Last updated 2026-08-18
TL;DR
Arkansas does not license private arbitrators. There is no occupational arbitrator board. The ADR Commission certifies mediators for circuit court, a different role. You get work by contract, a private roster, or a court appointment under Ark. Code Title 16, Chapter 108 and, for interstate commerce, the Federal Arbitration Act. Confirm current fees with the office that invoices you.
What is the arbitrator board in Arkansas?
There is no Arkansas occupational board that licenses private arbitrators. People who search “arbitrator board” usually find the Arkansas Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission, a judiciary office that works on court-connected ADR and certifies mediators for circuit court. That office is real. It is not an arbitrator licensing board.[1][2]
Private commercial, construction, employment, and consumer work in this state runs on the contract, on the Federal Arbitration Act when interstate commerce is in the mix, and on the Arkansas Revised Uniform Arbitration Act when the fight is in state court.[5][6][7] An arbitrator in Arkansas gets authority from appointment, not from a state card.
If a court has to name someone because the parties’ method failed, a circuit judge does that under the statute. The judge is not your licensing board.[4]
Labor and securities cases sit on other lists. FINRA runs its own arbitrator application for broker-dealer disputes.[10] The American Arbitration Association runs private commercial panels under its own rules.[11] None of that is an Arkansas state license.
Treat “the board” as a dead end if you want to hang out a shingle. The paper path is an appointment letter, a hearing record, and an award a court can confirm.
Do you need a license for arbitrator in Arkansas?
No. Arkansas does not issue a state occupational license titled arbitrator, and you do not apply to a state board for permission to sit as a private arbitrator. Parties appoint you, a provider panel appoints you, or a court appoints you when the contract method fails.[4][5]
Sitting as an arbitrator is not the same as practicing law. If you give legal advice, appear as counsel, or hold yourself out as an Arkansas lawyer, you need admission to the Arkansas bar. That process runs through the Arkansas Supreme Court Board of Law Examiners, not through an arbitrator board.[12]
Court-connected mediation is the credential people mix up with arbitration. The ADR Commission certifies mediators for circuit court and publishes a mediator roster. That certificate does not let you issue a binding award.[1][2]
Federal law still sits over a lot of private contracts. The Federal Arbitration Act says a written arbitration clause in a contract evidencing a transaction involving commerce “shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.”[6]
The real gate is credibility and appointment, not a state card.
| Path | What you actually hold | Binding award? | Who writes the rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private arbitrator | Appointment letter, not a state license | Yes, if the agreement says so | Ark. Code tit. 16, ch. 108 and the FAA |
| Commission mediator | Circuit-court mediator certificate | No | ADR Commission |
| Arkansas lawyer | Bar license | Only if you are also appointed | Board of Law Examiners |
| AAA or FINRA panelist | Private roster status | Yes, under that forum | The provider |
Who appoints an arbitrator in Arkansas?
The contract does, first. Arkansas’s Revised Uniform Arbitration Act follows the uniform appointment rule. If the parties agreed on a method for appointing an arbitrator, “that method must be followed, unless the method fails.”[4]
When the method fails, or nobody named a method, a party can move the circuit court to appoint. The court then names someone. You do not lobby a state board for that order.
Provider rules can be the method. Plenty of Arkansas construction and commercial contracts point to AAA or another administrator. Those organizations send a list, the parties strike names, and the provider issues the appointment under its published rules.[11]
Specialized forums do the same thing with their own paperwork. FINRA appoints from its roster in customer and intra-industry securities cases.[10]
If you want court work, you still are not filling out an arbitrator license. You are asking a judge, or following a provider clause, to put you on a case. I have not found a statewide binding-arbitrator roster published the way some states publish a court-annexed arbitration panel. Confirm any local standing order with that circuit. Do not assume Little Rock, Fayetteville, and a rural county run the same informal list.
Get the appointment letter. Keep it. That letter is the paper that shows you had authority to hear the matter.
How much does arbitrator cost in Arkansas?
If you mean the cost to become one, Arkansas does not charge a state arbitrator license fee because it does not sell that license. Your real spend is training, professional memberships, errors-and-omissions insurance, and whatever a private roster charges to apply. Confirm every current dollar amount with the organization that invoices you. Fees move, and I will not invent a board fee that does not exist.
If you mean what parties pay an arbitrator, that is a private rate. Daily hearing fees in commercial work often land in the high hundreds to a few thousand dollars a day once someone has a book of cases. Nobody has good public data on private arbitrator arkansas rates by county. There is no official state schedule.
Provider filing fees are separate and they hit the parties, not you. AAA publishes commercial rules and related fee material on its own site. Use those documents. Do not guess from a blog.[11]
Mediator certification, if you want that parallel credential, has its own Commission application cost. Confirm it on the judiciary ADR pages before you write a check.[1][2] Bar dues only apply if you are practicing law.[12]
A cheap first-year stack looks like this. Pay for one serious arbitration or hearing-officer course from a known provider. Buy E&O that actually names arbitration. Skip framed certificates from outfits nobody in Pulaski County has heard of. Skip paying for a “national arbitrator license.” That product is marketing.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics groups arbitrators with mediators and conciliators in occupation 23-1022 and publishes national wage figures that mix all three jobs. Those numbers are not an Arkansas fee schedule.[8][9]
How long does arbitrator take in Arkansas?
There is no state processing clock because there is no state arbitrator license to process. Confirm any court or provider timeline with that court or provider. Nobody can honestly promise you a first paid case on a calendar, and this site will not either.
Training is days to a couple of weeks. A solid commercial arbitration course is usually measured in hours over a long weekend or a work week, not a semester.
Roster review at a private provider can take months. I have no public, stable Arkansas figure for that, and I will not invent one. AAA and FINRA each run their own intake.[10][11]
Getting repeat appointments is the slow part. In a mid-size market, cases come from lawyers who already trust you, from a provider list, or from a contract clause that names you. That is a reputation cycle measured in years, not a stamp from a board.
If you are also sitting for the Arkansas bar so you can try cases as counsel, use the Board of Law Examiners calendar. Bar admission is its own timeline and it is not required for private arbitration.[12]
A first hearing can happen as soon as someone appoints you. Do not confuse that with having a practice.
Does the Arkansas ADR Commission certify arbitrators?
No. The Commission’s public program is court-connected alternative dispute resolution, with mediator certification for circuit court as the credential people actually apply for. The judiciary publishes Commission materials and a certified-mediator list. That is mediator paper.[1][2]
The statutory home for the Commission is Arkansas Code Title 16, Chapter 7. The General Assembly created that body to push ADR in the court system, not to license a private arbitration industry.[3]
Read their materials before you apply for the wrong thing. A mediation certificate helps if you want court mediation work. It does not turn your recommendation into a binding award.
I would still read the Commission site if you work disputes in Arkansas. Judges and clerks know that office. You should know what they do and what they do not do.
Some people collect the mediator certificate and then market themselves as “board certified arbitrators.” That is sloppy. The Commission did not certify you as an arbitrator.
If a local administrative order or a particular circuit runs a settlement week or a mediation roster, that paperwork is on the judiciary site or in that division’s standing order. It still is not a statewide arbitrator license.
Can a non-lawyer be an arbitrator in Arkansas?
Yes. Neither the Federal Arbitration Act nor the Arkansas RUAA requires the arbitrator to hold an Arkansas law license. Parties can pick a contractor, an engineer, an accountant, or a retired operator if the contract says so.[5][6]
Industry cases often want subject-matter skill more than a JD. Construction defect fights and equipment or crop disputes are the usual examples.
You still cannot practice law. Drafting the parties’ settlement as their lawyer, giving them legal advice, or appearing in circuit court as counsel is bar-regulated work.[12]
If you are not a lawyer, write a short disclosure that says so. Put it in your appointment paperwork. Courts care about evident partiality and about parties knowing who they picked. Overclaiming credentials is how you get a vacatur motion.
FINRA and some provider panels have their own chairperson rules. Some lists want a lawyer as chair of a three-person panel. That is a provider rule, not an Arkansas statute. Read the panel rules before you apply.[10][11]
I would rather see a non-lawyer arbitrator with twenty years in the trade than a new lawyer with a purchased certificate and no hearing manners.
How do you get arbitration cases in Arkansas?
You get named in a clause, you get picked off a provider list, or a lawyer calls you because a colleague sat with you. That is the whole market. There is no state dispatcher.
Join one roster that Arkansas counsel actually use. For securities, that is FINRA.[10] For commercial and construction, AAA is still the name that shows up in a lot of form contracts.[11] Tell the litigators you already know. A one-page resume with hearing types, disclosure habits, and daily rate beats a ten-page brochure.
Learn the confirmation and vacatur statutes so your award is usable. An unenforceable award is a hobby.
Neighboring states do not magically feed you cases either. If you also work Alabama or other nearby dockets, the same appointment logic applies. Start with arbitrator board in Alabama if you take work across the state line.
For a clean set of hearing forms and a roster checklist you can edit, ArbitratorPath sells a $199 one-time Hearing + Roster Kit at /start. Use it or ignore it. The statutes do not require it.
Do not pay a lead-gen service that promises Arkansas arbitration appointments. Those lists are not how circuit judges or AAA case managers pick names.
What paper do courts want if they confirm an award?
A written award, the agreement to arbitrate, proof of appointment, and proof the parties had notice of the hearing. That file is what counsel attach to a motion to confirm. You do not file the award with an “arbitrator board.” You issue it to the parties. They file in circuit court or federal court if someone wants a judgment.
Under the Federal Arbitration Act, a court may vacate an award for corruption, evident partiality, specified misconduct, or the arbitrators exceeding their powers.[13] Arkansas’s RUAA has its own vacatur section in the same chapter as the appointment rule.[14][5]
Write the award so a judge who was not in the room can see the issues, the decision, and that you decided the submitted dispute rather than some other dispute. The Federal Arbitration Act is published as Title 9 of the United States Code.[6][13]
Keep the record long enough that you can answer a vacatur motion. Disclosures, notices, and exhibit lists matter more than a decorative seal.
BLS can tell you what the occupation looks like nationally. It cannot tell you how to draft an Arkansas award.[8]
What should you skip in your first year?
Skip anything sold as a state or national arbitrator license for Arkansas. It does not match the statute.
Skip buying three memberships before you have sat one hearing. Pick one provider path and learn its rules cold.[11]
Skip calling yourself “court certified” unless a real court order or Commission certificate says that, and even then say mediator if that is what you hold.[2]
Skip cheap websites that reprint other states’ bonding rules. Arkansas is not California. If you want the contrast, read arbitrator board in California and notice how much of that paper still is not a state arbitrator card.
Insurance is not a skip. Get E&O that covers arbitration. Confirm the endorsement. A homeowners policy will not help you.
A home office is fine. A fake chambers lease in downtown Little Rock is a waste if you hear two cases a year.
I would spend time on disclosure templates and a conflicts system before I spent money on branding. Partiality problems end careers. Logos do not.
How does Arkansas compare with other states?
Most states also do not license private arbitrators as an occupation. The pattern is the same. FAA plus a state arbitration act plus private panels.
What changes is court-connected ADR and mediator credentialing. Arkansas put that function in a Supreme Court Commission.[1] Other states park it in a judicial council or do almost nothing at the state level.
If you work a multi-state practice, read each state’s act before you reuse an award template. Vacatur grounds look similar in RUAA states, but local civil procedure for confirmation is not copy-paste. Arkansas enacted the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act in 2011 in Ark. Code Title 16, Chapter 108, Subchapter 2.[5][7]
Useful next reads if your docket crosses lines: arbitrator board in Georgia, arbitrator board in Florida, arbitrator board in Illinois, arbitrator board in Arizona, and arbitrator board in Colorado.
Fee shopping across states is mostly a waste. Your rate follows your cases, not the statehouse. For a cost-framed walkthrough in another Deep South market, see Arbitrator cost in Alabama: fees, licensing, and timelines.
Nobody has a clean public dataset of private arbitrator rates by Arkansas county. The closest federal numbers sit in the BLS tables for occupation 23-1022, and those tables mix mediators and conciliators into the same bucket.[9]
What records should an Arkansas arbitrator keep?
Keep the contract clause or submission agreement, your disclosures, the appointment, notices, the exhibit list, the award, and any correction. Keep them past the confirmation window.
If you later apply to a provider panel, they will ask for hearing history. A thin, honest list beats a padded one.[11]
Arkansas does not require you to deposit those files with a state board. Privacy still matters. Parties sent you their business. Do not leave it on an unlocked laptop.
For tax purposes you are usually an independent contractor. That is IRS territory, not the ADR Commission. I am not your accountant.
If a party asks for your notes, know your practice before the hearing starts. Many arbitrators treat deliberative notes as their own and the award as the official decision. Say it in the preliminary order so nobody is surprised.
A simple folder structure is enough. Case name, appointment date, disclosures sent, award date. Fancy case-management software is optional until volume makes email stupid.
What does a first year as an arbitrator in Arkansas look like?
Quiet. That is normal.
You will spend more time on disclosures, calendaring, and explaining your rate than on breaking new legal ground. Most Arkansas hearings are counsel-driven. They want someone who starts on time, lets them try their case, and issues an award that can be confirmed.
Set a cancellation policy in writing. Set a retainer for multi-day hearings. Confirm whether you bill travel from your home county. If you also mediate, keep the roles straight on the invoice and in the opening statement. Mixed processes are fine when the parties ask for them. Sloppy labels are not.
CLE hours for lawyers are a bar issue. They are not an arbitrator-board issue.[12] BLS tracks arbitrators with mediators and conciliators under occupation code 23-1022, and the national headcount is small compared with lawyers.[8][9] Arkansas is a slice of that slice. Plan a practice that can survive on other work until appointments show up.
I would not quit a job based on a certificate. I would take the first small case, write a clean award, and ask the lawyers if they would use you again.
ArbitratorPath is an independent publisher, not a law firm and not a service company. If you want form templates, the $199 Hearing + Roster Kit is at /start. Confirm every fee, form, and processing time with the court, Commission, or provider that actually issues the paper.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a license for arbitrator in Arkansas?
No. Arkansas does not issue a private arbitrator occupational license. Authority comes from the parties’ contract, a provider appointment, or a circuit court order under Ark. Code Title 16, Chapter 108. A law license is required only if you practice law. Mediator certification from the ADR Commission is a different credential and is not an arbitrator card.
How much does arbitrator cost in Arkansas?
There is no state arbitrator license fee. Budget for training, E&O insurance, and any private roster application the provider actually charges. Party-paid hearing rates are private and unpublished by the state. Confirm current dollars with the organization that invoices you. BLS wage tables for occupation 23-1022 mix arbitrators with mediators and are not an Arkansas fee schedule.
How long does arbitrator take in Arkansas?
There is no state processing time because there is no state license. A training course is usually days. Private roster review can take months. Repeat paid work is a reputation cycle measured in years. Confirm any court or provider timeline with that office. Do not treat a certificate as a start date for a full-time practice.
Is the ADR Commission the Arkansas arbitrator board?
No. The Arkansas Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission is a judiciary body that works on court-connected ADR and certifies circuit-court mediators. It does not license private commercial arbitrators. If you want the Commission’s paper, apply for mediator certification and say so honestly in your marketing.
Can a non-lawyer serve as an arbitrator in Arkansas?
Yes. The FAA and the Arkansas RUAA do not require a law license to sit as a private arbitrator. Parties often want trade experience. You still cannot give legal advice or appear as counsel without bar admission. Disclose that you are not a lawyer. Some provider panels require a lawyer chair on a three-person panel, which is their rule, not a state license rule.
Do I have to live in Arkansas to sit as an arbitrator there?
The RUAA does not require Arkansas residency for appointment. Parties and providers can pick an out-of-state name. Travel cost and hearing logistics still matter. FINRA and other forums have their own eligibility rules. Confirm those with the forum. A city business license, if you open a local shop, is a city-clerk question, not an arbitrator-board question.
How do I get on the AAA or FINRA list from Arkansas?
Apply to the provider, not to the State of Arkansas. FINRA publishes an arbitrator application for securities cases. AAA maintains commercial and other panels under its rules. Each forum sets training, disclosure, and review standards. Confirm current forms and any fee on that forum’s site. Panel status is not an Arkansas license.
Does Arkansas have statewide court-ordered binding arbitration?
I have not found a statewide court-annexed binding arbitration roster comparable to some other states’ civil programs. Circuits use mediation and other ADR tools through the Commission’s work. A particular division may have a standing order. Confirm with that clerk. Do not assume a statewide arbitrator assignment system exists.
What statute governs arbitration agreements in Arkansas?
Interstate commercial agreements sit under the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. § 2. In state court, Arkansas uses the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act, Ark. Code Title 16, Chapter 108, Subchapter 2, enacted in 2011. Appointment, hearing process, confirmation, and vacatur are in that chapter. Read the section that matches the motion in front of the judge.
Can a court throw out my award?
Yes, on narrow statutory grounds. Federal vacatur is in 9 U.S.C. § 10 (corruption, evident partiality, specified misconduct, or exceeding powers). Arkansas’s RUAA has a parallel vacatur section in Chapter 108. A sloppy disclosure or an award that decides a dispute nobody submitted is how you get into that fight. Write for a judge who was not in the room.
Is mediator certification required before I arbitrate?
No. Mediator certification is optional unless you want Commission-certified circuit-court mediation work. Binding arbitration rests on appointment under the contract, a provider, or a court order. Holding a mediator certificate and calling it an arbitrator license is a good way to annoy counsel and confuse a confirmation record.
Where do I file an arbitration award in Arkansas?
You issue the award to the parties. You do not file it with an arbitrator board. If a party wants a judgment, counsel move to confirm in the proper circuit court or federal court. Attach the agreement, the appointment, notice proof, and the award. Confirm local filing practice with that clerk. Deadlines sit in the FAA or the RUAA, depending on the case.
Are arbitrator fees set by the State of Arkansas?
No. Private hearing rates are set by you and the parties, or by the provider’s process. The state does not publish an arbitrator fee schedule for private cases. Provider administrative fees are separate and belong to that provider. Confirm any number on the invoice source. BLS national wage figures are not a rate card for Pulaski County hearings.
Sources
- Arkansas Judiciary, Alternative Dispute Resolution: The Arkansas judiciary operates an ADR program and Commission for court-connected alternative dispute resolution, including mediator credentialing rather than private arbitrator licensing.
- Arkansas Judiciary, Certified Mediators: The judiciary publishes a roster of Commission-certified mediators, which is a mediator credential, not a private arbitrator license.
- Arkansas Code § 16-7-104 (Justia): Arkansas statute in Title 16, Chapter 7 creates and structures the Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission as a court-system ADR body.
- Arkansas Code § 16-108-211 (Justia): If the parties agree on a method for appointing an arbitrator, that method must be followed unless it fails; a court may appoint when the method fails.
- Arkansas Code Title 16, Chapter 108, Subchapter 2 (Justia): The Revised Uniform Arbitration Act is codified in Arkansas at Title 16, Chapter 108, Subchapter 2.
- Cornell LII, 9 U.S.C. § 2: A written arbitration provision in a contract evidencing a transaction involving commerce shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract.
- Uniform Law Commission, Arbitration Act (2000): The Uniform Law Commission maintains the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act and lists enacting states, including Arkansas’s adoption of the uniform act.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: BLS profiles arbitrators together with mediators and conciliators as one occupation and publishes national education and wage information that is not an Arkansas license table.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 23-1022: Federal occupational employment statistics track arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators under SOC code 23-1022 in a combined national series.
- FINRA, Become a FINRA Arbitrator: FINRA maintains its own arbitrator application and roster for securities disputes, independent of any Arkansas occupational license.
- American Arbitration Association, Commercial Rules: AAA administers commercial arbitrations and panel appointments under its published commercial program and rules, not under an Arkansas state license.
- U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel, 9 U.S.C. § 10: Federal law lists the grounds on which a court may vacate an arbitration award, including corruption, evident partiality, misconduct, and exceeding powers.
- Arkansas Code § 16-108-223 (Justia): Arkansas’s RUAA includes a statutory section on vacating an award in the same chapter as the appointment and confirmation rules.