Executive Committee

The Executive Committee consists of the Section's current officers, the Section's Delegates to the Association's House of Delegates, the Chairs of each of the Section's Committees, and other members in good standing of the Section and the Association as appointed by the Executive Committee to serve in an at-large capacity.  

The Executive Committee is responsible for (1)  discussion and adoption of positions of the Section, including passing on committee reports and commenting as requested on reports of other Sections and Committees of the New York State Bar Association and the ABA; (2) general supervision and control over the affairs and activities of the Section,  including meetings, CLE programs, special events and receptions; ( 3 ) authorization of all commitments and contracts, and expenditure of all monies collected by the Section or appropriated for its use and purposes.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events 

2012 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes 

April 12, 2012 (pdf)

March 22, 2012 (pdf)

Februrary 16, 2012 (pdf)

Committee on ADR in the Courts

Jacqueline W. Silbermann Committee Chair	Stephen A. Hochman, Committee Co-Chair

The ADR in the Courts Committee, chaired by the Hon. Jacqueline W. Silbermann and co-chaired by Stephen A. Hochman, has set an ambitious agenda to improve the court-annexed mediation programs in both the State and Federal courts.  One focus will be to increase the number of cases sent to mediation, either by court order or voluntarily, by various means, including educating members of the bar and the judiciary as to the advantages of mediation and other ADR processes and organizing a network of practitioners around the State to work with their local judges on increasing the utilization of mediation services.  Another focus will be to improve the methods of administrating the court-annexed programs in order to deal with the anticipated increased demand for mediators, including the process by which mediators are selected to accommodate the needs and preferences of the litigants.

The Committee coordinates and consults regularly with Dan Weitz, Director of ADR for the New York State Office of Court Administration and other court representatives involved in the ADR programs.  The Committee has also met with Hon. Loretta A. Preska, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, as well as Hon. Sherry Klein Heitler, the Administrative Judge for Civil Matters in the First Judicial District of the New York State Supreme Court, and will continue to coordinate with them to improve their mediation programs.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

Committee on Arbitration

John Wilkinson Co-Chair

Abigail J. Pessen Co-Chair

The Dispute Resolution Section, Arbitration Committee will seek to work with the arbitration committees and sub-committees of the various other sections to address issues in arbitration with a cross-practice focus – in consultation with the various specialty practice areas.  The Arbitration Committee will dedicate its efforts to promoting the efficient and effective use of arbitration in New York and ensuring New York’s continuation as a center of both domestic and international arbitration.  Some initial items that will form a part of the committee’s agenda will be efforts to win enactment of the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act in New York and development of a recommendation for discovery procedures appropriate for New York arbitration practice.

The Arbitration Committee, chaired by John Wilkinson and Abigail J. Pessen, has completed a number of significant projects over the last 2 years and is currently engaged in a variety of additional pursuits. Last year, for example, the Committee drafted and adopted a series of guidelines designed to make discovery more cost effective in domestic, commercial arbitrations. The guidelines were adopted by the NYSBA’s Executive Committee and House of Delegates.

The International Arbitration Subcommittee, chaired by John Fellas has been working with a team of well-known, respected practitioners in international arbitration and has created a brochure (for broad circulation) as to why parties and attorneys from around the world should select New York as the site of their international arbitrations; Working with John and Abigail the subcommittee draft a series of guidelines aimed at making the pre-hearing phase of international arbitrations more cost-effective. The guidelines were adopted by the NYSBA’s Executive Committee and House of Delegates.

In addition, the Committee has scheduled a series of discussion sessions on current and important arbitration topics. Each of these discussions are moderated by two or more people who are leaders in the arbitration field and who have first hand experience in the area under discussion. The discussions this year include such varied subjects as arbitrators involvement in settlement, third party subpoenas, refusal of one party to pay, an international arbitration statute for New York, substantive motions in arbitration and more. It is expected that these discussions will lead to productive future projects for the Committee to undertake.

Committee Roster

(Section Members Only)

Please click the issue date for each publication below to open the PDF file.

Nominating Committee

The function of the Nominating Committee is to make recommendations to the Executive Committee as to the members of the Section who should serve as officers of the Section following the expiration of the terms of the current officers.  All persons who would like to be considered as officers may submit their applications to the Nominating Committee for consideration.  The members of the Nominating Committee shall be appointed by the Chair of the Section, and they shall not be eligible to be nominated as officers by the Nominating Committee on which they are serving as a member. 

Simeon H. Baum, Chair

Simeon Baum, President of Resolve Mediation Services, Inc., has successfully mediated over 900 disputes.  He has been active since 1992 as a neutral in dispute resolution, assuming the roles of mediator, neutral evaluator and arbitrator in a variety of cases, including the highly publicized mediation of the Studio Daniel Libeskind-Silverstein Properties dispute over architectural fees relating to the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, and Trump’s $ 1 billion suit over the West Side Hudson River development.  He was selected for New York Magazine’s 2005 - 2011 “Best Lawyers” and “New York Super Lawyers” listings for ADR, and Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer of the Year” for ADR in New York for 2011.

An attorney, with over 25 years’ experience as a litigator, Mr. Baum has served as a mediator or ADR neutral in a wide variety of matters involving claims concerning business disputes, financial services, securities industry disputes, reinsurance and insurance coverage, property damage and personal injury, malpractice, employment, ERISA benefits, accounting, civil rights, partnership, family business, real property, construction, surety bond defaults, unfair competition, fraud, bank fraud, bankruptcy, intellectual property, and commercial claims.

Mr. Baum has a longstanding involvement in Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR"). He has served as a neutral for the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York Mediation Panels; New Jersey Superior Court, Civil Part, Statewide; Commercial Division, New York State Supreme Court, New York & Westchester Counties; U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern & Eastern Districts of New York; the New York Stock Exchange; National Association of Securities Dealers; the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and CPR, among others. 

Mr. Baum’s peers have appointed him to many key posts: e.g., Member, ADR Advisory Group, Commercial Division, Supreme Court, New York County; ADR Advisory Group and Mediation Ethics Advisory Committee, N.Y. State Unified Court System.  Founding Chair of the N.Y. State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section, he was also subcommittee chair of the N.Y. State Bar Association’s ADR Committee; Legislative Tracking Subcommittee Chair of the ADR Committee of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association; Charter Member, ABA Dispute Resolution Section Corporate Liaison Committee; President-Elect, Federal Bar Association’s SDNY Chapter, and Chair of the FBA’s national ADR Section.  He is past Chair of the New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) Committee on Arbitration and ADR.  Besides serving on the NYCLA’s Committee on Committees, he is past Chair of the Joint Committee on Fee Dispute and Conciliation (of NYCLA, ABC NY, and Bronx County Bar Associations), and is on the Board of Governors, NYS Attorney-Client Fee Dispute Resolution Program.  He is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Mr. Baum has shared his enthusiasm for ADR through teaching, training, extensive writing and public speaking.  He has taught ADR at NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Development, and he teaches Negotiation, and Processes of Dispute Resolution (focusing on Negotiation, Mediation and Arbitration) at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.  He developed and conducts 3-day programs training mediators for the Commercial Division, Supreme Court, New York, Queens, and Westchester Counties. He has been a panelist, presenter and facilitator for numerous programs on mediation, arbitration, and ADR for Judges, attorneys, and other professionals.  Mr. Baum is a graduate of Colgate University and the Fordham University School of Law. 

Committee on Continuing Legal Education

Lisa Brogan, Co-Chair	Elizabeth J. Shampnoi, Co-Chair

The CLE Committee, chaired by Lisa Brogan and Elizabeth J. Shampnoi, has embarked upon an active year. CLE has, in many ways, become the lifeblood of the Bar Association, providing opportunities for members to stay current on developments and critical thinking in their areas of expertise, meet their state licensing requirements, and come together as a community to share the best of their own experience with one another. 

Our Section has harnessed these opportunities not only for the continued education of its members, but also as a means of attracting new members to the Section.  Last Fall, we ran a joint program with the Labor and Employment Section. In January, in addition to our own excellent Winter Program at the NYSBA's Annual Meeting, we collaborated with the International Section on an exciting Joint Program.  In the Spring of 2010, with the gracious assistance of Simeon Baum and Steve Hochman, we held a sold out Commercial Mediation Training, preparing a new group of mediators.

This past year, on October 12, 2010, the Section sponsored a full day joint CLE program with the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section at Fordham Law School entitled “How to Maximize Results in Mediation and Arbitration.”  This program included both a mock mediation and a mock arbitration illustrating the best practices for addressing major issues that typically arise in mediations and arbitrations, from the perspectives of mediators, arbitrators and counsel.  It was focused on a fact pattern involving issues in the entertainment, arts and sports areas.

On October 28, 2010, the Section sponsored an afternoon joint program with the Elder Law and Senior Lawyer Section at the Renaissance Westchester Hotel In White Plains.  The program addressed the wide range of issues and the rich possibilities that can be found in the mediation of estate disputes, family business disputes, life insurance issues, parent/child issues, health law, long-term care facility and nursing home matters, and contested guardianship proceedings, as well as providing tips on effective representation in mediation, and advice on developing a practice as a mediator.

The committee arranged mediation training held in March 2011, as well as an arbitrator training held in June 2011. Programming on ADR for the Trust and Estates Section and the Commercial and Federal Litigation Sections are being planned as well as a session for the Association of Towns. The CLE committee will continue to look for opportunities to work with other sections on the presentation of ADR programs tailored to the specific practice area.

We welcome members interested in proposing programs and organizing new and creative programs that will continue to raise the Section’s profile in the Bar Association. Please share your ideas with us.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

Committee on Publications

Laura A. Kaster, Co-Chair

Edna Sussman, Co-Chair

Co-edited by Edna Sussman and Laura A. Kaster this premier journal, the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer, covers all aspects of dispute resolution processes.  It includes a regular column on ADR ethics and thought provoking articles on practice developments, legislation and hot topics impacting neutrals, advocates, and parties to arbitration and mediation as well as the entire spectrum of ADR.  It includes the white papers produced by the Section and reports on the Section’s Committee activities.

In the first three years, the publication has gained wide recognition as a comprehensive and incisive source of information about ADR.  It covers both domestic and international issues including commercial and investor state issues. The articles have been diverse and all encompassing. The publication reported on relevant new rules, guidelines and directives issued by the New York Courts, ICDR, CPR, UNCITRAL, ICC, FINRA, the EU Commission, CCA, CIArb, and others.  The Journal has addressed and will continue to investigate the impact of neuroscience on ADR. Analyses of important recent decisions in the field were addressed in thoughtful articles and case notes. Discussion of model acts on arbitration, mediation and collaborative law set the stage for consideration for their adoption in New York. Updates on Congressional developments were provided. The publication regularly offered a review and analysis of relevant Supreme Court decisions and kept our readers up to date as these Supreme Court decisions were construed by the courts.

The New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer has to date also published two theme issues. The first theme issue published in the Spring of 2009 offered fifteen perspectives on arbitration and mediation from around the world. Since practice and traditions vary significantly from country to country, the articles included commentary from every continent and culture to afford a comprehensive overview. The second theme issue, published in the Fall of 2010, offered discussions of the many and varied ADR tools in what Folberg, Golann, Stipanowich and Kloppenberg coined as the “Dispute Resolution Spectrum.” The publication covered deal mediation, dispute boards, direct discussions between the parties, with the use of settlement counsel and collaborative law, assisted negotiation including many forms of mediation, early neutral evaluation, mini-trial, arbitration, and victim offender dialog.

Law student editors contribute notes on recent cases enriching the publication and fostering interest and engagement in ADR in our all important younger lawyer population.

We can’t do it without you. The Publication Committee relies on guest authors to contribute articles and is always looking for article proposals and for creative new ideas for publication themes to cover. If you have written an article or would like to write one for consideration for publication in the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer, please e-mail a proposal to LKASTER@AppropriateDisputeSolutions.com. Articles and proposals should be submitted in electronic document format (pdfs are not acceptable) and include contact and biographical information.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

S. Robert Schrager
Hodgson Russ LLP
Committee on ADR in the Courts Chair

Areas of Practice: Commercial, financial, and bankruptcy litigation

Professional Experience: Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Schrager was a law assistant to the justices of the Appellate Division, Second Department, of the New York Supreme Court. Mr. Schrager has over 25 years of experience practicing commercial, financial and bankruptcy litigation, and general business law. His practice has included a wide range of civil litigation matters and middle-market transactions. As a senior trial and appellate attorney, he handles complex matters with substantial financial exposure to clients and representation of clients in arbitration and mediation.

Presentations/Articles: Mr. Schrager has lectured and authored articles on representing financial institutions in litigation, working out problem loans, discovery and presentation of electronic evidence, legal issues in cyberspace, and letters of credit. Mr. Schrager was published by ReedLogic Corporation in their CEO/CFO/CIO-targeted DVD seminars on law and technology matters in the video seminar Electronic Discovery - Best Practices.

Professional Associations: Mr. Schrager serves as a special master for the New York State Supreme Court and is a certified mediator and a member of the Panel of Mediators for the United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York.

Community Activities: Secretary, Beneath the Sea

Bar Associations: Mr. Schrager is the co-chair of the Committee on Creditors' Rights and Banking Litigation and a member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association Commercial and Federal Litigation Section. He is the chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Courts Committee of the NYSBA Section on Dispute Resolution. He was a founding member of the NYSBA Task Force on the Supreme Court, Commercial Division. He is a fellow of the New York Bar Foundation.

Admitted to Practice: New York, U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York

Education:
A.B., Colgate University
J.D., St. John's University School of Law

Newsletter Committee 

Dispute resolution is evolving rapidly.  To stay current, we publish an electronic newsletter designed to educate Section members about key developments in the field.  This inaugural edition of the newsletter surveyed the current work of each Section Committee.  It reveals that dispute resolution is practiced by different methodologies and in varied venues, as it relates and is applied to an array of practice areas.  Accordingly, the Newsletter Committee aims to collect and disseminate timely content of common value to practitioners, academics, and observers across this wide spectrum.  We will be doing so in tandem with the Publications and other Committees to provide an outlet for information sharing that complements the full length substantive articles and white papers they aptly produce on a long range basis.  From this vantage point, we will be developing an editorial perspective and content calendar that meets the needs of Section members for quicker and briefer updates regarding the law and practice of dispute resolution.  We welcome your participation and suggestions.

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Committee on Ethical Issues and Ethical Standards

Kathleen Scanlon, Co-Chair	Barbara Mentz, Co-Chair

The Committee on Ethics is our "conscience" on ethical practice for our Section. Increasing numbers of attorneys are foraying into dispute resolution as neutrals, as advocates representing clients in dispute resolution processes or as collaborators with other professionals in dispute resolution processes. Many of us are questioning what constitutes good ethical practice as we grapple with such challenging issues as confidentiality, conflicts of interest, party self-determination, ethics of collaboration, multijurisdictional practice, the unauthorized practice of law and moral awareness. After all, we are not only bound by our ethical obligations as attorneys, but we may also be bound by the relevant ethical codes on dispute resolution. What are the relevant ethical codes? Which is the ethical path we should follow? What direction should we go when just "follow the yellow brick road" is not an option? Are good intentions enough to steer us away from the road many of us would prefer to avoid?  How should we respond to those emerging ethical conundrums that were not even contemplated by the existing ethical codes when these codes were first created? Help!

Yes, ethics in ADR is more than an opportunity to satisfy your CLE ethics requirement. Ethics defines us, guides how we conduct ourselves as practitioners and furthers theintegrity of our dispute resolution field.  The Committee on Ethics invites the Committees within our Section, NYSBA's Committee on Professional Ethics, the other Committees and Sections in NYSBA, interested ADR colleagues and you to work with us. Help identify existing and potential ethical dilemmas confronting dispute resolution  practitioners so that  together we may construct  a more easily navigable road to ethical success for  neutrals, attorneys and collaborative professionals who practice dispute resolution. 

The ADR Ethics Committee, chaired by Kathleen Scanlon and Barbara Mentz, offers programs that help dispute resolution professionals, neutrals and advocates calibrate their ethical compass when confronting the ongoing challenges of dispute resolution practice. The committee welcomes the participation of all interested section members. The committee is always available to meet with other committees to address ethical issues of concern.

This past year's programs included programming at the Section’s fall meeting and at the NYSBA annual meeting in January. The committee is organizes special committee meetings. This year it addressed the ever present issue of “Clarifying the Limits of Arbitrator’s Disclosure of Conflicts” which will consider the latest case law on the subject and, will address the emerging interest in “Globalizing ADR Ethics?”

Committee Roster

Committee on Mediation

David C. Singer Co-Chair

Irene C. Warshauer Co-Chair

The Mediation Committee hopes to become a valuable resource for New York practitioners and consumers of mediation.   The Committee will seek to promote the use of mediation, to present programs on topics of interest to mediators and advocates, to provide a forum to debate policy issues important to the profession, and to take positions on such issues when it is appropriate to do so.

The Mediation Committee has been very active over this past year and has several exciting projects in the pipeline for 2010-2011.   The Committee’s report on mediator quality – the result of a year-long study of past and current thinking on the topic – was enthusiastically adopted by the Section in May of 2010.   The committee also undertook an ambitious survey of New York litigators to learn their views on mediation; the results have been tabulated will be presented for review.

Another project now well underway is a mentor-mentee matchmaking service, which we expect to work smoothly and simply to give fledgling mediators opportunities to learn from their more experienced colleagues.  

In addition to these ventures, we’ve invited leading practitioners in the field to our bi-monthly meetings to facilitate discussions of best practices and practice development, including fee issues, mediators’ proposals, settlement agreements, moving past impasse and risk analysis.  This is a continuing feature at our committee meetings.

As mediation is a dispute resolution tool that is of great benefit in many substantive areas of the law, a series of papers on the benefits of mediation in many fields of law were  being prepared to educate practitioners about how mediation might benefit their clients and how it might be of particular applicability in specific fields of law.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

Committee on Collaborative Law

Harriette M. Steinberg, Co-Chair	Barry Berkman, Co-Chair

The Collaborative Law Committee will consider the benefits of, and concerns about, Collaborative Law (“CL”) and seek to improve and expand its use, where appropriate, as well as promote professionalism and best practices in the field.  It will keep its membership apprised of developments in the field, as well as the efforts of other CL organizations, the Court system’s efforts in the CL field, and the effort to enact a Uniform Collaborative Law Act.

Chaired by Harriette M. Steinberg and Barry Berkman, the Collaborative Law Committee is engaged in the further development of an exciting area of expansion in ADR.

Collaborative Law (“CL”) has been described as a cousin to mediation.  Its practitioners typically help the parties reach a resolution by agreement, using interest-based negotiation rather than positional bargaining.  It differs from mediation in that each party has an attorney who helps the party develop and crystallize the party’s interests, objectives and concerns, points out the relevant and helpful practical and legal facts and arguments, and ensures that each party makes a well-informed decision. 

The most striking feature of CL is the parties’ and attorneys’ agreement that both parties’ attorneys withdraw if either party leaves the negotiation and proceeds to adversarial-litigation.  The parties and attorneys display their commitment to a negotiated settlement and employ the techniques typically employed by mediators to establish rapport with the other party, reframing and looping the concerns of each party and understanding the interests beneath any stated positions.  CL is best when the relationship between the parties is as important as the issue that is in dispute and empowers the parties to be in control of the final resolution.

The Committee helps to (i) spread knowledge of CL to non-CL lawyers; (ii) develop best practices in CL; (iii) promote and expand the use of CL in appropriate circumstances in both family and civil cases. 

The Committee has been monitoring the Uniform Law Commission’s efforts to promulgate a Uniform Collaborative Law Act (“UCLA”) and in conjunction with other Bar Association Committees has been providing feedback to the Commission.  The Committee is drafted a report, in cooperation with the Section’s Legislative Committee, on the substance and advisability of the UCLA for the NYSBA DR Section. The report was approved by the Executive committee and will be used to inform the New York delegates to the American Bar Association House of delegates which has before it a resolution relating to the UCLA.  

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events.com 

Why Join the NYSBA Dispute Resolution Section? 

Join Section Online

Join a Committee of this Section

Membership in NYSBA’s Dispute Resolution Section is a valuable way to:

Opportunities for Professional Growth and Achievement

NYSBA’s Dispute Resolution Section offers members excellent ways to enhance their knowledge and expertise by participating in the Section activities.

Through events featuring outstanding speakers, members can examine critical developments in dispute resolution. 

All of these activities enable you to stay on top of the fast-growng field of dispute resolution, as well as meet and work with colleagues who share your interests.

Participation in Section Activities is Easy

The Dispute Resolution Section aims to address the complex issues that constantly arise in the field, and to communicate about dispute resolution with the profession as a whole. 

The Section offers its members a variety of ways to participate.  The Section’s Executive Committee welcomes membership participation in these activities, as well as others, and encourages interested members to contact it to discuss opportunities.

The Dispute Resolution Section addresses major professional issues that affect practitioners, and advocates those positions where appropriate, including within the New York State Bar Association.

Membership in the New York State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section is a valuable way for you to keep up-to-date on the growing number of issues and concerns that face the ever-changing legal profession.

Liaison and District Rep. Coordination Committee

As ADR can be useful in virtually every area of law, the Liaison and District Representative Coordination Committee, chaired by Geri Krauss, is working on establishing and nurturing liaison relationships with other Sections. The hope is that these relationships will lead to mutually beneficial activities and help to educate other lawyers and Sections about how they can utilize ADR to benefit their clients.

Through the able leadership of our CLE Committee and other members of our Section who have stepped up to chair and organize specific programs, several joint programs are already under way. These have included a full day joint CLE program with the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section on October 12, 2010 at Fordham Law School entitled “How to Maximize Results in Mediation and Arbitration.” On October 28, 2010, the Section sponsored an afternoon joint program with the Elder Law and Senior Lawyer Section at the Renaissance Westchester Hotel In White Plains. On November 3, 2010, DRS also sponsored a joint luncheon program with the focused on how lawyers can most effectively represent their clients in mediation.

We are working to set up additional joint programs to be presented as the year progresses and expect to do a joint program with the Trusts & Estate Section, the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section and others. If you have a suggestion for a joint program with another Section please let us know.

In addition to joint programming, the Committee is assisting in the coordination and involvement of other Sections in the development of a series of white papers on why ADR is useful in different areas of practice. While many have been completed there are gaps. If you would like to be involved in the preparation of  a white paper on ADR in your area of practice, please let us know.  

Involvement by NYSBA members throughout the state in ADR activities is an important part of the Section's mission.  The committee works with the district representatives to sponsor programming to educate other lawyers and Sections on ADR and to share ideas for engaging NYSBA members in their communities.

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Committee on ADR with Governmental Agencies

The work of the Committee on ADR within Government Agencies, chaired by Pamela Esterman and Charles Miller, is focused on the use of alternatives to litigation and/or trial of disputes with federal, state, and local agencies and municipalities, including (but not limited to) disputes involving zoning, environmental, and similar issues. Such alternatives include but are not limited to arbitration and mediation. According to current statistics, a total of approximately 200,000 lawsuits are filed each year throughout the United States by or against governmental entities at the federal, state and local levels. Countless other disputes of this type are resolved prior to litigation. Hence, there is an enormous opportunity for expanding the use of ADR into these areas. 

Currently, there is an ongoing project within this Committee, which has received inputs from related Committees on arbitration, legislation and ADR in the Courts, dealing with proposed legislation and court rules for the introduction of plaintiff-initiated, court-mandated, forum-administered arbitration of civil actions against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia filed for judicial review of adverse administrative decisions of the agency. If enacted, such legislation could serve as a template for similar legislation in other government agency litigation contexts.

Chuck Miller, Co-Chair	Pamela Esterman, Co-Chair

Upcoming Events

Committee on Education

Chaired by Jackie Nolan Haley, Director of the ADR & Conflict Resolution Program at Fordham Law School, the newly formed Education Committee has an important agenda for the year. Fordham, which was ranked 8th in the nation by the 2011 U.S. News & World Report for its Dispute Resolution program, is pleased to take the lead on this important NYSBA DR Section activity.

ADR, where controversies between parties are settled outside of the litigation process, is one of today’s most dynamic areas of legal practice.  Its significant recent growth requires a re-examination of how ADR is taught in law schools. We are fortunate to have Steve Younger, a previous chair of the Dispute Resolution Committee and one of those instrumental in the creation of this DR section, as the President of the NYSBA this year. Steve has asked us to look into the question of including ADR in the New York State bar exam.

To accomplish its goals, the committee will explore how ADR is currently being taught in law schools in New York State. The analysis will review whether and how ADR is included in the curriculum and what kind of extra-curricular activities are offered to educate students about ADR. The Committee is working on responding to Steve Younger’s inquiry, research what other states are doing on their bar exam with respect to ADR and consider whether and how ADR should be added to the NYS bar exam.

The Committee includes in its membership professors from several of New York State’s law schools. The Committee will be working with the Membership Committee to develop a network of student liaisons to the DR Section across the state at the various law schools and to offer additional ADR educational opportunities to law students.

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Legislation Committee

The focus of the Legislation Committee, chaired by Sherman Kahn and Richard L. Mattiaccio, is to report to the Section on significant legislative developments and make recommendations in selected instances.

Major initiatives over recent years have related to the Uniform Mediation Act (“UMA”) and the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act (“RUAA”).  In addition, Edna Sussman, as an ex officio member of our Committee, has performed yeoman service reporting on developments with respect to the Arbitration Fairness Act and other ADR related initiatives in the Congress.

Over the past year, we submitted our report to the Section, supporting certain amendments to the New York Judiciary Law affecting attorneys’ liens in connection with attorneys’ rendering of professional services as counsel in arbitrations and mediations.  This report was endorsed by the Section and submitted by the New York State Bar Association to the Legislature.

An ongoing initiative of the Legislation Committee at this time is our study, in conjunction with the Collaborative Law Committee, of the new Uniform Collaborative Law Act. A report has been prepared and approved by the section’s Executive Committee.

We welcome suggestions and participation from other members of the Section and from the profession generally with respect to legislative developments relating to arbitration, mediation, ADR and other forms of dispute resolution.

Committee Roster

Negotiation Committee

Jason Aylesworth, Co-Chair	Norman Solovay, Co-Chair

The Negotiation Committee, chaired by Jason Aylesworth and Norman Solovay, is creating a monthly interactive program focused exclusively on negotiating.  This program will bring together diverse group of professionals from all walks of life.  From the newly admitted attorneys with extensive ADR training through law school courses and competitions, to the seasoned experts in the industry with countless experiences representing clients and dealing with adversaries and judges in litigation, mediation and arbitration, everyone will contribute their thoughts on how to provide effective legal representation.

Each session will revolve around a hypothetical dispute, where participants not only engage in role-playing exercises throughout the negotiation, but are encouraged to contribute to the dialogue revolving benefits of utilizing collaborative and competitive tactics based on academic theory and practical experience.  While it will start as a live program in New York City, there are plans for video conferencing to reach a broader audience.

As this is a relatively new committee within this section, we welcome members from all substantive areas of law to provide suggestions in establishing an ongoing forum centering on the artful skill of negotiation.

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Website Committee

Leona Beane, Chair

The Website Committee, chaired by Leona Beane, works on making sure that the website is a useful resource for members of the DR section. The website offers a wealth of information and we invite you to explore it and visit it often. 

The website enables DR section members to “meet” the Section leaders and contact them directly with suggestions for future activities, questions and requests to get involved. A web site calendar lists the CLE programs and all of the Section’s committee meetings (all of which are open to all members of the section). The member directory enables section members to find and contact one another.  Archives of the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer are available for research and review. Section reports are published on the website for review by all.  Minutes of Executive Committee meetings are posted so members can find out what activities are planned and what progress has been made on Section projects.  The upcoming addition of Lois Law will provide a free resource with up to date case developments in the field. 

The website is a work "in progress" and is continually being updated.  We welcome your suggestions as to how to make it even better.

The Website Committee  also developed a survey to be sent to all Members of the Section to obtain more information about our members and their interests. 

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Daniel F. Kolb, Co-Chair

Yomi Ajaiyeoba, Co-Chair

The Committee on Diversity

 The Committee on Diversity of the New York State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section encourages, fosters and supports the development of diverse talent and inclusion in all types of alternative dispute resolution, including mediation, arbitration, early neutral evaluation, mini trials, etc. both as neutrals and as representatives of parties in the processes.  Diversity of those participating in the dispute resolution process enables the presentation of many views and provides a greater perspective on how and in what way to use dispute resolution to resolve problems, leading to more options and fairer results.  Encouraging a diverse and inclusive environment also promotes respect and fosters treating individuals of diverse backgrounds fairly. 

The Committee on Diversity will encourage and provide an avenue for all members of our dispute resolution community to participate, provide a vehicle for their voice to be heard and for their views to be taken into consideration.  The Committee on Diversity will contact other Committees of the Dispute Resolution Section, as well as other Sections of the New York State Bar Association to encourage potential users of the alternative dispute resolution process to use diverse talent.  The Diversity Committee anticipates holding meetings, planning networking and other activities, presenting programs and publishing articles that encourage diversity and inclusion in all areas of the alternative dispute resolution practice, and we will promote diversity in panels and speakers for programs presented by the New York State Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section.  We will work with the courts to establish mentoring programs for diverse talent new to the dispute resolution community to gain experience and exposure to the process through shadowing experienced mediators.  “A diverse … population helps to broaden the worldview of everyone involved.

The Diversity Committee, chaired by Yomi Aajaiyeoba and Daniel F. Kolb serves to encourage, foster and support the development of diverse talent and diversity in ADR.  To further our goal, we have initiated a program to reach out to, and coordinate with, minority bar associations to have joint programs with them and to encourage their members to use ADR as advocates in their practices and encourage their members to become neutrals.

In this year, during which the Association is focusing especially on diversity, we will be working closely with Dispute Resolution Section Chair Charlie Moxley in sponsoring special efforts to encourage diversity.  We are also working with the Membership Committee and will be reaching  out to other Sections to encourage diversity within our Section.

We welcome suggestions for programs, speakers, networking events and articles on diversity in the ADR profession, including articles discussing diversity efforts of corporations, law firms and other entities.  The Committee will assist in getting these articles published in the Dispute Resolution Lawyer, the Section’s magazine.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

Committee Roster

Stephen A. Hochman
Co-Chair, ADR in the Courts

Mr. Hochman recently retired from the New York City law firm of Friedman, Wittenstein & Hochman, where he practiced from 1987 – 2006, first as a partner and later as counsel.  He was a founding partner in the firm now known as Kramer, Levin, Naftalis  & Frankel, where he practiced from 1968-1987, specializing in corporate, commercial and securities law.  He also represented both investors and issuers in real estate, tax oriented and other types of investment partnerships.  Prior to 1968, he was a partner in Kramer, Nessen & Hochman and an associate at Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn, where he began the practice of law following his graduation from Cornell Law School in 1959.

Mr. Hochman now practices almost exclusively as a mediator and arbitrator.  He served as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association, arbitrating primarily securities and commercial disputes, and has been both an arbitrator as well as a mediator for the New York Stock Exchange and the NASD.  He also serves as a court-appointed mediator for the federal district courts in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York and the New York State Supreme Court, New York County (Commercial Division), and serves on the Supreme Court's ADR Advisory Group. He is also a mediation trainer in the Supreme Court=s Commercial ADR Program and a Special Master for the Appellate Division, First Department, of the New York State Supreme Court.

Mr. Hochman writes, consults and lectures frequently on the subjects of arbitration and mediation and is a member of the American Law Institute and various ADR-related bar association and advisory committees.  He is a former Chair of the Arbitration Committee of the American Bar Association's Section of Dispute Resolution and former Co-Chair of its Large, Complex Case Subcommittee.  He served for many years as Chair of the American Law Institute-American Bar Association's annual program on Alternative Dispute Resolution and was Chair of its annual program on Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions.  He also served as a member of the American Arbitration Association's Securities Arbitration Rules Task Force and its Commercial Arbitration Practice Committee.

Mr. Hochman has mediated over 350 commercial, business, international and other types of disputes, including securities, contract, employment, insurance, real estate, construction, franchise, brokerage and class action disputes, approximately 98% of which have settled.  In addition to his own investment activities, he serves on the investment committees and boards of various not-for-profit corporations, including several hospitals and a non-profit captive re-insurance company.  Mr. Hochman has also been an Adjunct Lecturer in Securities Regulation at Columbia Law School and an Adjunct Lecturer in both Mergers and Acquisitions and Alternative Dispute Resolution at Fordham Law School.

Dispute Resolution Section Fall Meeting

Dispute Resolution and Commercial & Federal Litigation Sections Joint CLE Program

Fordham Law School
McNally Auditorium
New York, NY 10023
518.487.5674

See event page for more information.

Welcome to the Dispute Resolution Section 

The Section will serve this mission by:

• Creating committees to explore and research developments in ethics, substantive law, and legislative initiatives relating to our shared interests
• Sponsoring publication of analysis and opinion on dispute resolution processes
• Providing continuing legal education and training to practitioners and neutrals
• Promoting relevant legislation
• Providing commentary on ethical issues affecting dispute resolution
• Providing a venue for practitioners, law school faculty and students, and dispute resolution providers to network, exchange ideas, and to interact with other members of the Bar and to the public on issues relating to dispute resolution.

To join the section, please e-mail your request to drs@nysba.org. If you would like to join NYSBA, membership information is available here.

In 2011, the New York State Bar Task Force on New York Law in International Matters called for the creation of a permanent center for international arbitration in New York.  That call has now been answered. 

Beginning late Spring 2013, the New York International Arbitration Center (NYIAC) will open a premier facility for the conduct of international arbitration in the heart of Manhattan, steps from Grand Central Station, Times Square, the Empire State Building and the United Nations.  NYIAC will serve as a prime destination for international arbitration hearings (however administered), mediation proceedings and conferences of all kinds.  NYIAC will provide world-class hearing rooms, breakout rooms and other amenities that can accommodate arbitrations of any size, including large, multi-party arbitrations and offer full technological capabilities, including high-tech video conferencing and built-in facilities for simultaneous interpretation creating a seamless experience, freeing parties and counsel to focus on the matters at hand. 

In addition, the NYIAC website, www.NYIAC.org, will be a valuable resource to the international arbitration community around the world by providing links to valuable international arbitration resources such as institutional rules and model clauses, as well as published awards, guidelines and other research.  

Section Reports and Papers 

• The Section recently sent a letter to the NY Board of Law Examiners urging ADR questions on the NY Bar Exam.
• The Section Recently submitted a Memo in Opposition to A.7002-A (Titone)/S.5798 (Fuschillo.)
• The Section recently submitted comments to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with respect to the study of arbitration mandated by the Dodd Frank Act.
• The Section is proud to have developed a brochure for broad distribution entitled: Choose New York for International Arbitration (PDF) 
• February 2011: Report on the Section Survey of Mediation Users (PDF)
• January 2011: Section Prepares White Papers on Benefits of Arbitration and Mediation for Substantive Areas of Law 
• January 2011: Section Issues Reports on Mediation and Arbitration
  

Section News and Articles of Interest

March 2011 - a Message from the Chair: A Hope of International Peace Mediation 

Summary of Annual Meeting programs prepared by student members of the Section (PDF)

View an upcoming article from the next issue of New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer
Practical Uses of ADR in Outsourcing Relationships by Julian Millstein and Sherman Kahn  (PDF)

Learn more about committee activities and meet the chairs 

Minutes of recent Section Executive Committee meetings 

Resources:

• Slide Presentation on The Uniform Mediation Act (PDF)
• New NY Rule on Neutral Training (PDF) (Part 146 Rule of the Chief Administrative Judge)
• French Law on Arbitration (PDF)
• Proposed Uniform Mediation Act - Legislative Bill# AB 1756, introduced January 11, 2011.
• The Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators (2005).
• Model Standards of Practice for Family and Divorce Mediation (approved by the American Bar Association February 2011).

The New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer features peer-written substantive articles relating to the practice of dispute resolution on various topics including arbitration, mediation, and collaborative law. Also included are updates on case law and legislation, as well as Section activities. Edited by Edna Sussman, Esq. and Laura A. Kaster, Esq., the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer is published by the Dispute Resolution Section and distributed to Section Members free of charge.

The New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer is published as a benefit for members of the Dispute Resolution Section and is copyrighted by the New York State Bar Association. The copying, reselling, duplication, transferring, reproducing, reusing, retaining or reprinting of this publication is strictly prohibited without permission.
© New York State Bar Association. All rights reserved.  ISSN 1945-6522 (print)     ISSN 1945-6530 (online)

(Spring 2013)

Message from the Chair
(Rona G. Shamoon)

Message from the Co-Editors
(Edna Sussman and Laura A. Kaster)

Dispute Resolution Section News
Annual Meeting

October—DR Section at Fordham

Opening This Spring: The New York International Arbitration Center

Ethics
Confidentiality: The Illusion and the Reality—Affirmative Steps for Lawyers and Mediators to Help Safeguard Their Mediation Communications
(Elayne E. Greenberg)

Arbitration
Fast Track Arbitration: A Proposed Solution to the “Elephantine Laboriousness” of International Commercial Arbitration
(Jane Wessel)

Emergency Interim Relief Under the ICDR Rules: Practical and Legal Considerations
(J. Brian Casey)

Arbitration’s Enduring Value: Looking Beyond Time and Cost
(James E. Berger)

Mandatory Trust Arbitration in the U.S. and Abroad
(S.I. Strong)

The Firm Roots of ADR in Federal Acquisition
(John A. Dietrich)

Benefits of Arbitration for Commercial Disputes

Mediation
Is Mediation Confidential in New York?
(Richard S. Weil)

Are You Sure You Can Still Tell Mediation and Arbitration Apart?
(Norman Solovay)

Estimating the Financial Value of a Lawsuit With the Case Value AnaylzerTM
(Michael Palmer)

Barking Up the Right Tree: Animals Deserve ADR, Too
(Debra Vey Voda-Hamilton)

International
The 2012 International Arbitration Survey: Current and Preferred Practices in the Arbitral Process
(Paul Friedland and John Templeman)

Review of New York Federal Petitions for Confirmation of Arbitral Awards Shows Swift Resolutions and Certainty of Awards
(Tim McCarthy, David Hoffman, and Ryham Ragab)

The Italian Saga of Mandatory Mediation: The Constitutional Court Ruling
(Francesca De Paolis and Giovanni Nicola Giudice)

Mauritius International Arbitration Act
(Shalini O. Soopramanien)

Book Review
The Public Policy Exception Under the New York Convention
Author: Anton Maurer
(Reviewed by Edna Sussman)

Case Notes
Second Circuit Highlights the Extraordinary Difficulty in Establishing Manifest Disregard
Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing v. The Official Unsecured Creditors’ Committee
of Bayou Group, LLC, et al.
(Joyce Lai)

Court Denies Disqualification of Attorney in Matrimonial Litigation Despite Attorney’s Initial Participation in Collaborative Law Process
Mandell v. Mandell, 36 Misc. 3d 797, 949 N.Y.S.2d 580 (Sup. Ct., Westchester Co. 2012)
(Erica Barrow)

Arbitrating Arbitrability—The Second Circuit’s Application of the “Clear and Unmistakable” Standard
(Saira Hussain)

Mediation Privilege Under the UMA—Two Recent Cases from New Jersey
(Katherine DeStefano)

Annual Meeting
Program I: No Longer Business As Usual
(Michelle Kremer)

Program II: New Tools For a New Age
(Emily Gornell)

Program III: Hot Topics in Arbitration and Lessons for the Future
(Natalie Elisha and Ross J. Kartez)

Program IV: Ethically and Effectively Maximizing Mediation Outcomes for Your Client
(John James Fagan and Adam John Breaux)

Scenes from the Annual Meeting

Legislation Committee

The focus of the Legislation Committee, chaired by Sherman Kahn and Richard L. Mattiaccio, is to report to the Section on significant legislative developments and make recommendations in selected instances.

Major initiatives over recent years have related to the Uniform Mediation Act (“UMA”) and the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act (“RUAA”).  In addition, Edna Sussman, as an ex officio member of our Committee, has performed yeoman service reporting on developments with respect to the Arbitration Fairness Act and other ADR related initiatives in the Congress.

Over the past year, we submitted our report to the Section, supporting certain amendments to the New York Judiciary Law affecting attorneys’ liens in connection with attorneys’ rendering of professional services as counsel in arbitrations and mediations.  This report was endorsed by the Section and submitted by the New York State Bar Association to the Legislature.

An ongoing initiative of the Legislation Committee at this time is our study, in conjunction with the Collaborative Law Committee, of the new Uniform Collaborative Law Act. A report has been prepared and approved by the section’s Executive Committee.

We welcome suggestions and participation from other members of the Section and from the profession generally with respect to legislative developments relating to arbitration, mediation, ADR and other forms of dispute resolution.

Committee Roster

Website Committee

Leona Beane, Chair

The Website Committee, chaired by Leona Beane, works on making sure that the website is a useful resource for members of the DR section. The website offers a wealth of information and we invite you to explore it and visit it often. 

The website enables DR section members to “meet” the Section leaders and contact them directly with suggestions for future activities, questions and requests to get involved. A web site calendar lists the CLE programs and all of the Section’s committee meetings (all of which are open to all members of the section). The member directory enables section members to find and contact one another.  Archives of the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer are available for research and review. Section reports are published on the website for review by all.  Minutes of Executive Committee meetings are posted so members can find out what activities are planned and what progress has been made on Section projects.  The upcoming addition of Lois Law will provide a free resource with up to date case developments in the field. 

The website is a work "in progress" and is continually being updated.  We welcome your suggestions as to how to make it even better.

The Website Committee  also developed a survey to be sent to all Members of the Section to obtain more information about our members and their interests. 

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Why Join the NYSBA Dispute Resolution Section? 

Join Section Online

Join a Committee of this Section

Membership in NYSBA’s Dispute Resolution Section is a valuable way to:

Opportunities for Professional Growth and Achievement

NYSBA’s Dispute Resolution Section offers members excellent ways to enhance their knowledge and expertise by participating in the Section activities.

Through events featuring outstanding speakers, members can examine critical developments in dispute resolution. 

All of these activities enable you to stay on top of the fast-growng field of dispute resolution, as well as meet and work with colleagues who share your interests.

Participation in Section Activities is Easy

The Dispute Resolution Section aims to address the complex issues that constantly arise in the field, and to communicate about dispute resolution with the profession as a whole. 

The Section offers its members a variety of ways to participate.  The Section’s Executive Committee welcomes membership participation in these activities, as well as others, and encourages interested members to contact it to discuss opportunities.

The Dispute Resolution Section addresses major professional issues that affect practitioners, and advocates those positions where appropriate, including within the New York State Bar Association.

Membership in the New York State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section is a valuable way for you to keep up-to-date on the growing number of issues and concerns that face the ever-changing legal profession.

Negotiation Committee

Jason Aylesworth, Co-Chair	Norman Solovay, Co-Chair

The Negotiation Committee, chaired by Jason Aylesworth and Norman Solovay, is creating a monthly interactive program focused exclusively on negotiating.  This program will bring together diverse group of professionals from all walks of life.  From the newly admitted attorneys with extensive ADR training through law school courses and competitions, to the seasoned experts in the industry with countless experiences representing clients and dealing with adversaries and judges in litigation, mediation and arbitration, everyone will contribute their thoughts on how to provide effective legal representation.

Each session will revolve around a hypothetical dispute, where participants not only engage in role-playing exercises throughout the negotiation, but are encouraged to contribute to the dialogue revolving benefits of utilizing collaborative and competitive tactics based on academic theory and practical experience.  While it will start as a live program in New York City, there are plans for video conferencing to reach a broader audience.

As this is a relatively new committee within this section, we welcome members from all substantive areas of law to provide suggestions in establishing an ongoing forum centering on the artful skill of negotiation.

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Daniel F. Kolb, Co-Chair

Yomi Ajaiyeoba, Co-Chair

The Committee on Diversity

 The Committee on Diversity of the New York State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section encourages, fosters and supports the development of diverse talent and inclusion in all types of alternative dispute resolution, including mediation, arbitration, early neutral evaluation, mini trials, etc. both as neutrals and as representatives of parties in the processes.  Diversity of those participating in the dispute resolution process enables the presentation of many views and provides a greater perspective on how and in what way to use dispute resolution to resolve problems, leading to more options and fairer results.  Encouraging a diverse and inclusive environment also promotes respect and fosters treating individuals of diverse backgrounds fairly. 

The Committee on Diversity will encourage and provide an avenue for all members of our dispute resolution community to participate, provide a vehicle for their voice to be heard and for their views to be taken into consideration.  The Committee on Diversity will contact other Committees of the Dispute Resolution Section, as well as other Sections of the New York State Bar Association to encourage potential users of the alternative dispute resolution process to use diverse talent.  The Diversity Committee anticipates holding meetings, planning networking and other activities, presenting programs and publishing articles that encourage diversity and inclusion in all areas of the alternative dispute resolution practice, and we will promote diversity in panels and speakers for programs presented by the New York State Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section.  We will work with the courts to establish mentoring programs for diverse talent new to the dispute resolution community to gain experience and exposure to the process through shadowing experienced mediators.  “A diverse … population helps to broaden the worldview of everyone involved.

The Diversity Committee, chaired by Yomi Aajaiyeoba and Daniel F. Kolb serves to encourage, foster and support the development of diverse talent and diversity in ADR.  To further our goal, we have initiated a program to reach out to, and coordinate with, minority bar associations to have joint programs with them and to encourage their members to use ADR as advocates in their practices and encourage their members to become neutrals.

In this year, during which the Association is focusing especially on diversity, we will be working closely with Dispute Resolution Section Chair Charlie Moxley in sponsoring special efforts to encourage diversity.  We are also working with the Membership Committee and will be reaching  out to other Sections to encourage diversity within our Section.

We welcome suggestions for programs, speakers, networking events and articles on diversity in the ADR profession, including articles discussing diversity efforts of corporations, law firms and other entities.  The Committee will assist in getting these articles published in the Dispute Resolution Lawyer, the Section’s magazine.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

Liaison and District Rep. Coordination Committee

As ADR can be useful in virtually every area of law, the Liaison and District Representative Coordination Committee, chaired by Geri Krauss, is working on establishing and nurturing liaison relationships with other Sections. The hope is that these relationships will lead to mutually beneficial activities and help to educate other lawyers and Sections about how they can utilize ADR to benefit their clients.

Through the able leadership of our CLE Committee and other members of our Section who have stepped up to chair and organize specific programs, several joint programs are already under way. These have included a full day joint CLE program with the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section on October 12, 2010 at Fordham Law School entitled “How to Maximize Results in Mediation and Arbitration.” On October 28, 2010, the Section sponsored an afternoon joint program with the Elder Law and Senior Lawyer Section at the Renaissance Westchester Hotel In White Plains. On November 3, 2010, DRS also sponsored a joint luncheon program with the focused on how lawyers can most effectively represent their clients in mediation.

We are working to set up additional joint programs to be presented as the year progresses and expect to do a joint program with the Trusts & Estate Section, the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section and others. If you have a suggestion for a joint program with another Section please let us know.

In addition to joint programming, the Committee is assisting in the coordination and involvement of other Sections in the development of a series of white papers on why ADR is useful in different areas of practice. While many have been completed there are gaps. If you would like to be involved in the preparation of  a white paper on ADR in your area of practice, please let us know.  

Involvement by NYSBA members throughout the state in ADR activities is an important part of the Section's mission.  The committee works with the district representatives to sponsor programming to educate other lawyers and Sections on ADR and to share ideas for engaging NYSBA members in their communities.

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Committee on Education

Chaired by Jackie Nolan Haley, Director of the ADR & Conflict Resolution Program at Fordham Law School, the newly formed Education Committee has an important agenda for the year. Fordham, which was ranked 8th in the nation by the 2011 U.S. News & World Report for its Dispute Resolution program, is pleased to take the lead on this important NYSBA DR Section activity.

ADR, where controversies between parties are settled outside of the litigation process, is one of today’s most dynamic areas of legal practice.  Its significant recent growth requires a re-examination of how ADR is taught in law schools. We are fortunate to have Steve Younger, a previous chair of the Dispute Resolution Committee and one of those instrumental in the creation of this DR section, as the President of the NYSBA this year. Steve has asked us to look into the question of including ADR in the New York State bar exam.

To accomplish its goals, the committee will explore how ADR is currently being taught in law schools in New York State. The analysis will review whether and how ADR is included in the curriculum and what kind of extra-curricular activities are offered to educate students about ADR. The Committee is working on responding to Steve Younger’s inquiry, research what other states are doing on their bar exam with respect to ADR and consider whether and how ADR should be added to the NYS bar exam.

The Committee includes in its membership professors from several of New York State’s law schools. The Committee will be working with the Membership Committee to develop a network of student liaisons to the DR Section across the state at the various law schools and to offer additional ADR educational opportunities to law students.

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Committee on Publications

Laura A. Kaster, Co-Chair

Edna Sussman, Co-Chair

Co-edited by Edna Sussman and Laura A. Kaster this premier journal, the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer, covers all aspects of dispute resolution processes.  It includes a regular column on ADR ethics and thought provoking articles on practice developments, legislation and hot topics impacting neutrals, advocates, and parties to arbitration and mediation as well as the entire spectrum of ADR.  It includes the white papers produced by the Section and reports on the Section’s Committee activities.

In the first three years, the publication has gained wide recognition as a comprehensive and incisive source of information about ADR.  It covers both domestic and international issues including commercial and investor state issues. The articles have been diverse and all encompassing. The publication reported on relevant new rules, guidelines and directives issued by the New York Courts, ICDR, CPR, UNCITRAL, ICC, FINRA, the EU Commission, CCA, CIArb, and others.  The Journal has addressed and will continue to investigate the impact of neuroscience on ADR. Analyses of important recent decisions in the field were addressed in thoughtful articles and case notes. Discussion of model acts on arbitration, mediation and collaborative law set the stage for consideration for their adoption in New York. Updates on Congressional developments were provided. The publication regularly offered a review and analysis of relevant Supreme Court decisions and kept our readers up to date as these Supreme Court decisions were construed by the courts.

The New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer has to date also published two theme issues. The first theme issue published in the Spring of 2009 offered fifteen perspectives on arbitration and mediation from around the world. Since practice and traditions vary significantly from country to country, the articles included commentary from every continent and culture to afford a comprehensive overview. The second theme issue, published in the Fall of 2010, offered discussions of the many and varied ADR tools in what Folberg, Golann, Stipanowich and Kloppenberg coined as the “Dispute Resolution Spectrum.” The publication covered deal mediation, dispute boards, direct discussions between the parties, with the use of settlement counsel and collaborative law, assisted negotiation including many forms of mediation, early neutral evaluation, mini-trial, arbitration, and victim offender dialog.

Law student editors contribute notes on recent cases enriching the publication and fostering interest and engagement in ADR in our all important younger lawyer population.

We can’t do it without you. The Publication Committee relies on guest authors to contribute articles and is always looking for article proposals and for creative new ideas for publication themes to cover. If you have written an article or would like to write one for consideration for publication in the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer, please e-mail a proposal to LKASTER@AppropriateDisputeSolutions.com. Articles and proposals should be submitted in electronic document format (pdfs are not acceptable) and include contact and biographical information.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

Committee on Collaborative Law

Harriette M. Steinberg, Co-Chair	Barry Berkman, Co-Chair

The Collaborative Law Committee will consider the benefits of, and concerns about, Collaborative Law (“CL”) and seek to improve and expand its use, where appropriate, as well as promote professionalism and best practices in the field.  It will keep its membership apprised of developments in the field, as well as the efforts of other CL organizations, the Court system’s efforts in the CL field, and the effort to enact a Uniform Collaborative Law Act.

Chaired by Harriette M. Steinberg and Barry Berkman, the Collaborative Law Committee is engaged in the further development of an exciting area of expansion in ADR.

Collaborative Law (“CL”) has been described as a cousin to mediation.  Its practitioners typically help the parties reach a resolution by agreement, using interest-based negotiation rather than positional bargaining.  It differs from mediation in that each party has an attorney who helps the party develop and crystallize the party’s interests, objectives and concerns, points out the relevant and helpful practical and legal facts and arguments, and ensures that each party makes a well-informed decision. 

The most striking feature of CL is the parties’ and attorneys’ agreement that both parties’ attorneys withdraw if either party leaves the negotiation and proceeds to adversarial-litigation.  The parties and attorneys display their commitment to a negotiated settlement and employ the techniques typically employed by mediators to establish rapport with the other party, reframing and looping the concerns of each party and understanding the interests beneath any stated positions.  CL is best when the relationship between the parties is as important as the issue that is in dispute and empowers the parties to be in control of the final resolution.

The Committee helps to (i) spread knowledge of CL to non-CL lawyers; (ii) develop best practices in CL; (iii) promote and expand the use of CL in appropriate circumstances in both family and civil cases. 

The Committee has been monitoring the Uniform Law Commission’s efforts to promulgate a Uniform Collaborative Law Act (“UCLA”) and in conjunction with other Bar Association Committees has been providing feedback to the Commission.  The Committee is drafted a report, in cooperation with the Section’s Legislative Committee, on the substance and advisability of the UCLA for the NYSBA DR Section. The report was approved by the Executive committee and will be used to inform the New York delegates to the American Bar Association House of delegates which has before it a resolution relating to the UCLA.  

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events.com 

(Section Members Only)

Please click the issue date for each publication below to open the PDF file.

Welcome to the Dispute Resolution Section 

The Section will serve this mission by:

• Creating committees to explore and research developments in ethics, substantive law, and legislative initiatives relating to our shared interests
• Sponsoring publication of analysis and opinion on dispute resolution processes
• Providing continuing legal education and training to practitioners and neutrals
• Promoting relevant legislation
• Providing commentary on ethical issues affecting dispute resolution
• Providing a venue for practitioners, law school faculty and students, and dispute resolution providers to network, exchange ideas, and to interact with other members of the Bar and to the public on issues relating to dispute resolution.

To join the section, please e-mail your request to drs@nysba.org. If you would like to join NYSBA, membership information is available here.

In 2011, the New York State Bar Task Force on New York Law in International Matters called for the creation of a permanent center for international arbitration in New York.  That call has now been answered. 

Beginning late Spring 2013, the New York International Arbitration Center (NYIAC) will open a premier facility for the conduct of international arbitration in the heart of Manhattan, steps from Grand Central Station, Times Square, the Empire State Building and the United Nations.  NYIAC will serve as a prime destination for international arbitration hearings (however administered), mediation proceedings and conferences of all kinds.  NYIAC will provide world-class hearing rooms, breakout rooms and other amenities that can accommodate arbitrations of any size, including large, multi-party arbitrations and offer full technological capabilities, including high-tech video conferencing and built-in facilities for simultaneous interpretation creating a seamless experience, freeing parties and counsel to focus on the matters at hand. 

In addition, the NYIAC website, www.NYIAC.org, will be a valuable resource to the international arbitration community around the world by providing links to valuable international arbitration resources such as institutional rules and model clauses, as well as published awards, guidelines and other research.  

Section Reports and Papers 

• The Section recently sent a letter to the NY Board of Law Examiners urging ADR questions on the NY Bar Exam.
• The Section Recently submitted a Memo in Opposition to A.7002-A (Titone)/S.5798 (Fuschillo.)
• The Section recently submitted comments to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with respect to the study of arbitration mandated by the Dodd Frank Act.
• The Section is proud to have developed a brochure for broad distribution entitled: Choose New York for International Arbitration (PDF) 
• February 2011: Report on the Section Survey of Mediation Users (PDF)
• January 2011: Section Prepares White Papers on Benefits of Arbitration and Mediation for Substantive Areas of Law 
• January 2011: Section Issues Reports on Mediation and Arbitration
  

Section News and Articles of Interest

March 2011 - a Message from the Chair: A Hope of International Peace Mediation 

Summary of Annual Meeting programs prepared by student members of the Section (PDF)

View an upcoming article from the next issue of New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer
Practical Uses of ADR in Outsourcing Relationships by Julian Millstein and Sherman Kahn  (PDF)

Learn more about committee activities and meet the chairs 

Minutes of recent Section Executive Committee meetings 

Resources:

• Slide Presentation on The Uniform Mediation Act (PDF)
• New NY Rule on Neutral Training (PDF) (Part 146 Rule of the Chief Administrative Judge)
• French Law on Arbitration (PDF)
• Proposed Uniform Mediation Act - Legislative Bill# AB 1756, introduced January 11, 2011.
• The Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators (2005).
• Model Standards of Practice for Family and Divorce Mediation (approved by the American Bar Association February 2011).

Committee on ADR with Governmental Agencies

The work of the Committee on ADR within Government Agencies, chaired by Pamela Esterman and Charles Miller, is focused on the use of alternatives to litigation and/or trial of disputes with federal, state, and local agencies and municipalities, including (but not limited to) disputes involving zoning, environmental, and similar issues. Such alternatives include but are not limited to arbitration and mediation. According to current statistics, a total of approximately 200,000 lawsuits are filed each year throughout the United States by or against governmental entities at the federal, state and local levels. Countless other disputes of this type are resolved prior to litigation. Hence, there is an enormous opportunity for expanding the use of ADR into these areas. 

Currently, there is an ongoing project within this Committee, which has received inputs from related Committees on arbitration, legislation and ADR in the Courts, dealing with proposed legislation and court rules for the introduction of plaintiff-initiated, court-mandated, forum-administered arbitration of civil actions against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia filed for judicial review of adverse administrative decisions of the agency. If enacted, such legislation could serve as a template for similar legislation in other government agency litigation contexts.

Chuck Miller, Co-Chair	Pamela Esterman, Co-Chair

Upcoming Events

Committee on Ethical Issues and Ethical Standards

Kathleen Scanlon, Co-Chair	Barbara Mentz, Co-Chair

The Committee on Ethics is our "conscience" on ethical practice for our Section. Increasing numbers of attorneys are foraying into dispute resolution as neutrals, as advocates representing clients in dispute resolution processes or as collaborators with other professionals in dispute resolution processes. Many of us are questioning what constitutes good ethical practice as we grapple with such challenging issues as confidentiality, conflicts of interest, party self-determination, ethics of collaboration, multijurisdictional practice, the unauthorized practice of law and moral awareness. After all, we are not only bound by our ethical obligations as attorneys, but we may also be bound by the relevant ethical codes on dispute resolution. What are the relevant ethical codes? Which is the ethical path we should follow? What direction should we go when just "follow the yellow brick road" is not an option? Are good intentions enough to steer us away from the road many of us would prefer to avoid?  How should we respond to those emerging ethical conundrums that were not even contemplated by the existing ethical codes when these codes were first created? Help!

Yes, ethics in ADR is more than an opportunity to satisfy your CLE ethics requirement. Ethics defines us, guides how we conduct ourselves as practitioners and furthers theintegrity of our dispute resolution field.  The Committee on Ethics invites the Committees within our Section, NYSBA's Committee on Professional Ethics, the other Committees and Sections in NYSBA, interested ADR colleagues and you to work with us. Help identify existing and potential ethical dilemmas confronting dispute resolution  practitioners so that  together we may construct  a more easily navigable road to ethical success for  neutrals, attorneys and collaborative professionals who practice dispute resolution. 

The ADR Ethics Committee, chaired by Kathleen Scanlon and Barbara Mentz, offers programs that help dispute resolution professionals, neutrals and advocates calibrate their ethical compass when confronting the ongoing challenges of dispute resolution practice. The committee welcomes the participation of all interested section members. The committee is always available to meet with other committees to address ethical issues of concern.

This past year's programs included programming at the Section’s fall meeting and at the NYSBA annual meeting in January. The committee is organizes special committee meetings. This year it addressed the ever present issue of “Clarifying the Limits of Arbitrator’s Disclosure of Conflicts” which will consider the latest case law on the subject and, will address the emerging interest in “Globalizing ADR Ethics?”

Committee Roster

Committee on Continuing Legal Education

Lisa Brogan, Co-Chair	Elizabeth J. Shampnoi, Co-Chair

The CLE Committee, chaired by Lisa Brogan and Elizabeth J. Shampnoi, has embarked upon an active year. CLE has, in many ways, become the lifeblood of the Bar Association, providing opportunities for members to stay current on developments and critical thinking in their areas of expertise, meet their state licensing requirements, and come together as a community to share the best of their own experience with one another. 

Our Section has harnessed these opportunities not only for the continued education of its members, but also as a means of attracting new members to the Section.  Last Fall, we ran a joint program with the Labor and Employment Section. In January, in addition to our own excellent Winter Program at the NYSBA's Annual Meeting, we collaborated with the International Section on an exciting Joint Program.  In the Spring of 2010, with the gracious assistance of Simeon Baum and Steve Hochman, we held a sold out Commercial Mediation Training, preparing a new group of mediators.

This past year, on October 12, 2010, the Section sponsored a full day joint CLE program with the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section at Fordham Law School entitled “How to Maximize Results in Mediation and Arbitration.”  This program included both a mock mediation and a mock arbitration illustrating the best practices for addressing major issues that typically arise in mediations and arbitrations, from the perspectives of mediators, arbitrators and counsel.  It was focused on a fact pattern involving issues in the entertainment, arts and sports areas.

On October 28, 2010, the Section sponsored an afternoon joint program with the Elder Law and Senior Lawyer Section at the Renaissance Westchester Hotel In White Plains.  The program addressed the wide range of issues and the rich possibilities that can be found in the mediation of estate disputes, family business disputes, life insurance issues, parent/child issues, health law, long-term care facility and nursing home matters, and contested guardianship proceedings, as well as providing tips on effective representation in mediation, and advice on developing a practice as a mediator.

The committee arranged mediation training held in March 2011, as well as an arbitrator training held in June 2011. Programming on ADR for the Trust and Estates Section and the Commercial and Federal Litigation Sections are being planned as well as a session for the Association of Towns. The CLE committee will continue to look for opportunities to work with other sections on the presentation of ADR programs tailored to the specific practice area.

We welcome members interested in proposing programs and organizing new and creative programs that will continue to raise the Section’s profile in the Bar Association. Please share your ideas with us.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee consists of the Section's current officers, the Section's Delegates to the Association's House of Delegates, the Chairs of each of the Section's Committees, and other members in good standing of the Section and the Association as appointed by the Executive Committee to serve in an at-large capacity.  

The Executive Committee is responsible for (1)  discussion and adoption of positions of the Section, including passing on committee reports and commenting as requested on reports of other Sections and Committees of the New York State Bar Association and the ABA; (2) general supervision and control over the affairs and activities of the Section,  including meetings, CLE programs, special events and receptions; ( 3 ) authorization of all commitments and contracts, and expenditure of all monies collected by the Section or appropriated for its use and purposes.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events 

2012 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes 

April 12, 2012 (pdf)

March 22, 2012 (pdf)

Februrary 16, 2012 (pdf)

Stephen A. Hochman
Co-Chair, ADR in the Courts

Mr. Hochman recently retired from the New York City law firm of Friedman, Wittenstein & Hochman, where he practiced from 1987 – 2006, first as a partner and later as counsel.  He was a founding partner in the firm now known as Kramer, Levin, Naftalis  & Frankel, where he practiced from 1968-1987, specializing in corporate, commercial and securities law.  He also represented both investors and issuers in real estate, tax oriented and other types of investment partnerships.  Prior to 1968, he was a partner in Kramer, Nessen & Hochman and an associate at Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn, where he began the practice of law following his graduation from Cornell Law School in 1959.

Mr. Hochman now practices almost exclusively as a mediator and arbitrator.  He served as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association, arbitrating primarily securities and commercial disputes, and has been both an arbitrator as well as a mediator for the New York Stock Exchange and the NASD.  He also serves as a court-appointed mediator for the federal district courts in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York and the New York State Supreme Court, New York County (Commercial Division), and serves on the Supreme Court's ADR Advisory Group. He is also a mediation trainer in the Supreme Court=s Commercial ADR Program and a Special Master for the Appellate Division, First Department, of the New York State Supreme Court.

Mr. Hochman writes, consults and lectures frequently on the subjects of arbitration and mediation and is a member of the American Law Institute and various ADR-related bar association and advisory committees.  He is a former Chair of the Arbitration Committee of the American Bar Association's Section of Dispute Resolution and former Co-Chair of its Large, Complex Case Subcommittee.  He served for many years as Chair of the American Law Institute-American Bar Association's annual program on Alternative Dispute Resolution and was Chair of its annual program on Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions.  He also served as a member of the American Arbitration Association's Securities Arbitration Rules Task Force and its Commercial Arbitration Practice Committee.

Mr. Hochman has mediated over 350 commercial, business, international and other types of disputes, including securities, contract, employment, insurance, real estate, construction, franchise, brokerage and class action disputes, approximately 98% of which have settled.  In addition to his own investment activities, he serves on the investment committees and boards of various not-for-profit corporations, including several hospitals and a non-profit captive re-insurance company.  Mr. Hochman has also been an Adjunct Lecturer in Securities Regulation at Columbia Law School and an Adjunct Lecturer in both Mergers and Acquisitions and Alternative Dispute Resolution at Fordham Law School.

Dispute Resolution Section Fall Meeting

Dispute Resolution and Commercial & Federal Litigation Sections Joint CLE Program

Fordham Law School
McNally Auditorium
New York, NY 10023
518.487.5674

See event page for more information.

S. Robert Schrager
Hodgson Russ LLP
Committee on ADR in the Courts Chair

Areas of Practice: Commercial, financial, and bankruptcy litigation

Professional Experience: Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Schrager was a law assistant to the justices of the Appellate Division, Second Department, of the New York Supreme Court. Mr. Schrager has over 25 years of experience practicing commercial, financial and bankruptcy litigation, and general business law. His practice has included a wide range of civil litigation matters and middle-market transactions. As a senior trial and appellate attorney, he handles complex matters with substantial financial exposure to clients and representation of clients in arbitration and mediation.

Presentations/Articles: Mr. Schrager has lectured and authored articles on representing financial institutions in litigation, working out problem loans, discovery and presentation of electronic evidence, legal issues in cyberspace, and letters of credit. Mr. Schrager was published by ReedLogic Corporation in their CEO/CFO/CIO-targeted DVD seminars on law and technology matters in the video seminar Electronic Discovery - Best Practices.

Professional Associations: Mr. Schrager serves as a special master for the New York State Supreme Court and is a certified mediator and a member of the Panel of Mediators for the United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York.

Community Activities: Secretary, Beneath the Sea

Bar Associations: Mr. Schrager is the co-chair of the Committee on Creditors' Rights and Banking Litigation and a member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association Commercial and Federal Litigation Section. He is the chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Courts Committee of the NYSBA Section on Dispute Resolution. He was a founding member of the NYSBA Task Force on the Supreme Court, Commercial Division. He is a fellow of the New York Bar Foundation.

Admitted to Practice: New York, U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York

Education:
A.B., Colgate University
J.D., St. John's University School of Law

Newsletter Committee 

Dispute resolution is evolving rapidly.  To stay current, we publish an electronic newsletter designed to educate Section members about key developments in the field.  This inaugural edition of the newsletter surveyed the current work of each Section Committee.  It reveals that dispute resolution is practiced by different methodologies and in varied venues, as it relates and is applied to an array of practice areas.  Accordingly, the Newsletter Committee aims to collect and disseminate timely content of common value to practitioners, academics, and observers across this wide spectrum.  We will be doing so in tandem with the Publications and other Committees to provide an outlet for information sharing that complements the full length substantive articles and white papers they aptly produce on a long range basis.  From this vantage point, we will be developing an editorial perspective and content calendar that meets the needs of Section members for quicker and briefer updates regarding the law and practice of dispute resolution.  We welcome your participation and suggestions.

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Nominating Committee

The function of the Nominating Committee is to make recommendations to the Executive Committee as to the members of the Section who should serve as officers of the Section following the expiration of the terms of the current officers.  All persons who would like to be considered as officers may submit their applications to the Nominating Committee for consideration.  The members of the Nominating Committee shall be appointed by the Chair of the Section, and they shall not be eligible to be nominated as officers by the Nominating Committee on which they are serving as a member. 

Simeon H. Baum, Chair

Simeon Baum, President of Resolve Mediation Services, Inc., has successfully mediated over 900 disputes.  He has been active since 1992 as a neutral in dispute resolution, assuming the roles of mediator, neutral evaluator and arbitrator in a variety of cases, including the highly publicized mediation of the Studio Daniel Libeskind-Silverstein Properties dispute over architectural fees relating to the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, and Trump’s $ 1 billion suit over the West Side Hudson River development.  He was selected for New York Magazine’s 2005 - 2011 “Best Lawyers” and “New York Super Lawyers” listings for ADR, and Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer of the Year” for ADR in New York for 2011.

An attorney, with over 25 years’ experience as a litigator, Mr. Baum has served as a mediator or ADR neutral in a wide variety of matters involving claims concerning business disputes, financial services, securities industry disputes, reinsurance and insurance coverage, property damage and personal injury, malpractice, employment, ERISA benefits, accounting, civil rights, partnership, family business, real property, construction, surety bond defaults, unfair competition, fraud, bank fraud, bankruptcy, intellectual property, and commercial claims.

Mr. Baum has a longstanding involvement in Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR"). He has served as a neutral for the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York Mediation Panels; New Jersey Superior Court, Civil Part, Statewide; Commercial Division, New York State Supreme Court, New York & Westchester Counties; U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern & Eastern Districts of New York; the New York Stock Exchange; National Association of Securities Dealers; the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and CPR, among others. 

Mr. Baum’s peers have appointed him to many key posts: e.g., Member, ADR Advisory Group, Commercial Division, Supreme Court, New York County; ADR Advisory Group and Mediation Ethics Advisory Committee, N.Y. State Unified Court System.  Founding Chair of the N.Y. State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section, he was also subcommittee chair of the N.Y. State Bar Association’s ADR Committee; Legislative Tracking Subcommittee Chair of the ADR Committee of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association; Charter Member, ABA Dispute Resolution Section Corporate Liaison Committee; President-Elect, Federal Bar Association’s SDNY Chapter, and Chair of the FBA’s national ADR Section.  He is past Chair of the New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) Committee on Arbitration and ADR.  Besides serving on the NYCLA’s Committee on Committees, he is past Chair of the Joint Committee on Fee Dispute and Conciliation (of NYCLA, ABC NY, and Bronx County Bar Associations), and is on the Board of Governors, NYS Attorney-Client Fee Dispute Resolution Program.  He is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Mr. Baum has shared his enthusiasm for ADR through teaching, training, extensive writing and public speaking.  He has taught ADR at NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Development, and he teaches Negotiation, and Processes of Dispute Resolution (focusing on Negotiation, Mediation and Arbitration) at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.  He developed and conducts 3-day programs training mediators for the Commercial Division, Supreme Court, New York, Queens, and Westchester Counties. He has been a panelist, presenter and facilitator for numerous programs on mediation, arbitration, and ADR for Judges, attorneys, and other professionals.  Mr. Baum is a graduate of Colgate University and the Fordham University School of Law. 

Committee on ADR in the Courts

Jacqueline W. Silbermann Committee Chair	Stephen A. Hochman, Committee Co-Chair

The ADR in the Courts Committee, chaired by the Hon. Jacqueline W. Silbermann and co-chaired by Stephen A. Hochman, has set an ambitious agenda to improve the court-annexed mediation programs in both the State and Federal courts.  One focus will be to increase the number of cases sent to mediation, either by court order or voluntarily, by various means, including educating members of the bar and the judiciary as to the advantages of mediation and other ADR processes and organizing a network of practitioners around the State to work with their local judges on increasing the utilization of mediation services.  Another focus will be to improve the methods of administrating the court-annexed programs in order to deal with the anticipated increased demand for mediators, including the process by which mediators are selected to accommodate the needs and preferences of the litigants.

The Committee coordinates and consults regularly with Dan Weitz, Director of ADR for the New York State Office of Court Administration and other court representatives involved in the ADR programs.  The Committee has also met with Hon. Loretta A. Preska, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, as well as Hon. Sherry Klein Heitler, the Administrative Judge for Civil Matters in the First Judicial District of the New York State Supreme Court, and will continue to coordinate with them to improve their mediation programs.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

Committee on Arbitration

John Wilkinson Co-Chair

Abigail J. Pessen Co-Chair

The Dispute Resolution Section, Arbitration Committee will seek to work with the arbitration committees and sub-committees of the various other sections to address issues in arbitration with a cross-practice focus – in consultation with the various specialty practice areas.  The Arbitration Committee will dedicate its efforts to promoting the efficient and effective use of arbitration in New York and ensuring New York’s continuation as a center of both domestic and international arbitration.  Some initial items that will form a part of the committee’s agenda will be efforts to win enactment of the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act in New York and development of a recommendation for discovery procedures appropriate for New York arbitration practice.

The Arbitration Committee, chaired by John Wilkinson and Abigail J. Pessen, has completed a number of significant projects over the last 2 years and is currently engaged in a variety of additional pursuits. Last year, for example, the Committee drafted and adopted a series of guidelines designed to make discovery more cost effective in domestic, commercial arbitrations. The guidelines were adopted by the NYSBA’s Executive Committee and House of Delegates.

The International Arbitration Subcommittee, chaired by John Fellas has been working with a team of well-known, respected practitioners in international arbitration and has created a brochure (for broad circulation) as to why parties and attorneys from around the world should select New York as the site of their international arbitrations; Working with John and Abigail the subcommittee draft a series of guidelines aimed at making the pre-hearing phase of international arbitrations more cost-effective. The guidelines were adopted by the NYSBA’s Executive Committee and House of Delegates.

In addition, the Committee has scheduled a series of discussion sessions on current and important arbitration topics. Each of these discussions are moderated by two or more people who are leaders in the arbitration field and who have first hand experience in the area under discussion. The discussions this year include such varied subjects as arbitrators involvement in settlement, third party subpoenas, refusal of one party to pay, an international arbitration statute for New York, substantive motions in arbitration and more. It is expected that these discussions will lead to productive future projects for the Committee to undertake.

Committee Roster

Committee on Mediation

David C. Singer Co-Chair

Irene C. Warshauer Co-Chair

The Mediation Committee hopes to become a valuable resource for New York practitioners and consumers of mediation.   The Committee will seek to promote the use of mediation, to present programs on topics of interest to mediators and advocates, to provide a forum to debate policy issues important to the profession, and to take positions on such issues when it is appropriate to do so.

The Mediation Committee has been very active over this past year and has several exciting projects in the pipeline for 2010-2011.   The Committee’s report on mediator quality – the result of a year-long study of past and current thinking on the topic – was enthusiastically adopted by the Section in May of 2010.   The committee also undertook an ambitious survey of New York litigators to learn their views on mediation; the results have been tabulated will be presented for review.

Another project now well underway is a mentor-mentee matchmaking service, which we expect to work smoothly and simply to give fledgling mediators opportunities to learn from their more experienced colleagues.  

In addition to these ventures, we’ve invited leading practitioners in the field to our bi-monthly meetings to facilitate discussions of best practices and practice development, including fee issues, mediators’ proposals, settlement agreements, moving past impasse and risk analysis.  This is a continuing feature at our committee meetings.

As mediation is a dispute resolution tool that is of great benefit in many substantive areas of the law, a series of papers on the benefits of mediation in many fields of law were  being prepared to educate practitioners about how mediation might benefit their clients and how it might be of particular applicability in specific fields of law.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

Committee Roster

The New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer features peer-written substantive articles relating to the practice of dispute resolution on various topics including arbitration, mediation, and collaborative law. Also included are updates on case law and legislation, as well as Section activities. Edited by Edna Sussman, Esq. and Laura A. Kaster, Esq., the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer is published by the Dispute Resolution Section and distributed to Section Members free of charge.

The New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer is published as a benefit for members of the Dispute Resolution Section and is copyrighted by the New York State Bar Association. The copying, reselling, duplication, transferring, reproducing, reusing, retaining or reprinting of this publication is strictly prohibited without permission.
© New York State Bar Association. All rights reserved.  ISSN 1945-6522 (print)     ISSN 1945-6530 (online)

(Spring 2013)

Message from the Chair
(Rona G. Shamoon)

Message from the Co-Editors
(Edna Sussman and Laura A. Kaster)

Dispute Resolution Section News
Annual Meeting

October—DR Section at Fordham

Opening This Spring: The New York International Arbitration Center

Ethics
Confidentiality: The Illusion and the Reality—Affirmative Steps for Lawyers and Mediators to Help Safeguard Their Mediation Communications
(Elayne E. Greenberg)

Arbitration
Fast Track Arbitration: A Proposed Solution to the “Elephantine Laboriousness” of International Commercial Arbitration
(Jane Wessel)

Emergency Interim Relief Under the ICDR Rules: Practical and Legal Considerations
(J. Brian Casey)

Arbitration’s Enduring Value: Looking Beyond Time and Cost
(James E. Berger)

Mandatory Trust Arbitration in the U.S. and Abroad
(S.I. Strong)

The Firm Roots of ADR in Federal Acquisition
(John A. Dietrich)

Benefits of Arbitration for Commercial Disputes

Mediation
Is Mediation Confidential in New York?
(Richard S. Weil)

Are You Sure You Can Still Tell Mediation and Arbitration Apart?
(Norman Solovay)

Estimating the Financial Value of a Lawsuit With the Case Value AnaylzerTM
(Michael Palmer)

Barking Up the Right Tree: Animals Deserve ADR, Too
(Debra Vey Voda-Hamilton)

International
The 2012 International Arbitration Survey: Current and Preferred Practices in the Arbitral Process
(Paul Friedland and John Templeman)

Review of New York Federal Petitions for Confirmation of Arbitral Awards Shows Swift Resolutions and Certainty of Awards
(Tim McCarthy, David Hoffman, and Ryham Ragab)

The Italian Saga of Mandatory Mediation: The Constitutional Court Ruling
(Francesca De Paolis and Giovanni Nicola Giudice)

Mauritius International Arbitration Act
(Shalini O. Soopramanien)

Book Review
The Public Policy Exception Under the New York Convention
Author: Anton Maurer
(Reviewed by Edna Sussman)

Case Notes
Second Circuit Highlights the Extraordinary Difficulty in Establishing Manifest Disregard
Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing v. The Official Unsecured Creditors’ Committee
of Bayou Group, LLC, et al.
(Joyce Lai)

Court Denies Disqualification of Attorney in Matrimonial Litigation Despite Attorney’s Initial Participation in Collaborative Law Process
Mandell v. Mandell, 36 Misc. 3d 797, 949 N.Y.S.2d 580 (Sup. Ct., Westchester Co. 2012)
(Erica Barrow)

Arbitrating Arbitrability—The Second Circuit’s Application of the “Clear and Unmistakable” Standard
(Saira Hussain)

Mediation Privilege Under the UMA—Two Recent Cases from New Jersey
(Katherine DeStefano)

Annual Meeting
Program I: No Longer Business As Usual
(Michelle Kremer)

Program II: New Tools For a New Age
(Emily Gornell)

Program III: Hot Topics in Arbitration and Lessons for the Future
(Natalie Elisha and Ross J. Kartez)

Program IV: Ethically and Effectively Maximizing Mediation Outcomes for Your Client
(John James Fagan and Adam John Breaux)

Scenes from the Annual Meeting

Committee Roster

Committee on Collaborative Law

Harriette M. Steinberg, Co-Chair	Barry Berkman, Co-Chair

The Collaborative Law Committee will consider the benefits of, and concerns about, Collaborative Law (“CL”) and seek to improve and expand its use, where appropriate, as well as promote professionalism and best practices in the field.  It will keep its membership apprised of developments in the field, as well as the efforts of other CL organizations, the Court system’s efforts in the CL field, and the effort to enact a Uniform Collaborative Law Act.

Chaired by Harriette M. Steinberg and Barry Berkman, the Collaborative Law Committee is engaged in the further development of an exciting area of expansion in ADR.

Collaborative Law (“CL”) has been described as a cousin to mediation.  Its practitioners typically help the parties reach a resolution by agreement, using interest-based negotiation rather than positional bargaining.  It differs from mediation in that each party has an attorney who helps the party develop and crystallize the party’s interests, objectives and concerns, points out the relevant and helpful practical and legal facts and arguments, and ensures that each party makes a well-informed decision. 

The most striking feature of CL is the parties’ and attorneys’ agreement that both parties’ attorneys withdraw if either party leaves the negotiation and proceeds to adversarial-litigation.  The parties and attorneys display their commitment to a negotiated settlement and employ the techniques typically employed by mediators to establish rapport with the other party, reframing and looping the concerns of each party and understanding the interests beneath any stated positions.  CL is best when the relationship between the parties is as important as the issue that is in dispute and empowers the parties to be in control of the final resolution.

The Committee helps to (i) spread knowledge of CL to non-CL lawyers; (ii) develop best practices in CL; (iii) promote and expand the use of CL in appropriate circumstances in both family and civil cases. 

The Committee has been monitoring the Uniform Law Commission’s efforts to promulgate a Uniform Collaborative Law Act (“UCLA”) and in conjunction with other Bar Association Committees has been providing feedback to the Commission.  The Committee is drafted a report, in cooperation with the Section’s Legislative Committee, on the substance and advisability of the UCLA for the NYSBA DR Section. The report was approved by the Executive committee and will be used to inform the New York delegates to the American Bar Association House of delegates which has before it a resolution relating to the UCLA.  

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events.com 

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee consists of the Section's current officers, the Section's Delegates to the Association's House of Delegates, the Chairs of each of the Section's Committees, and other members in good standing of the Section and the Association as appointed by the Executive Committee to serve in an at-large capacity.  

The Executive Committee is responsible for (1)  discussion and adoption of positions of the Section, including passing on committee reports and commenting as requested on reports of other Sections and Committees of the New York State Bar Association and the ABA; (2) general supervision and control over the affairs and activities of the Section,  including meetings, CLE programs, special events and receptions; ( 3 ) authorization of all commitments and contracts, and expenditure of all monies collected by the Section or appropriated for its use and purposes.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events 

2012 Executive Committee Meeting Minutes 

April 12, 2012 (pdf)

March 22, 2012 (pdf)

Februrary 16, 2012 (pdf)

S. Robert Schrager
Hodgson Russ LLP
Committee on ADR in the Courts Chair

Areas of Practice: Commercial, financial, and bankruptcy litigation

Professional Experience: Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Schrager was a law assistant to the justices of the Appellate Division, Second Department, of the New York Supreme Court. Mr. Schrager has over 25 years of experience practicing commercial, financial and bankruptcy litigation, and general business law. His practice has included a wide range of civil litigation matters and middle-market transactions. As a senior trial and appellate attorney, he handles complex matters with substantial financial exposure to clients and representation of clients in arbitration and mediation.

Presentations/Articles: Mr. Schrager has lectured and authored articles on representing financial institutions in litigation, working out problem loans, discovery and presentation of electronic evidence, legal issues in cyberspace, and letters of credit. Mr. Schrager was published by ReedLogic Corporation in their CEO/CFO/CIO-targeted DVD seminars on law and technology matters in the video seminar Electronic Discovery - Best Practices.

Professional Associations: Mr. Schrager serves as a special master for the New York State Supreme Court and is a certified mediator and a member of the Panel of Mediators for the United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York.

Community Activities: Secretary, Beneath the Sea

Bar Associations: Mr. Schrager is the co-chair of the Committee on Creditors' Rights and Banking Litigation and a member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association Commercial and Federal Litigation Section. He is the chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Courts Committee of the NYSBA Section on Dispute Resolution. He was a founding member of the NYSBA Task Force on the Supreme Court, Commercial Division. He is a fellow of the New York Bar Foundation.

Admitted to Practice: New York, U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York

Education:
A.B., Colgate University
J.D., St. John's University School of Law

Newsletter Committee 

Dispute resolution is evolving rapidly.  To stay current, we publish an electronic newsletter designed to educate Section members about key developments in the field.  This inaugural edition of the newsletter surveyed the current work of each Section Committee.  It reveals that dispute resolution is practiced by different methodologies and in varied venues, as it relates and is applied to an array of practice areas.  Accordingly, the Newsletter Committee aims to collect and disseminate timely content of common value to practitioners, academics, and observers across this wide spectrum.  We will be doing so in tandem with the Publications and other Committees to provide an outlet for information sharing that complements the full length substantive articles and white papers they aptly produce on a long range basis.  From this vantage point, we will be developing an editorial perspective and content calendar that meets the needs of Section members for quicker and briefer updates regarding the law and practice of dispute resolution.  We welcome your participation and suggestions.

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Nominating Committee

The function of the Nominating Committee is to make recommendations to the Executive Committee as to the members of the Section who should serve as officers of the Section following the expiration of the terms of the current officers.  All persons who would like to be considered as officers may submit their applications to the Nominating Committee for consideration.  The members of the Nominating Committee shall be appointed by the Chair of the Section, and they shall not be eligible to be nominated as officers by the Nominating Committee on which they are serving as a member. 

Simeon H. Baum, Chair

Simeon Baum, President of Resolve Mediation Services, Inc., has successfully mediated over 900 disputes.  He has been active since 1992 as a neutral in dispute resolution, assuming the roles of mediator, neutral evaluator and arbitrator in a variety of cases, including the highly publicized mediation of the Studio Daniel Libeskind-Silverstein Properties dispute over architectural fees relating to the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, and Trump’s $ 1 billion suit over the West Side Hudson River development.  He was selected for New York Magazine’s 2005 - 2011 “Best Lawyers” and “New York Super Lawyers” listings for ADR, and Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer of the Year” for ADR in New York for 2011.

An attorney, with over 25 years’ experience as a litigator, Mr. Baum has served as a mediator or ADR neutral in a wide variety of matters involving claims concerning business disputes, financial services, securities industry disputes, reinsurance and insurance coverage, property damage and personal injury, malpractice, employment, ERISA benefits, accounting, civil rights, partnership, family business, real property, construction, surety bond defaults, unfair competition, fraud, bank fraud, bankruptcy, intellectual property, and commercial claims.

Mr. Baum has a longstanding involvement in Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR"). He has served as a neutral for the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York Mediation Panels; New Jersey Superior Court, Civil Part, Statewide; Commercial Division, New York State Supreme Court, New York & Westchester Counties; U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern & Eastern Districts of New York; the New York Stock Exchange; National Association of Securities Dealers; the U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and CPR, among others. 

Mr. Baum’s peers have appointed him to many key posts: e.g., Member, ADR Advisory Group, Commercial Division, Supreme Court, New York County; ADR Advisory Group and Mediation Ethics Advisory Committee, N.Y. State Unified Court System.  Founding Chair of the N.Y. State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section, he was also subcommittee chair of the N.Y. State Bar Association’s ADR Committee; Legislative Tracking Subcommittee Chair of the ADR Committee of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association; Charter Member, ABA Dispute Resolution Section Corporate Liaison Committee; President-Elect, Federal Bar Association’s SDNY Chapter, and Chair of the FBA’s national ADR Section.  He is past Chair of the New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) Committee on Arbitration and ADR.  Besides serving on the NYCLA’s Committee on Committees, he is past Chair of the Joint Committee on Fee Dispute and Conciliation (of NYCLA, ABC NY, and Bronx County Bar Associations), and is on the Board of Governors, NYS Attorney-Client Fee Dispute Resolution Program.  He is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Mr. Baum has shared his enthusiasm for ADR through teaching, training, extensive writing and public speaking.  He has taught ADR at NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Development, and he teaches Negotiation, and Processes of Dispute Resolution (focusing on Negotiation, Mediation and Arbitration) at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.  He developed and conducts 3-day programs training mediators for the Commercial Division, Supreme Court, New York, Queens, and Westchester Counties. He has been a panelist, presenter and facilitator for numerous programs on mediation, arbitration, and ADR for Judges, attorneys, and other professionals.  Mr. Baum is a graduate of Colgate University and the Fordham University School of Law. 

Committee on ADR in the Courts

Jacqueline W. Silbermann Committee Chair	Stephen A. Hochman, Committee Co-Chair

The ADR in the Courts Committee, chaired by the Hon. Jacqueline W. Silbermann and co-chaired by Stephen A. Hochman, has set an ambitious agenda to improve the court-annexed mediation programs in both the State and Federal courts.  One focus will be to increase the number of cases sent to mediation, either by court order or voluntarily, by various means, including educating members of the bar and the judiciary as to the advantages of mediation and other ADR processes and organizing a network of practitioners around the State to work with their local judges on increasing the utilization of mediation services.  Another focus will be to improve the methods of administrating the court-annexed programs in order to deal with the anticipated increased demand for mediators, including the process by which mediators are selected to accommodate the needs and preferences of the litigants.

The Committee coordinates and consults regularly with Dan Weitz, Director of ADR for the New York State Office of Court Administration and other court representatives involved in the ADR programs.  The Committee has also met with Hon. Loretta A. Preska, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, as well as Hon. Sherry Klein Heitler, the Administrative Judge for Civil Matters in the First Judicial District of the New York State Supreme Court, and will continue to coordinate with them to improve their mediation programs.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

Committee on Arbitration

John Wilkinson Co-Chair

Abigail J. Pessen Co-Chair

The Dispute Resolution Section, Arbitration Committee will seek to work with the arbitration committees and sub-committees of the various other sections to address issues in arbitration with a cross-practice focus – in consultation with the various specialty practice areas.  The Arbitration Committee will dedicate its efforts to promoting the efficient and effective use of arbitration in New York and ensuring New York’s continuation as a center of both domestic and international arbitration.  Some initial items that will form a part of the committee’s agenda will be efforts to win enactment of the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act in New York and development of a recommendation for discovery procedures appropriate for New York arbitration practice.

The Arbitration Committee, chaired by John Wilkinson and Abigail J. Pessen, has completed a number of significant projects over the last 2 years and is currently engaged in a variety of additional pursuits. Last year, for example, the Committee drafted and adopted a series of guidelines designed to make discovery more cost effective in domestic, commercial arbitrations. The guidelines were adopted by the NYSBA’s Executive Committee and House of Delegates.

The International Arbitration Subcommittee, chaired by John Fellas has been working with a team of well-known, respected practitioners in international arbitration and has created a brochure (for broad circulation) as to why parties and attorneys from around the world should select New York as the site of their international arbitrations; Working with John and Abigail the subcommittee draft a series of guidelines aimed at making the pre-hearing phase of international arbitrations more cost-effective. The guidelines were adopted by the NYSBA’s Executive Committee and House of Delegates.

In addition, the Committee has scheduled a series of discussion sessions on current and important arbitration topics. Each of these discussions are moderated by two or more people who are leaders in the arbitration field and who have first hand experience in the area under discussion. The discussions this year include such varied subjects as arbitrators involvement in settlement, third party subpoenas, refusal of one party to pay, an international arbitration statute for New York, substantive motions in arbitration and more. It is expected that these discussions will lead to productive future projects for the Committee to undertake.

Committee Roster

Committee on Mediation

David C. Singer Co-Chair

Irene C. Warshauer Co-Chair

The Mediation Committee hopes to become a valuable resource for New York practitioners and consumers of mediation.   The Committee will seek to promote the use of mediation, to present programs on topics of interest to mediators and advocates, to provide a forum to debate policy issues important to the profession, and to take positions on such issues when it is appropriate to do so.

The Mediation Committee has been very active over this past year and has several exciting projects in the pipeline for 2010-2011.   The Committee’s report on mediator quality – the result of a year-long study of past and current thinking on the topic – was enthusiastically adopted by the Section in May of 2010.   The committee also undertook an ambitious survey of New York litigators to learn their views on mediation; the results have been tabulated will be presented for review.

Another project now well underway is a mentor-mentee matchmaking service, which we expect to work smoothly and simply to give fledgling mediators opportunities to learn from their more experienced colleagues.  

In addition to these ventures, we’ve invited leading practitioners in the field to our bi-monthly meetings to facilitate discussions of best practices and practice development, including fee issues, mediators’ proposals, settlement agreements, moving past impasse and risk analysis.  This is a continuing feature at our committee meetings.

As mediation is a dispute resolution tool that is of great benefit in many substantive areas of the law, a series of papers on the benefits of mediation in many fields of law were  being prepared to educate practitioners about how mediation might benefit their clients and how it might be of particular applicability in specific fields of law.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

The New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer features peer-written substantive articles relating to the practice of dispute resolution on various topics including arbitration, mediation, and collaborative law. Also included are updates on case law and legislation, as well as Section activities. Edited by Edna Sussman, Esq. and Laura A. Kaster, Esq., the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer is published by the Dispute Resolution Section and distributed to Section Members free of charge.

The New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer is published as a benefit for members of the Dispute Resolution Section and is copyrighted by the New York State Bar Association. The copying, reselling, duplication, transferring, reproducing, reusing, retaining or reprinting of this publication is strictly prohibited without permission.
© New York State Bar Association. All rights reserved.  ISSN 1945-6522 (print)     ISSN 1945-6530 (online)

(Spring 2013)

Message from the Chair
(Rona G. Shamoon)

Message from the Co-Editors
(Edna Sussman and Laura A. Kaster)

Dispute Resolution Section News
Annual Meeting

October—DR Section at Fordham

Opening This Spring: The New York International Arbitration Center

Ethics
Confidentiality: The Illusion and the Reality—Affirmative Steps for Lawyers and Mediators to Help Safeguard Their Mediation Communications
(Elayne E. Greenberg)

Arbitration
Fast Track Arbitration: A Proposed Solution to the “Elephantine Laboriousness” of International Commercial Arbitration
(Jane Wessel)

Emergency Interim Relief Under the ICDR Rules: Practical and Legal Considerations
(J. Brian Casey)

Arbitration’s Enduring Value: Looking Beyond Time and Cost
(James E. Berger)

Mandatory Trust Arbitration in the U.S. and Abroad
(S.I. Strong)

The Firm Roots of ADR in Federal Acquisition
(John A. Dietrich)

Benefits of Arbitration for Commercial Disputes

Mediation
Is Mediation Confidential in New York?
(Richard S. Weil)

Are You Sure You Can Still Tell Mediation and Arbitration Apart?
(Norman Solovay)

Estimating the Financial Value of a Lawsuit With the Case Value AnaylzerTM
(Michael Palmer)

Barking Up the Right Tree: Animals Deserve ADR, Too
(Debra Vey Voda-Hamilton)

International
The 2012 International Arbitration Survey: Current and Preferred Practices in the Arbitral Process
(Paul Friedland and John Templeman)

Review of New York Federal Petitions for Confirmation of Arbitral Awards Shows Swift Resolutions and Certainty of Awards
(Tim McCarthy, David Hoffman, and Ryham Ragab)

The Italian Saga of Mandatory Mediation: The Constitutional Court Ruling
(Francesca De Paolis and Giovanni Nicola Giudice)

Mauritius International Arbitration Act
(Shalini O. Soopramanien)

Book Review
The Public Policy Exception Under the New York Convention
Author: Anton Maurer
(Reviewed by Edna Sussman)

Case Notes
Second Circuit Highlights the Extraordinary Difficulty in Establishing Manifest Disregard
Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing v. The Official Unsecured Creditors’ Committee
of Bayou Group, LLC, et al.
(Joyce Lai)

Court Denies Disqualification of Attorney in Matrimonial Litigation Despite Attorney’s Initial Participation in Collaborative Law Process
Mandell v. Mandell, 36 Misc. 3d 797, 949 N.Y.S.2d 580 (Sup. Ct., Westchester Co. 2012)
(Erica Barrow)

Arbitrating Arbitrability—The Second Circuit’s Application of the “Clear and Unmistakable” Standard
(Saira Hussain)

Mediation Privilege Under the UMA—Two Recent Cases from New Jersey
(Katherine DeStefano)

Annual Meeting
Program I: No Longer Business As Usual
(Michelle Kremer)

Program II: New Tools For a New Age
(Emily Gornell)

Program III: Hot Topics in Arbitration and Lessons for the Future
(Natalie Elisha and Ross J. Kartez)

Program IV: Ethically and Effectively Maximizing Mediation Outcomes for Your Client
(John James Fagan and Adam John Breaux)

Scenes from the Annual Meeting

Why Join the NYSBA Dispute Resolution Section? 

Join Section Online

Join a Committee of this Section

Membership in NYSBA’s Dispute Resolution Section is a valuable way to:

Opportunities for Professional Growth and Achievement

NYSBA’s Dispute Resolution Section offers members excellent ways to enhance their knowledge and expertise by participating in the Section activities.

Through events featuring outstanding speakers, members can examine critical developments in dispute resolution. 

All of these activities enable you to stay on top of the fast-growng field of dispute resolution, as well as meet and work with colleagues who share your interests.

Participation in Section Activities is Easy

The Dispute Resolution Section aims to address the complex issues that constantly arise in the field, and to communicate about dispute resolution with the profession as a whole. 

The Section offers its members a variety of ways to participate.  The Section’s Executive Committee welcomes membership participation in these activities, as well as others, and encourages interested members to contact it to discuss opportunities.

The Dispute Resolution Section addresses major professional issues that affect practitioners, and advocates those positions where appropriate, including within the New York State Bar Association.

Membership in the New York State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section is a valuable way for you to keep up-to-date on the growing number of issues and concerns that face the ever-changing legal profession.

Liaison and District Rep. Coordination Committee

As ADR can be useful in virtually every area of law, the Liaison and District Representative Coordination Committee, chaired by Geri Krauss, is working on establishing and nurturing liaison relationships with other Sections. The hope is that these relationships will lead to mutually beneficial activities and help to educate other lawyers and Sections about how they can utilize ADR to benefit their clients.

Through the able leadership of our CLE Committee and other members of our Section who have stepped up to chair and organize specific programs, several joint programs are already under way. These have included a full day joint CLE program with the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section on October 12, 2010 at Fordham Law School entitled “How to Maximize Results in Mediation and Arbitration.” On October 28, 2010, the Section sponsored an afternoon joint program with the Elder Law and Senior Lawyer Section at the Renaissance Westchester Hotel In White Plains. On November 3, 2010, DRS also sponsored a joint luncheon program with the focused on how lawyers can most effectively represent their clients in mediation.

We are working to set up additional joint programs to be presented as the year progresses and expect to do a joint program with the Trusts & Estate Section, the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section and others. If you have a suggestion for a joint program with another Section please let us know.

In addition to joint programming, the Committee is assisting in the coordination and involvement of other Sections in the development of a series of white papers on why ADR is useful in different areas of practice. While many have been completed there are gaps. If you would like to be involved in the preparation of  a white paper on ADR in your area of practice, please let us know.  

Involvement by NYSBA members throughout the state in ADR activities is an important part of the Section's mission.  The committee works with the district representatives to sponsor programming to educate other lawyers and Sections on ADR and to share ideas for engaging NYSBA members in their communities.

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Committee on ADR with Governmental Agencies

The work of the Committee on ADR within Government Agencies, chaired by Pamela Esterman and Charles Miller, is focused on the use of alternatives to litigation and/or trial of disputes with federal, state, and local agencies and municipalities, including (but not limited to) disputes involving zoning, environmental, and similar issues. Such alternatives include but are not limited to arbitration and mediation. According to current statistics, a total of approximately 200,000 lawsuits are filed each year throughout the United States by or against governmental entities at the federal, state and local levels. Countless other disputes of this type are resolved prior to litigation. Hence, there is an enormous opportunity for expanding the use of ADR into these areas. 

Currently, there is an ongoing project within this Committee, which has received inputs from related Committees on arbitration, legislation and ADR in the Courts, dealing with proposed legislation and court rules for the introduction of plaintiff-initiated, court-mandated, forum-administered arbitration of civil actions against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia filed for judicial review of adverse administrative decisions of the agency. If enacted, such legislation could serve as a template for similar legislation in other government agency litigation contexts.

Chuck Miller, Co-Chair	Pamela Esterman, Co-Chair

Upcoming Events

Committee on Education

Chaired by Jackie Nolan Haley, Director of the ADR & Conflict Resolution Program at Fordham Law School, the newly formed Education Committee has an important agenda for the year. Fordham, which was ranked 8th in the nation by the 2011 U.S. News & World Report for its Dispute Resolution program, is pleased to take the lead on this important NYSBA DR Section activity.

ADR, where controversies between parties are settled outside of the litigation process, is one of today’s most dynamic areas of legal practice.  Its significant recent growth requires a re-examination of how ADR is taught in law schools. We are fortunate to have Steve Younger, a previous chair of the Dispute Resolution Committee and one of those instrumental in the creation of this DR section, as the President of the NYSBA this year. Steve has asked us to look into the question of including ADR in the New York State bar exam.

To accomplish its goals, the committee will explore how ADR is currently being taught in law schools in New York State. The analysis will review whether and how ADR is included in the curriculum and what kind of extra-curricular activities are offered to educate students about ADR. The Committee is working on responding to Steve Younger’s inquiry, research what other states are doing on their bar exam with respect to ADR and consider whether and how ADR should be added to the NYS bar exam.

The Committee includes in its membership professors from several of New York State’s law schools. The Committee will be working with the Membership Committee to develop a network of student liaisons to the DR Section across the state at the various law schools and to offer additional ADR educational opportunities to law students.

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Committee on Ethical Issues and Ethical Standards

Kathleen Scanlon, Co-Chair	Barbara Mentz, Co-Chair

The Committee on Ethics is our "conscience" on ethical practice for our Section. Increasing numbers of attorneys are foraying into dispute resolution as neutrals, as advocates representing clients in dispute resolution processes or as collaborators with other professionals in dispute resolution processes. Many of us are questioning what constitutes good ethical practice as we grapple with such challenging issues as confidentiality, conflicts of interest, party self-determination, ethics of collaboration, multijurisdictional practice, the unauthorized practice of law and moral awareness. After all, we are not only bound by our ethical obligations as attorneys, but we may also be bound by the relevant ethical codes on dispute resolution. What are the relevant ethical codes? Which is the ethical path we should follow? What direction should we go when just "follow the yellow brick road" is not an option? Are good intentions enough to steer us away from the road many of us would prefer to avoid?  How should we respond to those emerging ethical conundrums that were not even contemplated by the existing ethical codes when these codes were first created? Help!

Yes, ethics in ADR is more than an opportunity to satisfy your CLE ethics requirement. Ethics defines us, guides how we conduct ourselves as practitioners and furthers theintegrity of our dispute resolution field.  The Committee on Ethics invites the Committees within our Section, NYSBA's Committee on Professional Ethics, the other Committees and Sections in NYSBA, interested ADR colleagues and you to work with us. Help identify existing and potential ethical dilemmas confronting dispute resolution  practitioners so that  together we may construct  a more easily navigable road to ethical success for  neutrals, attorneys and collaborative professionals who practice dispute resolution. 

The ADR Ethics Committee, chaired by Kathleen Scanlon and Barbara Mentz, offers programs that help dispute resolution professionals, neutrals and advocates calibrate their ethical compass when confronting the ongoing challenges of dispute resolution practice. The committee welcomes the participation of all interested section members. The committee is always available to meet with other committees to address ethical issues of concern.

This past year's programs included programming at the Section’s fall meeting and at the NYSBA annual meeting in January. The committee is organizes special committee meetings. This year it addressed the ever present issue of “Clarifying the Limits of Arbitrator’s Disclosure of Conflicts” which will consider the latest case law on the subject and, will address the emerging interest in “Globalizing ADR Ethics?”

Committee Roster

Committee on Continuing Legal Education

Lisa Brogan, Co-Chair	Elizabeth J. Shampnoi, Co-Chair

The CLE Committee, chaired by Lisa Brogan and Elizabeth J. Shampnoi, has embarked upon an active year. CLE has, in many ways, become the lifeblood of the Bar Association, providing opportunities for members to stay current on developments and critical thinking in their areas of expertise, meet their state licensing requirements, and come together as a community to share the best of their own experience with one another. 

Our Section has harnessed these opportunities not only for the continued education of its members, but also as a means of attracting new members to the Section.  Last Fall, we ran a joint program with the Labor and Employment Section. In January, in addition to our own excellent Winter Program at the NYSBA's Annual Meeting, we collaborated with the International Section on an exciting Joint Program.  In the Spring of 2010, with the gracious assistance of Simeon Baum and Steve Hochman, we held a sold out Commercial Mediation Training, preparing a new group of mediators.

This past year, on October 12, 2010, the Section sponsored a full day joint CLE program with the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section at Fordham Law School entitled “How to Maximize Results in Mediation and Arbitration.”  This program included both a mock mediation and a mock arbitration illustrating the best practices for addressing major issues that typically arise in mediations and arbitrations, from the perspectives of mediators, arbitrators and counsel.  It was focused on a fact pattern involving issues in the entertainment, arts and sports areas.

On October 28, 2010, the Section sponsored an afternoon joint program with the Elder Law and Senior Lawyer Section at the Renaissance Westchester Hotel In White Plains.  The program addressed the wide range of issues and the rich possibilities that can be found in the mediation of estate disputes, family business disputes, life insurance issues, parent/child issues, health law, long-term care facility and nursing home matters, and contested guardianship proceedings, as well as providing tips on effective representation in mediation, and advice on developing a practice as a mediator.

The committee arranged mediation training held in March 2011, as well as an arbitrator training held in June 2011. Programming on ADR for the Trust and Estates Section and the Commercial and Federal Litigation Sections are being planned as well as a session for the Association of Towns. The CLE committee will continue to look for opportunities to work with other sections on the presentation of ADR programs tailored to the specific practice area.

We welcome members interested in proposing programs and organizing new and creative programs that will continue to raise the Section’s profile in the Bar Association. Please share your ideas with us.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

Legislation Committee

The focus of the Legislation Committee, chaired by Sherman Kahn and Richard L. Mattiaccio, is to report to the Section on significant legislative developments and make recommendations in selected instances.

Major initiatives over recent years have related to the Uniform Mediation Act (“UMA”) and the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act (“RUAA”).  In addition, Edna Sussman, as an ex officio member of our Committee, has performed yeoman service reporting on developments with respect to the Arbitration Fairness Act and other ADR related initiatives in the Congress.

Over the past year, we submitted our report to the Section, supporting certain amendments to the New York Judiciary Law affecting attorneys’ liens in connection with attorneys’ rendering of professional services as counsel in arbitrations and mediations.  This report was endorsed by the Section and submitted by the New York State Bar Association to the Legislature.

An ongoing initiative of the Legislation Committee at this time is our study, in conjunction with the Collaborative Law Committee, of the new Uniform Collaborative Law Act. A report has been prepared and approved by the section’s Executive Committee.

We welcome suggestions and participation from other members of the Section and from the profession generally with respect to legislative developments relating to arbitration, mediation, ADR and other forms of dispute resolution.

Committee Roster

Negotiation Committee

Jason Aylesworth, Co-Chair	Norman Solovay, Co-Chair

The Negotiation Committee, chaired by Jason Aylesworth and Norman Solovay, is creating a monthly interactive program focused exclusively on negotiating.  This program will bring together diverse group of professionals from all walks of life.  From the newly admitted attorneys with extensive ADR training through law school courses and competitions, to the seasoned experts in the industry with countless experiences representing clients and dealing with adversaries and judges in litigation, mediation and arbitration, everyone will contribute their thoughts on how to provide effective legal representation.

Each session will revolve around a hypothetical dispute, where participants not only engage in role-playing exercises throughout the negotiation, but are encouraged to contribute to the dialogue revolving benefits of utilizing collaborative and competitive tactics based on academic theory and practical experience.  While it will start as a live program in New York City, there are plans for video conferencing to reach a broader audience.

As this is a relatively new committee within this section, we welcome members from all substantive areas of law to provide suggestions in establishing an ongoing forum centering on the artful skill of negotiation.

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Website Committee

Leona Beane, Chair

The Website Committee, chaired by Leona Beane, works on making sure that the website is a useful resource for members of the DR section. The website offers a wealth of information and we invite you to explore it and visit it often. 

The website enables DR section members to “meet” the Section leaders and contact them directly with suggestions for future activities, questions and requests to get involved. A web site calendar lists the CLE programs and all of the Section’s committee meetings (all of which are open to all members of the section). The member directory enables section members to find and contact one another.  Archives of the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer are available for research and review. Section reports are published on the website for review by all.  Minutes of Executive Committee meetings are posted so members can find out what activities are planned and what progress has been made on Section projects.  The upcoming addition of Lois Law will provide a free resource with up to date case developments in the field. 

The website is a work "in progress" and is continually being updated.  We welcome your suggestions as to how to make it even better.

The Website Committee  also developed a survey to be sent to all Members of the Section to obtain more information about our members and their interests. 

Committee Roster 

Upcoming Events 

Committee on Publications

Laura A. Kaster, Co-Chair

Edna Sussman, Co-Chair

Co-edited by Edna Sussman and Laura A. Kaster this premier journal, the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer, covers all aspects of dispute resolution processes.  It includes a regular column on ADR ethics and thought provoking articles on practice developments, legislation and hot topics impacting neutrals, advocates, and parties to arbitration and mediation as well as the entire spectrum of ADR.  It includes the white papers produced by the Section and reports on the Section’s Committee activities.

In the first three years, the publication has gained wide recognition as a comprehensive and incisive source of information about ADR.  It covers both domestic and international issues including commercial and investor state issues. The articles have been diverse and all encompassing. The publication reported on relevant new rules, guidelines and directives issued by the New York Courts, ICDR, CPR, UNCITRAL, ICC, FINRA, the EU Commission, CCA, CIArb, and others.  The Journal has addressed and will continue to investigate the impact of neuroscience on ADR. Analyses of important recent decisions in the field were addressed in thoughtful articles and case notes. Discussion of model acts on arbitration, mediation and collaborative law set the stage for consideration for their adoption in New York. Updates on Congressional developments were provided. The publication regularly offered a review and analysis of relevant Supreme Court decisions and kept our readers up to date as these Supreme Court decisions were construed by the courts.

The New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer has to date also published two theme issues. The first theme issue published in the Spring of 2009 offered fifteen perspectives on arbitration and mediation from around the world. Since practice and traditions vary significantly from country to country, the articles included commentary from every continent and culture to afford a comprehensive overview. The second theme issue, published in the Fall of 2010, offered discussions of the many and varied ADR tools in what Folberg, Golann, Stipanowich and Kloppenberg coined as the “Dispute Resolution Spectrum.” The publication covered deal mediation, dispute boards, direct discussions between the parties, with the use of settlement counsel and collaborative law, assisted negotiation including many forms of mediation, early neutral evaluation, mini-trial, arbitration, and victim offender dialog.

Law student editors contribute notes on recent cases enriching the publication and fostering interest and engagement in ADR in our all important younger lawyer population.

We can’t do it without you. The Publication Committee relies on guest authors to contribute articles and is always looking for article proposals and for creative new ideas for publication themes to cover. If you have written an article or would like to write one for consideration for publication in the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer, please e-mail a proposal to LKASTER@AppropriateDisputeSolutions.com. Articles and proposals should be submitted in electronic document format (pdfs are not acceptable) and include contact and biographical information.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

Daniel F. Kolb, Co-Chair

Yomi Ajaiyeoba, Co-Chair

The Committee on Diversity

 The Committee on Diversity of the New York State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section encourages, fosters and supports the development of diverse talent and inclusion in all types of alternative dispute resolution, including mediation, arbitration, early neutral evaluation, mini trials, etc. both as neutrals and as representatives of parties in the processes.  Diversity of those participating in the dispute resolution process enables the presentation of many views and provides a greater perspective on how and in what way to use dispute resolution to resolve problems, leading to more options and fairer results.  Encouraging a diverse and inclusive environment also promotes respect and fosters treating individuals of diverse backgrounds fairly. 

The Committee on Diversity will encourage and provide an avenue for all members of our dispute resolution community to participate, provide a vehicle for their voice to be heard and for their views to be taken into consideration.  The Committee on Diversity will contact other Committees of the Dispute Resolution Section, as well as other Sections of the New York State Bar Association to encourage potential users of the alternative dispute resolution process to use diverse talent.  The Diversity Committee anticipates holding meetings, planning networking and other activities, presenting programs and publishing articles that encourage diversity and inclusion in all areas of the alternative dispute resolution practice, and we will promote diversity in panels and speakers for programs presented by the New York State Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section.  We will work with the courts to establish mentoring programs for diverse talent new to the dispute resolution community to gain experience and exposure to the process through shadowing experienced mediators.  “A diverse … population helps to broaden the worldview of everyone involved.

The Diversity Committee, chaired by Yomi Aajaiyeoba and Daniel F. Kolb serves to encourage, foster and support the development of diverse talent and diversity in ADR.  To further our goal, we have initiated a program to reach out to, and coordinate with, minority bar associations to have joint programs with them and to encourage their members to use ADR as advocates in their practices and encourage their members to become neutrals.

In this year, during which the Association is focusing especially on diversity, we will be working closely with Dispute Resolution Section Chair Charlie Moxley in sponsoring special efforts to encourage diversity.  We are also working with the Membership Committee and will be reaching  out to other Sections to encourage diversity within our Section.

We welcome suggestions for programs, speakers, networking events and articles on diversity in the ADR profession, including articles discussing diversity efforts of corporations, law firms and other entities.  The Committee will assist in getting these articles published in the Dispute Resolution Lawyer, the Section’s magazine.

Committee Roster

Upcoming Events

Stephen A. Hochman
Co-Chair, ADR in the Courts

Mr. Hochman recently retired from the New York City law firm of Friedman, Wittenstein & Hochman, where he practiced from 1987 – 2006, first as a partner and later as counsel.  He was a founding partner in the firm now known as Kramer, Levin, Naftalis  & Frankel, where he practiced from 1968-1987, specializing in corporate, commercial and securities law.  He also represented both investors and issuers in real estate, tax oriented and other types of investment partnerships.  Prior to 1968, he was a partner in Kramer, Nessen & Hochman and an associate at Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn, where he began the practice of law following his graduation from Cornell Law School in 1959.

Mr. Hochman now practices almost exclusively as a mediator and arbitrator.  He served as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association, arbitrating primarily securities and commercial disputes, and has been both an arbitrator as well as a mediator for the New York Stock Exchange and the NASD.  He also serves as a court-appointed mediator for the federal district courts in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York and the New York State Supreme Court, New York County (Commercial Division), and serves on the Supreme Court's ADR Advisory Group. He is also a mediation trainer in the Supreme Court=s Commercial ADR Program and a Special Master for the Appellate Division, First Department, of the New York State Supreme Court.

Mr. Hochman writes, consults and lectures frequently on the subjects of arbitration and mediation and is a member of the American Law Institute and various ADR-related bar association and advisory committees.  He is a former Chair of the Arbitration Committee of the American Bar Association's Section of Dispute Resolution and former Co-Chair of its Large, Complex Case Subcommittee.  He served for many years as Chair of the American Law Institute-American Bar Association's annual program on Alternative Dispute Resolution and was Chair of its annual program on Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions.  He also served as a member of the American Arbitration Association's Securities Arbitration Rules Task Force and its Commercial Arbitration Practice Committee.

Mr. Hochman has mediated over 350 commercial, business, international and other types of disputes, including securities, contract, employment, insurance, real estate, construction, franchise, brokerage and class action disputes, approximately 98% of which have settled.  In addition to his own investment activities, he serves on the investment committees and boards of various not-for-profit corporations, including several hospitals and a non-profit captive re-insurance company.  Mr. Hochman has also been an Adjunct Lecturer in Securities Regulation at Columbia Law School and an Adjunct Lecturer in both Mergers and Acquisitions and Alternative Dispute Resolution at Fordham Law School.

Dispute Resolution Section Fall Meeting

Dispute Resolution and Commercial & Federal Litigation Sections Joint CLE Program

Fordham Law School
McNally Auditorium
New York, NY 10023
518.487.5674

See event page for more information.

(Section Members Only)

Please click the issue date for each publication below to open the PDF file.

Welcome to the Dispute Resolution Section 

The Section will serve this mission by:

• Creating committees to explore and research developments in ethics, substantive law, and legislative initiatives relating to our shared interests
• Sponsoring publication of analysis and opinion on dispute resolution processes
• Providing continuing legal education and training to practitioners and neutrals
• Promoting relevant legislation
• Providing commentary on ethical issues affecting dispute resolution
• Providing a venue for practitioners, law school faculty and students, and dispute resolution providers to network, exchange ideas, and to interact with other members of the Bar and to the public on issues relating to dispute resolution.

To join the section, please e-mail your request to drs@nysba.org. If you would like to join NYSBA, membership information is available here.

In 2011, the New York State Bar Task Force on New York Law in International Matters called for the creation of a permanent center for international arbitration in New York.  That call has now been answered. 

Beginning late Spring 2013, the New York International Arbitration Center (NYIAC) will open a premier facility for the conduct of international arbitration in the heart of Manhattan, steps from Grand Central Station, Times Square, the Empire State Building and the United Nations.  NYIAC will serve as a prime destination for international arbitration hearings (however administered), mediation proceedings and conferences of all kinds.  NYIAC will provide world-class hearing rooms, breakout rooms and other amenities that can accommodate arbitrations of any size, including large, multi-party arbitrations and offer full technological capabilities, including high-tech video conferencing and built-in facilities for simultaneous interpretation creating a seamless experience, freeing parties and counsel to focus on the matters at hand. 

In addition, the NYIAC website, www.NYIAC.org, will be a valuable resource to the international arbitration community around the world by providing links to valuable international arbitration resources such as institutional rules and model clauses, as well as published awards, guidelines and other research.  

Section Reports and Papers 

• The Section recently sent a letter to the NY Board of Law Examiners urging ADR questions on the NY Bar Exam.
• The Section Recently submitted a Memo in Opposition to A.7002-A (Titone)/S.5798 (Fuschillo.)
• The Section recently submitted comments to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with respect to the study of arbitration mandated by the Dodd Frank Act.
• The Section is proud to have developed a brochure for broad distribution entitled: Choose New York for International Arbitration (PDF) 
• February 2011: Report on the Section Survey of Mediation Users (PDF)
• January 2011: Section Prepares White Papers on Benefits of Arbitration and Mediation for Substantive Areas of Law 
• January 2011: Section Issues Reports on Mediation and Arbitration
  

Section News and Articles of Interest

March 2011 - a Message from the Chair: A Hope of International Peace Mediation 

Summary of Annual Meeting programs prepared by student members of the Section (PDF)

View an upcoming article from the next issue of New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer
Practical Uses of ADR in Outsourcing Relationships by Julian Millstein and Sherman Kahn  (PDF)

Learn more about committee activities and meet the chairs 

Minutes of recent Section Executive Committee meetings 

Resources:

• Slide Presentation on The Uniform Mediation Act (PDF)
• New NY Rule on Neutral Training (PDF) (Part 146 Rule of the Chief Administrative Judge)
• French Law on Arbitration (PDF)
• Proposed Uniform Mediation Act - Legislative Bill# AB 1756, introduced January 11, 2011.
• The Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators (2005).
• Model Standards of Practice for Family and Divorce Mediation (approved by the American Bar Association February 2011).