Arbitration costs in 2025 – how much does it really cost?

Registration fee and first steps

Starting the procedure at Lublin Union Arbitrage requires paying a registration fee, which in 2025 is 1,240 PLN. This is a one-time cost that covers the verification of documents and checking whether the arbitration clause is correct. Unlike a common court, where the proportional fee from a lawsuit is usually 5% of the value of the dispute, our rate is fixed for cases with a value of up to 50,000 PLN. This allows for the avoidance of a situation in which a company must freeze large financial resources just to be able to even pursue its rights before an arbitrator.

In Lublin, many small workshops and transport companies give up on recovering debts of the order of 15,000 PLN because court and legal costs seem too high. We use clear rules of the game. If the case is simple and concerns, for example, an unpaid invoice for transport from Chełm to Lublin, administrative costs do not change during the process. This gives financial security to both parties, who from the beginning know where they stand and how much money they must reserve in the budget for handling this specific dispute.

It is worth adding that this fee also includes the appointment of an arbitrator from our list of 7 permanent specialists. Each of them has at least 11 years of experience in commercial law or management. There is no drawing of a judge who just happens to have a free date, which is common practice in state courts. Here you choose a person who understands the specifics of your industry, which shortens document analysis time by about 14 business days. This is a specific saving of time, which in business translates directly into cash.

Arbitrators' hourly rates vs attorney costs

The main cost in the arbitration process is the arbitrator's fee. At Lublin Union Arbitrage, we use a rate of 340 PLN per hour of work for analyzing evidence and conducting sessions. A typical case for non-performance of a delivery contract requires about 8 to 12 hours of an arbitrator's work. Comparing this to the rates of law firms in the center of Lublin, which can issue an invoice for 2,800 PLN just for preparing a pleading, arbitration comes out much more favorably. Discretion is our standard, so you do not pay for public appearances or unnecessary formalities that prolong the process in court.

In a state court, a judge rarely has time for an in-depth analysis of technical details, which forces the parties to appoint experts. The cost of a court expert opinion in 2024 varied from 1,800 PLN to as much as 5,400 PLN for complicated machines. At LUA, we often choose arbitrators who have a degree in the field, e.g., engineering. Thanks to this, the need to appoint external experts falls away in 67% of our cases. This eliminates one of the most expensive and unpredictable elements of a traditional court process.

Let's also remember the costs of legal representation. In court, if you lose, you must return the opponent's lawyer costs according to rigid ministerial rates. In arbitration, the parties can agree that each covers its own costs or they share them in half, regardless of the outcome. Such a solution promotes settlement. We solve the problem, we don't look for the guilty, which allows many of our clients to maintain business relationships even after the end of a difficult dispute over money.

In arbitration, you pay for real work on your case, and not for waiting in line for a courtroom for 10 months.

Real example of 3,840 PLN in savings

Let's look at a case from October 2024. A construction company from Lublin was in a dispute with a subcontractor over the quality of installation of 22 windows in a new office building. The value of the dispute was 34,000 PLN. If they had gone to court, the filing fee would have been 1,700 PLN. Added to this would be at least three hearings, for which lawyers would take a total of about 4,500 PLN. Duration? Optimistically 18 months. The total court cost would be around 6,200 PLN, with great uncertainty as to the final verdict.

At Lublin Union Arbitrage, the same case cost a total of 2,360 PLN. This consisted of the registration fee (1,240 PLN) and 3 hours of arbitrator's work (1,020 PLN), who personally went to the investment site at ul. Nałęczowska to inspect the windows. The whole thing lasted 19 days from the filing of the application to the issuance of the verdict. The client saved 3,840 PLN in cash and over a year of stress. Significantly, both companies continue to work with each other on the next project in Świdnik, which would be impossible in the case of an aggressive court process.

This case shows that arbitration is not a service only for large corporations. Honestly, it is small companies that gain the most from the speed of action. An amount of 3,840 PLN for a company employing 5 people is the equivalent of a month's fuel for two delivery vans or paying ZUS contributions for one employee. It is worth thinking about this before sending the first pre-trial demand prepared by an expensive law firm.

Hidden costs: What is not seen in invoices?

The biggest cost of court is not the filing fee, but management time. In a traditional process, the company owner must appear at every hearing. If there are three hearings, and each with travel and waiting in the hallway takes 4 hours, you lose 12 working hours. At a managerial rate of 150 PLN/h, that's another 1,800 PLN loss that you won't recover. At LUA, most sessions take place remotely or at times that suit entrepreneurs, e.g., on Thursdays at 4:30 pm. We don't waste your time on formal calling of names in the hallway.

Another aspect is the cost of withheld payments. If a contractor owes you 20,000 PLN and the court case lasts 2 years, then at the current inflation rate, this money loses about 12-15% in value. Before you receive a verdict, your 20,000 PLN will be worth as much as 17,000 PLN on the day the debt arose. Fast arbitration (average 43 days) allows you to recover funds and reinvest them in goods or equipment. This is a profit from turnover that a state judge will never consider in a verdict, and which is key for your company.

Discretion also has its price. Judgments of state courts are public and often appear in databases, which can spoil a company's opinion when applying for a loan in a bank at ul. Lipowa. Arbitration is completely confidential. No outsider will find out that you had a dispute with a supplier unless you say so yourself. For many of our 47 regular clients, this reputation protection is worth more than all the savings on administrative fees combined.

How to prepare a budget for arbitration?

If you plan to refer a case to Lublin Union Arbitrage, assume a budget at the level of 10-12% of the value of the dispute. This is a safe margin that will cover all fees. Court is the last resort, which is why before starting the procedure we always offer a 20-minute preliminary consultation for 150 PLN. During this conversation, the arbitrator assesses whether the case is suitable for out-of-court settlement and whether the documents possessed (emails, SMS, collection protocols) are sufficient to issue a verdict without appointing expensive experts.

It happens that after such a consultation, companies decide on mediation, which is even cheaper and costs us a fixed 850 PLN per session. Perhaps your problem can be solved with one meeting at ul. Krakowskie Przedmieście 22 instead of writing lawsuits. We are here to close conflicts, not to multiply lawyers' work hours. If we see that the chances of winning are slim or the costs of arbitration will eat up all the profit from the recovered debt, we will tell you straight during the first conversation.

Finally, it is worth mentioning the arbitration clause. To use our rates, you must have a provision about Lublin Union Arbitrage in your contract. If you don't have it, we can prepare an annex to the current contract for a symbolic fee of 120 PLN. This is the cheapest insurance against court costs you can treat your company to in 2025. A short document on one page saves thousands of zlotys in the future, as confirmed by the stories of our clients from the construction and IT industries.

An honest talk about costs at the beginning means fewer complaints at the end. With us, there are no surprise invoices.