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Press Releases
Top New Orleans Attorney A.J. Krouse, Esq. Joins FedArb
Top New Orleans Attorney A.J. Krouse, Esq. Joins FedArbAugust 18, 2020
FedArb is proud to announce that A.J. Krouse, Esq. has joined its panel. He is based in New Orleans and will specialize in resolving disputes related to business/commercial, construction, e-discovery, health care, labor and employment, maritime and mass torts/class actions. He will serve as an arbitrator, mediator, special master and participate in mock trials and corporate investigations.
Mr. Krouse has represented clients in various forms of ADR and served as an arbitrator, mediator and a court-appointed special master. He is a frequent speaker on electronic discovery, mediation and arbitration issues. He trains mediators and arbitrators for the American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA) Dispute Resolution Service and serves as chair of AHLA’s Program Planning Committee.
“A.J.’s reputation and background make him a perfect fit for our panel,” said Ken Hagen, FedArb’s CEO. “His style as a bridge-builder and catalyst for resolution will continue to serve him well and we are very excited to have him join us.”
Mr. Krouse earned his B.A. from Loyola University, New Orleans and his J.D. from Loyola University School of Law, New Orleans.
FedArb Announces New MDL Advisory Board
FedArb Announces New MDL Advisory BoardAugust 12, 2020
FedArb is pleased to announce that it has created an advisory board of some of the leading practitioners involved in multidistrict litigation (MDL). This advisory board will work with leaders in the judiciary, academia and FedArb‘s MDL practitioners to contribute their experience, wisdom and leadership to foster and develop best practices to achieve superior results in this growing field of federal practice.
The members of the advisory board are FedArb panelists Hon. Ruben Castillo (former Chief Judge of the Northern District of Illinois); Hon. Royal Furgeson (former member of the Judicial Panel On Multidistrict Litigation, former U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Texas, and former Dean of UNT Dallas College of Law); Hon. David Levi (former Chief Judge of the Eastern District of California, former dean at Duke Law School and president of the American Law Institute); Hon. Shira Scheindlin (former U. S. District Court judge, Southern District Of New York) and Hon. Vaughn Walker (former Chief Judge of the Northern District of California).
Additionally, Hon. Jeremy Fogel (former U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of California, former head of the Federal Judicial Center and currently Executive Director of the Berkeley Judicial Institute at Berkeley Law School); Deborah Hensler, Ph.D. (professor at Stanford Law School); and Robert Klonoff (professor at Lewis & Clark; author of a leading MDL textbook) have agreed to serve on the board.
Among the issues the MDL community is grappling with include: Allocation of attorneys’ fees in non-class action MDL settlements; Interlocutory review of MDL decisions; Issues on mandamus in the opioid cases; and the concept of a Negotiating Class, advanced by the late Francis McGovern and Bill Rubenstein.
“It’s an honor to join FedArb‘s MDL advisory board and have the opportunity to address important issues in the MDL community,” said Judge Fogel. “They have an impressive roster of former federal judges and can serve as an important resource for MDL judges seeking assistance in administering, settling and acting as a monitor in MDL disputes.”
“We are proud to have MDL thought-leaders such as Judge Fogel, Deborah Hensler and Robert Klonoff serve alongside FedArb and our panelists and work with the judiciary to improve certain MDL processes,” said Ken Hagen, FedArb’s CEO.
Former U.S. Court of Appeals and District Court Judge Timothy K. Lewis Joins FedArb
July 9, 2020
FedArb is thrilled to announce that Hon. Timothy K. Lewis (Former) has joined its panel. He will specialize in resolving disputes related to appellate, business/commercial, corporate investigations and employment/labor matters. He will serve as an arbitrator, mediator and participate in mock trials and corporate investigations.
Before entering private practice, Judge Lewis served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for nearly seven years. He served on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania for a year and then President George H. W. Bush elevated him to the Court of Appeals in 1992. At the time of both appointments he was the youngest federal judge in the United States.
As a federal judge, Judge Lewis oversaw and authored opinions on all matters that came before him, particularly in the areas of employment disputes, class actions, intellectual property, commercial and corporate disputes. Judge Lewis has developed a national and international ADR practice involving many of the world’s leading corporations. He also provides strategic counseling and conducts moot courts in various federal appellate matters in circuit courts throughout the country.
“As a mediator, Judge Lewis has a proven track record for resolving the most complex disputes,” said Ken Hagen, FedArb’s CEO. “As an arbitrator, he is known for adhering to parties’ deadlines and applying the relevant law. We are delighted to have him join our panel.”
Before his appointment to the federal bench, Judge Lewis served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and as an Assistant District Attorney in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
Judge Lewis earned his B.A. from Tufts University and his J.D. from Duquesne University School of Law.
T-Mobile/Sprint Monitoring Trustee Ted Ullyot Joins FedArb
February 12, 2020
FedArb is thrilled to announce that Ted Ullyot has joined its panel. He will specialize in resolving disputes related to antitrust, appellate, monitoring, regulatory compliance and telecommunication matters.
Mr. Ullyot has been appointed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to serve as the monitoring trustee for T-Mobile’s $26 billion merger with Sprint, which was approved by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Final judgment approving the settlement between DOJ and T-Mobile/Sprint is now before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“I am delighted to join FedArb’s distinguished panel, and I look forward to help lead its corporate monitoring practice,” said Mr. Ullyot.
“Ted’s credentials in law, government and leading technology companies such as Facebook and AOL make him an invaluable resource for our clients seeking to navigate antitrust and regulatory litigation,” said Ken Hagen, FedArb’s CEO. “Additionally, we believe this solidifies us a leader in corporate monitoring and look forward to securing more engagements.”
Mr. Ullyot served as general counsel of Facebook from 2008 to 2013, where he led the company’s legal and security functions from early-stage private company through IPO. He later served as a partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, where he led the firm’s policy and regulatory affairs group.
Mr. Ullyot graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and earned his law degree, with honors, from University of Chicago Law School. He also clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
FedArb Expands into UK with Two British Neutrals
February 10, 2020
FedArb is pleased to announce two new international panelists have joined the panel, adding timely and new expertise to the panel. Dean Armstrong QC and Richard Wilson QC bring impressive expertise in a variety of areas and establish a formative presence in the UK.
A highly experienced practitioner, Mr. Armstrong has been involved in some of the biggest cases of the last decade, including the collapse of the News of The World newspaper. Recently he has developed an expertise in cyber law and co-authored Cyber Security Law and Practice, an authoritative and thorough textbook in the fast-developing world of technology. In August 2019, Mr. Armstrong also published the first legal textbook on blockchain and cryptocurrency. He will focus on resolving disputes related to corporate investigations/white collar, cyber security, data privacy and security, international arbitration, mergers and acquisitions and securities/financial services.
Mr. Wilson is a barrister who specializes in commercial, art, administrative and public law. He is a part-time judge (sitting in both civil and criminal jurisdictions), an accredited mediator and a visiting law professor at Coventry University. He will focus on resolving accounting/finance, banking/lender liability, employment/labor, international arbitration and oil, gas, energy and water disputes. Mr. Wilson also has considerable experience in legal disputes related to art and cultural property. He is general editor of the textbook Commercial and Mercantile Courts Litigation Practice, is a contributing author of Criminal Judicial Review and author of the chapter Judicial Review: An Introduction to the Key Principles.
“We’re very excited about the skillset and depth of experience both Dean and Richard bring to our panel,” said FedArb president and CEO Ken Hagen. “Establishing a presence in the UK allows FedArb to bring its expertise in intellectual property and cyberlaw to the European marketplace. Additionally, we believe Richard’s reputation as a leader in art law will make a significant impact in New York and other art capitals around the world.”
FedArb Establishes a Mass Employment Arbitration Framework
January 27, 2020
Palo Alto, Calif. – FedArb has created a framework for dealing with individual employment claims subject to a common arbitration clause. The framework is ideal for companies using a standard arbitration clause in its employment agreements. It provides individual arbitrations at a fixed price and establishes a panel to deal with issues common to all claims to establish efficiency and consistency.
“FedArb’s procedures are designed to minimize the front-end costs for companies and create a process to resolve these disputes in the most efficient and effective way possible,” said Ken Hagen, FedArb President and CEO.
Under FedArb’s procedures, companies pay a nominal filing fee of $100. A panel of arbitrators (the size will depend on the number of cases involved) will be jointly approved using a forced ranked system. These arbitrators will then be randomly selected by FedArb to handle individual cases on a fixed-price basis. A separate panel of three mutually agreed upon former Article III judges will act as an “MDL type panel” to resolve issues common to all claims, thereby creating uniformity with respect to important issues.
More details about FedArb’s new procedures can be found here.
Retired Federal Judge Christopher F. Droney Joins FedArb
January 13, 2020 – FedArb is thrilled to announce that Hon. Christopher F. Droney (Ret.) has joined the panel. He will be based in Connecticut and specialize in resolving disputes related to antitrust, class actions, employment/labor, insurance, intellectual property (trademark & copyright), securities/financial services and trade secret matters. He will serve as an arbitrator, mediator, special discovery master and oversee mock trials and corporate investigations.
Judge Droney served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 2011 to 2019. Prior to his time on the Court of Appeals, he served as a United States District Judge for the District of Connecticut for 14 years. Before that, he was a United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut from 1993 to 1997.
Judge Droney published a number of opinions for the Second Circuit and the District Court on issues such as intellectual property, commercial litigation, insurance, real property disputes, ERISA, pensions, credit reporting law, RICO, antitrust, patents, False Claims Act, securities, class actions, employment discrimination, labor law, environmental law, as well as criminal and constitutional law.
Judge Droney earned his B.A. from College of the Holy Cross (magna cum laude) and his law degree fromUniversity of Connecticut School of Law.
Retired Federal Judge Allyson K. Duncan Joins FedArb
January 13, 2020
FedArb is thrilled to announce that Hon. Allyson K. Duncan (Ret.) has joined the panel. She will be based in North Carolina and specialize in resolving disputes related to antitrust, appellate, bankruptcy/restructuring, civil rights, contracts, employment/labor, environmental/CERCLA, healthcare, intellectual property (trademark & copyright), international arbitration, oil, gas, energy and water, pharmaceuticals, product liability, regulatory compliance, securities/financial services, telecommunication and trade secret matters.
Judge Duncan was the first African American woman to serve on the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, as well as on the North Carolina Court of Appeals. She served on the Fourth Circuit for 16 years writing opinions on numerous issues.
Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Duncan was a partner at Kilpatrick Stockton and worked in the employment and regulatory groups. Previously she served a term on the North Carolina Utilities Commission, which regulates energy, natural gas, telecommunications, water utilities and represented a number of entities ranging from transmission companies to municipal gas utilities and incumbent local exchange carriers. Her labor and employment expertise derives from serving with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, first as appellate attorney arguing Title VII and other federal anti-discrimination cases in the federal courts, and ultimately as the agency’s Legal Counsel, representing it in defensive litigation, and developing and revising agency guidelines, such as its guidelines on sexual harassment.
Judge Duncan earned her law degree from Duke University School of Law.
Former CPR President Noah Hanft, Esq. Joins FedArb
November 22, 2019
FedArb is thrilled to announce that Noah Hanft, Esq. has joined its panel and will be based in New York. He will specialize in resolving antitrust, civil rights, construction, contracts, employment/labor, insurance/reinsurance, intellectual property, real estate and securities disputes.
Mr. Hanft is the former president and CEO of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR). Mr. Hanft spent most of his professional career at MasterCard Worldwide in a variety of legal and business roles. Between 2001 and 2014, he was general counsel and chief franchise officer for MasterCard, where he was responsible for overseeing legal and regulatory affairs, public policy and compliance.
He serves as both an arbitrator and mediator and consults with companies on dispute resolution and litigation settlement strategy.
Mr. Hanft earned his LL.M. from New York University School of Law, his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School and his B.A. from American University.
Retired U.S. District Judge Hon. William S. Duffey Joins FedArb
November 21, 2019
FedArb is thrilled to announce that Hon. William S. Duffey (Ret.) has joined the panel as arbitrator, mediator and special discovery master and will be based in Atlanta, Ga. He will focus on resolving antitrust, attorney fee/malpractice, banking/lender liability, civil rights, contracts, Corporate investigations/white collar, e-discovery, employment/labor, environmental/CERCLA, insurance/reinsurance, intellectual property (trademark & copyright), MDL, patent, product liability, real estate, RICO/ERISA, securities/financial services and trade secret disputes.
Hon. William S. Duffey, Jr., was a United States District Judge who served for 14 years in the Northern District of Georgia, in Atlanta. Before assuming the bench in 2004, Mr. Duffey served as the United States Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia.
Previously Mr. Duffey was a partner at King & Spalding in Atlanta. He was a member of the firm’s Special Matters and Commercial Litigation groups and specialized in complex commercial, banking and government fraud, trade secret and product liability matters.
Judge Duffey earned his B.A. from Drake University and his J.D. from University of South Carolina School of Law.
Retired Federal Chief Judge Donald Black Joins FedArb
October 30, 2019
FedArb is thrilled to announce that Hon. Donald Black (Ret.) has joined the panel. He will be based in California and specialize in appellate, attorney fee/malpractice, business/commercial, civil rights, employment/labor, product liability, real estate and securities/financial service disputes.
Judge Black served for more than 20 years on the Fresno County Superior Court. He was a founding member of Fresno’s direct calendar unlimited civil division, beginning in 2003 and serving in that assignment until his retirement. He was also a member of the Fresno Superior Court Appellate Division and during the last 10 years was the Appellate Division Presiding Judge. Judge Black participated in hundreds of appeals and wrote hundreds of appellate decisions.
He managed a wide variety of cases from the pleading stage of the case through trial. At any given time, Judge Black was responsible for 800 to 1,200 unlimited civil cases. Over the years Judge Black conducted hundreds of law and motion proceedings and settlement conferences and tried hundreds of jury and bench trials.
Judge Black graduated with his A.B. from Middlebury College and earned his J.D. from Santa Clara School of Law.
Retired Federal Chief Judge Ruben Castillo Joins FedArb
October 1, 2019
FedArb is thrilled to announce that Hon. Ruben Castillo (Ret.) has joined the panel. He will be based in Chicago, New York and Miami.
Judge Castillo served as the chief judge of the Northern District of Illinois from 2013 until 2019. He was also the first Latino federal judge in Illinois. He will specialize in Business/Commercial, Class Actions, Commercial Litigation, Corporate Compliance, Employment/Labor, Internal Investigations and Insurance/Reinsurance disputes.
Prior to serving on the bench, Castillo was regional counsel to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. He also practiced in private law for two law firms in Chicago and served as Assistant United States Attorney in the Special Criminal Prosecutions Division for the United States Attorney’s Office – Northern District of Illinois.
Judge Castillo earned his B.A. from Loyola University Chicago and his law degree from Northwestern University School of Law.
FedArb Updates Arbitration Rules
August 27, 2019
FedArb, one of the country’s leading ADR providers, announced today that it has revised and updated its arbitration rules to reflect best practices and critical success factors from hundreds of its own managed arbitrations and “best of” content from law conferences, professional associations and other arbitration groups.
“FedArb continues to listen closely to our clients while constantly reviewing best practices and success factors from a variety of sources, and these updated rules reflect these changes and observations,” said Abe Sofaer, chairman of FedArb. “The new rules are in keeping with our focus of making arbitrations more efficient, effective and a strong alternative to trials.”
Although practitioners will immediately be familiar with the framework and requirements due to their similarities to the arbitration rules of leading companies such as AAA and JAMS, FedArb’s new rules differ in three important ways.
The first is that the default procedures are the same used in the Federal Courts, which have been established and broadly accepted over time.
The second is that FedArb has implemented practices to prevent delays and unnecessary extensions to arbitrations.
“We know deadlines matter, and these updated rules prohibit arbitrators from seeking extensions directly from the parties,” said Kennen D. Hagen, president of FedArb. “Tribunals may only seek an extension from FedArb, who will then contact the parties and communicate their decision back to the tribunal on a blind basis. This new process insulates the parties from possibly denying a tribunal’s request, which could be perceived to have adverse consequences.”
Third is a new process to protect the confidentiality of information in an arbitration. While arbitral proceedings are confidential, a lot of information that litigants want to protect often ends up in the award.
“In our effort to protect that confidentiality, FedArb has created a process that requires the panel to issue an award that includes enough information to enable enforcement and also a separate memorandum that contains the confidential details,” said Hagen. “We think our clients will appreciate this novel approach and it will help keep certain information confidential.”
The new rules also add important features and provisions, including:
- Streamlined Arbitration Option – provides parties the option of empowering the chair to rule on all discovery and at pre-hearing disputes, potentially reducing expenses and accelerating the timetable
- Option for Double Blind Process – allows that the wing arbitrators do not know which party selected them
- Detailed Interim Relief
- Force Ranked System of selecting one- or three-judge panels
- Provisions for an Appeal
- Expedited Disposition accelerates cases involving less than $2 million in controversy
- Fixed-Price Arbitration – streamlines the process so that the cost and duration of an arbitration is fixed at time of contracting or commencement of proceedings
- Guidelines for independent online research by arbitrators
- Improved Confidentiality – creation of a process that allows for the issuance of an Order (specifying just enough to enable international enforcement) and a separate memorandum (in which the confidential details are contained) .
FedArb derived the rule changes from its own observations and experiences, as well as a thorough examination of other sets of rules from providers like UNCITRAL, CPR, SIAC, JAMS, AAA, LCIA, and ICDR. FedArb’s new rules can be found at https://www.fedarb.com/rules/fedarb-rules/.
FedArb Announces that Lloyd’s Market Association New ADR Provision Requires the Chair to Be a Former Federal Court Judge
January 9, 2019
FedArb, a leading Alternative Dispute Resolution firm based in Palo Alto, announces that Lloyd’s has released a Model Arbitration Clause that Provides for Chairperson to be a Retired Federal Court Judge.
On December 20th, Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) published its model arbitration clause (LMA 5344) to its North America Casualty Reinsurance Business panel. FedArb worked with the LMA committee and with numerous brokers and insurers in drafting this model clause. As set forth in the LMA’s press release:
The clause outlines the process and timescales for the administration of alternative dispute resolution including arbitration. Included in the provisions is the requirement that, where an arbitration panel is required, it includes one arbitrator appointed by the reinsured and one arbitrator appointed by the reinsurer(s) (both of whom shall be active or retired officers of insurance or reinsurance companies or Lloyd’s syndicates with no less than ten years experience in the casualty insurance or reinsurance industry). The clause also provides that the third, independent, arbitrator shall be a retired federal court judge.
“Federal court judges are uniquely qualified to Chair arbitrations of complicated international reinsurance disputes,” said FedArb‘s CEO, Kennen D. Hagen. “We started FedArb ten years ago and have assembled a bench of over fifty former federal court judges nationwide–the largest such bench of any ADR provider.”
A copy of the model clause can be found on the NACRBP section of the LMA website as well as the Lloyd’s Wordings Repository.
FedArb Helps Drive International Arbitration in California
July 27, 2018
FedArb, a nation-wide provider of arbitration, mediation, and other services, notes that on July 18, 2018, Governor Brown signed into law SB 766, which allows non-California attorneys to appear in international arbitrations conducted in the State of California. As the Legislative Analyst explains:
This bill would permit an individual who is not admitted to practice law in California but who is a member in good standing of a recognized legal profession in the United States or a foreign jurisdiction and is subject to effective regulation and discipline by a duly constituted professional body or public authority to provide legal services in an international commercial
arbitration or related proceeding, as specified.
We extend our congratulations and thanks to California’s Supreme Court Chief Justice for having appointed a committee to draft and support this important change in the state’s arbitration practice. Daniel Kolkey, Esq. of Gibson Dunn chaired the committee and former federal district judge, Abraham D. Sofaer, Chairman of FedArb, served as a committee member.
This Bill removes an artificial barrier that resulted in many California based companies having to travel to places like Singapore, London and Hong Kong to arbitrate their disputes. “Allowing international practitioners to represent their client’s interests in California arbitrations will help Silicon Valley companies arbitrate their rights in California,” said Kennen Hagen President and CEO of FedArb.
Ninth Circuit Confirms FedArb’s Vaughn Walker’s Settlement in HP Autonomy Securities Derivative Litigation
December 12, 2017
Palo Alto, CA December 12, 2017. The Ninth Circuit issued a memorandum opinion affirming the settlement mediated by former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker of the Northern District of California. Click on this link for the opinion. The settlement arose out of a shareholder derivative action filed in federal court seeking to impose liability on HP’s directors for alleged breaches of the duties owed to shareholders.
The parties–after numerous sessions with former Judge Walker–ultimately agreed to a menu of corporate governance reforms but no monetary settlement. The district court rejected various objections to the settlement and accepted the release clauses after finding that the scope of liability had been “significantly and substantively narrowed.”
“Settling complicated civil litigation is never easy, especially when the stakes are high,” said Ken Hagen, CEO of FedArb. “Fortunately, the litigants in this matter had the expertise of Judge Walker, whose patience and tenacity as well as his mastery of the legal issues at stake, was able to produce a settlement that withstood objections by various of the litigants.”
FedArb Leads an Arbitration Panel at the 2017 ACC Annual Meeting
November 2, 2017
Federal Arbitration, Inc.’s General Counsel, Marian Scheuer, led a panel titled, “Can Arbitration Clauses Save Money?” at the 2017 Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Annual Meeting in Washington DC, Oct 15-18, 2017. The conference is the industry lodestar for in-house counsel, and is well attended by in-house counsel, law firms and contract service providers in the legal industry. The 2017 annual meeting had over 3500 participants. Click on this link for the checklist prepared for the presentation (session #603).
Ms. Scheuer was joined on the 90 minute program by Elizabeth Atlee, SVP & Deputy General Counsel – Global Litigation, CBRE, Inc., Ed Diggs, Senior Counsel and Manager of Claims – Oil, Gas and Chemical, Bechtel Corporation, and Michael Kortbawi, Partner, BSA Ahmad Bin Hazeem from Dubai.
Ken Hagen, President and CEO of FedArb, noted, “It is a vote of confidence in the quality of FedArb as an arbitration company when a global organization like the ACC invites one of our executives to lead a panel. Marian has helped FedArb develop both an outstanding roster of former federal judges, along with other specialized arbitrators, and an administrative team and case management system that attorneys have praised as highly responsive, effective and fair.”