Class arbitration first developed in the United States in the 1980s as a means of providing large numbers of individuals with the opportunity to assert their claims at the same time and in the same proceeding. Large-scale arbitration has since spread beyond U.S. borders, with collective arbitration being seen in Europe and mass arbitration being used in the international investment regime. Class, Mass and Collective Arbitration in National and International Law considers all three forms of arbitration as a matter of domestic and international law, providing arbitrators, advocates and scholars with the tools they need to evaluate these sorts of procedural mechanisms.

The book covers the best-known decisions in the field - Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. Animal Feeds International Corp. and AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion from the U.S. Supreme Court and Abaclat v. Argentine Republic from the world of investment arbitration - as well as specialized rules promulgated by the American Arbitration Association, JAMS and the German Institution of Arbitration (DIS). The text introduces dozens of previously undiscussed judicial opinions and covers issues ranging from contractual (or treaty) silence and waiver to regulatory concerns and matters of enforcement. The book discusses the entire timeline of class, mass and collective arbitration, ranging from the devices' historical origins through the present and into the future. Lawyers in a wide variety of jurisdictions will benefit from the material contained in this text, which is the first full-length monograph to address large-scale arbitration as a matter of national and international law.