company disputes per year, providing its economy with a significant boost, according to a leading American attorney.

In all likelihood, the actual figure will be much higher, said Mr. Thad Hutcheson, Jr., chairman and president of the International Centers for Arbitration.

The ICA was formed earlier this year by 13 prominent attorneys with law firms in Houston, Texas, largely as a result of the growing need for more arbitration clauses in contracts as the amount of foreign capital flowing into countries with inadequate legal systems increases rapidly.

Mr. Hutcheson arrived in Bermuda last week to take part in the first ICA Certification Course for International Arbitrators to be held outside the United States.

Fifty-five professional people from seven different countries enrolled on the course, which was held at Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort over the weekend.

About three-quarters of the participants are lawyers with a minimum of ten years' experience but there are also several executives from outside the legal profession.

Although this was a training course, the long-term plan is for different venues in Bermuda to host the arbitration hearings of disputes between large business concerns from all over the world, often involving sums of tens of millions of dollars.

It is becoming more common for clauses to be built into business contracts requiring potential disputes to be settled by arbitration rather the legal system, said Mr. Hutcheson.

This is particularly true of deals involving companies in the west investing heavily in developing areas of the world, like the former Soviet republics, and the Third World, which may not have a reliable judicial system.

Conversely, many companies in the developing world are also highly suspicious of the legal systems in the US and other developed countries, where they believe they may get a raw deal.

The tendency of US courts to award excessive punitive damages against corporations makes even native companies to shy away from using the legal system, said Mr. Hutcheson.

Many of the new deals between East/West/Third World involve the exploration for oil and gas or the development of existing fields, so it is hardly surprising that an organisation like the ICA should originate in Texas, which is not only the oil capital of the US but is also a location which sees more oil and gas activity than anywhere else in the world.

"Because of the heavy regulatory and environmental regulations, the oil companies have, in many instances, decided not to keep looking for oil in the US,'' said Mr. Hutcheson.

"Even the independents, oil producers who find most of the new fields and broker them back to the major oil companies for development, have, in many cases, decided not to continue drilling in the US.'' ICA came into being at the request of attorneys who believed that an inadequate process of resolving potential conflicts was stifling their clients attempts to invest in other economies.

When Bermuda adopted earlier this year the model law on international commercial arbitration developed by the United Nations' Committee on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), it automatically became an ideal location for the arbitration of disputes since it already had the necessary professional infrastructure, developed in tandem with the Island's international business sector.

Lawyers and other professionals on the Island already have the expertise to serve on arbitration panels and do not need to take formal arbitration qualifications.

Apart from existing legal, accounting, communications, stenographic and hotel services, one of Bermuda's most valuable assets was its neutrality, said Mr.

Hutcheson.

"Arbitration typically requires a neutral site,'' he said. "The traditional centres for arbitration have been London, Paris, Geneva and New York but many developing countries do not perceive these places as being neutral, particularly as Europe has become more integrated.'' His brother Houghton, who is the executive director of ICA, added: "London, especially, carries some of the baggage associated with the Colonial empire.

"Bermuda has none of this. It has a great geographical location and could prove very popular with companies in places like South and Central America and Eastern Europe.'' Houghton said that arbitration was one of the world's oldest methods of resolving disputes, existing well before organised legal systems.

"A classic example is King Solomon resolving the dispute of two women claiming to be the mother of the same baby by offering to split the baby in half,'' he said.

(For those not familiar with the tale, one of the women was horrified at this decision and offered to give up her half to spare the baby, thus revealing to Solomon that she was the real mother.) Mr. Thad Hutcheson said that Bermuda, which has a reputation for being expensive in virtually every way, was a cheaper place to hold arbitration hearings than many places, even in the US.

"Air fares from the States to Bermuda are quite inexpensive because they tend to be discounted,'' he said.

"A round trip from Houston to Bermuda costs $305 while a round trip from Houston to New York costs $1,150.'' Special room rates have been negotiated with Bermuda's five largest hotels, the two Princesses, Elbow Beach, Marriott's, and Sonesta, for when they host arbitrations.

For the Marriott's course over the weekend, the ICA block-booked 51 rooms at a rate of $210 per night per room.

"That's very reasonable,'' said Mr. Hutcheson. "If I go to London, my room will cost $300 a night plus another 20 percent in taxes and surcharges. The same thing is true of New York City.'' Another plus for Bermuda was its convivial atmosphere, its sun, beaches, golf courses and relaxing atmosphere, which enhanced the chances of a successful arbitration, he said.

Bermuda's Government has bent over backwards to push arbitration as a new arm of international business on the Island.

Among the measures it has approved is one which grants people involved with arbitrations immunity from the service of summonses or warrants of arrest issued in other countries while they are in Bermuda on arbitration business.

"They will be protected from the minute they enter the Island to the minute they leave,'' said Mr. Hutcheson.

Although there was some awareness among US lawyers of what Bermuda had to offer, it was local lawyer Mr. John Milligan-Whyte who was instrumental in getting the Island selected as an official ICA area, said Mr. Houghton Hutcheson.

He added: "The recent front-page article on Bermuda in The Wall Street Journal has really heightened Bermuda's awareness in the US.'' HELPING TO OVERCOME WORLD TRADE BARRIERS -- Mr. John Milligan-Whyte and Mr.

Thad Hutcheson, Jr.