The effect of lawyers on non-discipline/discharge arbitration decisions

Both labor and management often have a lawyer present their case at an arbitration hearing. This paper investigates whether the probability of obtaining a favorable arbitration outcome was related to the use of legal counsel. An analysis of 1,284 Canadian non-discipline/discharge cases revealed that a party was more likely to receive a favorable award when it had legal representation and the other side did not. However, there was no difference in win rates when the outcomes of cases in which both parties used lawyers were compared with those in which neither side was represented by legal counsel. Support for this research was provided by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council/Saint Mary’s University Matching Grant. The excellent research assistance of Nancy Canavan is gratefully acknowledged.