specific form of DB is being referred to.
3 And the make-up (and success) of that very first DB should perhaps end forever the debate about the inclusion of lawyers as members of a DB.
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