Legal practitioners and businesses once viewed arbitration as a faster, less expensive alternative to litigation. But this method of alternative dispute resolution has become protracted and costly as arbitration rules (and arbitrators) more readily permit broad discovery, dispositive motions, and other procedures that prolong resolution of a dispute. The Delaware Rapid Arbitration Act, Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, §§ 5801 et seq. (DRAA or the Act), effective since May 2015, creates an arbitration regime that is commenced in the Delaware Chancery Court—like a typical litigation—but for an arbitration administered by the court rather than an outside arbitration administrator. See also Del. Ch. Rules 96–98 (effective June 2015). Aiming to address the concerns of the legal and business communities about the speed and efficiency of arbitration, the purpose of the Act, as its name suggests, is “to give Delaware business entities a method by which they may resolve business disputes in a prompt, cost-effective, and efficient manner, through voluntary arbitration conducted by expert arbitrators, and to ensure rapid resolution of those business disputes.” Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 5802.

As this article will fully discuss below, the provisions of the Act attempt to achieve this goal by, among other things, (1) requiring that an arbitrator issue a final award within (at most) 180 days after appointment, id. § 5808(b), (c); (2) requiring that parties consent to waive the right to certain legal procedures, such as interlocutory appeals, that might delay the arbitration, id. § 5803(c); (3) providing that challenges to the arbitration award may be taken directly to the Delaware Supreme Court, id. § 5809(a); and (4) providing that a final award is confirmed, by operation of law, without the need for further action from the court, and that entry of a final judgment may not be challenged once the award is confirmed, id. § 5810. Before this discussion, the article will briefly discuss how eligible businesses can select the procedures of the Act to resolve their disputes.

How to Select the Act to Resolve Disputes
The requirements to opt for the DRAA to resolve disputes are fairly straightforward. Using the well-known language from section 2 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), 9 U.S.C. § 2, the Act provides that “[a] written agreement to submit to arbitration any controversy existing at or arising after the effective date of the agreement is valid, enforceable, and irrevocable” if the following five conditions are satisfied:

1. The arbitration agreement must be signed by both parties;
2. At least one of the signatories must be a business that is either organized under Delaware law or has its principal place of business in Delaware;
3. No party to the arbitration agreement can be a consumer;
4. The parties must agree that the arbitration agreement is governed by Delaware law (different state laws may govern other matters in the overall agreement); and
5. The arbitration agreement must include an express reference to the DRAA.

Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 5803(a).

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