To attain membership to the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, an applicant would be required to be a member of a recognized discipline or calling in which recourse to Arbitration and other forms of ADR is an accepted method or resolving disputes.

To this end the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Kenya Branch offer courses to professionals intending to join the family of dispute resolvers and upgrade programs for Associates and Members intending to move to the next membership cadre.

The introductory courses, commonly referred to as the Entry Courses are either one or two day programs that provide the skeleton for the selected dispute resolution mechanism of choice. A pass in the subsequent post-course assessment leads to election to Associate membership of the institute. Further training is provided and private study encouraged to upgrade membership to Member, Fellow and Chartered Arbitrator grades.