Contracting Around the FAA: The Enforceability of Private Agreements to Expand Judicial Review of Arbitration Awards

This article argues that courts should enforce private contractual agreements for expanded judicial review in arbitration agreements. This article demonstrates that the court decisions enforcing such arbitral contractual provisions are consistent with the FAA’s purpose to ensure enforcement of parties’ arbitral agreements, whatever the form. Furthermore, this article argues that the FAA does not preclude courts from reviewing awards under expanded grounds where parties so agree, because the statutory structure provides default rather than mandatory grounds for award vacatur. Finally, this article concludes that permitting the parties to contract for expanded judicial review serves the public policy favoring arbitration, insofar as it encourages arbitration by giving parties who may be extraordinarily concerned with obtaining the legally correct outcome the ability to contract for expanded judicial review.