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www.marinelink.com MN27on an hourly basis. As most arbitra-tors are highly accomplished and seasoned attorneys, these fees are sig- nificant and always due in advance. From our experience, the arbitrator fees for a moderately complicatedcommercial matter with a one-week hearing could cost roughly $300,000. As such, the price ofadmission for using arbitration as analternative dispute method is very high.DISCOVERY The next important difference relates to the amount of discovery (exchange of information) that is allowed through the process. In court, parties are able to request information, without court approval, on any topic that is rele- vant to the alleged issues that are ger- mane to the proceeding. The court only gets involved when one of the parties allegedly requests irrelevant or privileged material.On the other hand, in the arbitra- tion setting, the panel regulates the process of discovery and discovery is only approved upon a showing of relevance and need. Although this process serves to lower costs by avoiding litigants? witch hunt for information, it also severely limits your ability to evaluate the other side?s positions and evaluate their supporting evidence. If a party does not like the discovery ruling issued by the panel, there is no recourse and the parties are bound by the panel?s ruling. You may be able to save money by the panel limiting the scope of dis-covery. However, you may also be limited in your ability to seek the information that you need. From our experience, we do not usually find significant discovery costs are saved with arbitration, as the pan- MN#10 (18-31):MN 2011 Layouts 10/5/2011 11:21 AM Page 27