Having worked for an industry-specific arb forum in the past, I'll take a stab @ this.<p>Assuming that the contract specifies the forum, you'd want to look into how 'fair' the past decisions for matters relating to whatever it is you'll be doing have been.<p>You'll also want to get a sense of what the forum's arbitrator pool is like, i.e. who are the arbs and how qualified are they to actually sit on a panel.<p>Additionally, look for language that specifies where hearings must take place, and/or forum rules/policies on specifying hearing locations (or <i>actually how the process works in general</i>). The last italicized bit is quite important because contracts can say just about anything, but fora often have rules that can void contract language that is deemed unfair, unethical, etc.<p>Other considerations: up-front and long run costs, turnaround times, ability to receive explained decision and to <i>appeal decisions</i>, ability to forum to <i>enforce decisions/judgements</i>... Probably forgetting some things, but those are the major ones. Oh, yeah, <i>precedent</i>. At my forum, past panel decisions had <i>zero</i> bearing on other cases. I mean that literally.<p>Possible reason not to opt out: you might fair worse trying to go to court, based on costs, turnaround time, precedent, or some other factor. Also, your company may view you as a troublemaker if the typical behavior is simply to sign the agreement<p>Honestly, based on what I learned, whether in the court system or the arb system, people lacking access to significant resources are at a disadvantage in either.<p>W/o knowing the specifics, it's difficult to provide a definitive answer. Finally, <i>IANAL</i>.