An attorney's law firm regularly represented a large company in international transactions. The company becomes involved in a contractual dispute with a foreign government, and the attorney is appointed to the arbitration panel as a partisan arbitrator. Is the attorney subject to professional discipline?

• A. Yes, because serving on an arbitration panel as partisan is improper.
• B. No, because arbitration panels permit partisan appointments.
• C. No, because the attorney was appointed to the arbitration panel as a partisan arbitrator.
• D. No, because the panel allowed political appointments.

Answer: (C)

The key concept is that arbitrators can be party-appointed to a dispute and such appointments are a recognized part of many arbitration systems. A lawyer serving as an arbitrator is not automatically subject to discipline simply because the arbitrator is aligned with one side. What matters is impartiality and conflicts of interest: a lawyer may act as an arbitrator if they can fairly decide the case, and any potential bias or conflicts must be avoided, disclosed, or recused from involved matters.

In this scenario, the attorney has been appointed to the arbitration panel as a partisan arbitrator in a dispute between the company (a client of the attorney’s firm in other contexts) and a foreign government. Merely holding a partisan role on the panel does not automatically trigger professional discipline, provided there is no undisclosed conflict and the attorney can render a fair decision. Thus, there is no disciplinary action simply because of being a party-appointed arbitrator. The focus would be on actual bias, conflicts, or failure to disclose, not on the mere fact of a partisan appointment.

That said, if the attorney’s impartiality were compromised or there were undisclosed conflicts, discipline could be appropriate. The other options would imply per se improper conduct, which is not established by the facts given.