Under New York law, binding arbitration awards can be confirmed in civil court. If this is done, the judgment has the same force and effect as an initial court award. In practice, however, it is rarely necessary for a party to a DDC arbitration to seek confirmation of a judgment. While arbitration awards are officially kept secret, a confirmation proceeding in court would quickly become public knowledge. Thus, the dealer against whom the judgment was entered would suffer severe damage to his reputation.

DEFINE: Explains the mechanism by which secret arbitration awards remain confidential and why confirmation is rare in practice.

Lisa Bernestein, Opting out of the Legal Sys…, loc. 107