An award rendered in contractual arbitration (arbitrato irrituale), being contractual in nature, cannot be challenged by the means provided for an award rendered in arbitration, but only on the specific grounds set out in art. 808-ter cod. proc. civ.
The arbitrator’s failure to adopt in full the quantification proposed by the party-appointed expert and his failure to endorse certain submissions relate to the assessment of the evidence, which is reserved to the arbitrator, and do not establish any omission on the part of the lawyer.
A party alleging the professional liability of its lawyer for failure to challenge the award must identify the specific contractual or procedural defect that would have allowed it to be set aside and must show, on a balance of probabilities, that bringing the challenge would have led to a more favourable outcome; it is not sufficient to allege that the outcome of the arbitration was unfavourable.
For a lawyer to enter an appearance in separate arbitral proceedings a specific power of attorney and an engagement referable to each person concerned are required, the existence of a professional relationship concerning other disputes not being sufficient for that purpose.