Arbitration, mediation, and alternative dispute resolution for complex commercial matters. These routes avoid the time, expense, and uncertainty of a public trial while preserving the business relationships worth keeping.
An arbitration clause is enforced as written, which is the whole point and the whole risk. A court asked to stay a suit on an arbitrable claim must stay it rather than dismiss it, a party has three months from the award to move to vacate and a year to move to confirm, and once confirmed the award is a judgment like any other.
The parties pay the tribunal and the institution's fee scales with the amount claimed, so arbitration is not cheap; it is faster, mainly because there is no appeal on the law. The ICC gives a tribunal six months from the terms of reference to render its award, extendable and routinely extended; the AAA commercial rules give 30 days from the close of the hearing.
We draft the clauses, seat the tribunals and try the hearings, and we collect the awards: a New York Convention award can be confirmed in federal court for three years and recognized in some 170 states, while no treaty binds a foreign court to honor an American judgment. In mediation we prepare the client for the number, not the speech.
Representation in arbitration before the relevant forum. We present the case, manage the proceeding, and advocate for a favorable award through a process that is typically faster and more private than open-court litigation.
Representation in mediation and facilitated negotiation, where a neutral helps the parties reach a voluntary settlement that protects the rights and interests of everyone involved.
Drafting and reviewing arbitration and ADR clauses with the downstream dispute in mind, fixing forum, governing rules, seat, and procedure so the framework works in your favor if a conflict ever arises.
Early assessment of a dispute and planning to hold down cost and exposure, weighing arbitration, mediation, conciliation, and litigation to choose the path that fits the matter and your objectives.
Settlement timed to the record: offers made once the written case is on the table, terms reduced to a signed sheet before the session ends, and a consent award or stipulated dismissal drafted so the deal can be enforced like any other judgment.
Coordination of ADR with any related court proceedings, discovery, and enforcement, so the strategy stays coherent when a dispute moves between forums and an award or settlement is preserved once reached.
A court decides whether a dispute is arbitrable unless the clause delegates that question to the arbitrator clearly and unmistakably, and most courts treat incorporating the AAA or JAMS rules as doing exactly that. Once delegated, even a weak arbitrability argument goes to the tribunal, however groundless a court thinks it.
The seat fixes which courts supervise the arbitration and hear any application to set the award aside, and which arbitration law fills gaps in the rules. A clause naming a city for hearings but no seat has made that choice by accident.
The hearing is closed, but under most American institutional rules the duty of confidentiality binds the arbitrator rather than the parties. Party confidentiality must be written into the clause or a procedural order, and the award becomes a public court record once a party moves to confirm it, unless sealed.
Section 10 of the Federal Arbitration Act lets a court vacate an award only for a corrupt or evidently partial tribunal, a hearing that refused material evidence, or arbitrators who exceeded their powers, and the parties cannot contract for broader review. An honest error of law is not a ground.
The major rules let a party reach an emergency arbitrator within days, before the tribunal exists, for a freeze or preservation order. They bind only the parties. A bank or registrar holding the asset answers to a court, so the clause should keep court relief available.
Document exchange runs on narrow requests, usually tabled in a Redfern schedule under the IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence, and depositions are rare unless the parties agree. A party needing broad discovery to prove its case should prefer court, and know it before signing.
The dispute-resolution clause is read the way a tribunal will read it: seat, governing rules, arbitrability, and any escalation steps. We serve or answer the notice of arbitration, weigh emergency-arbitrator or interim court relief, and move to compel or resist arbitration where a counterparty tries to litigate around the agreement.
Arbitrator selection is the single most consequential advocacy decision in the case. We vet candidates for conflicts, subject-matter depth, and award history, negotiate the chair, then shape the procedural order at the first case-management conference, covering document-exchange scope, hearing calendar, and confidentiality terms.
Written phases run on the tribunal's calendar: memorials, targeted document production, witness statements, and expert reports, culminating in an evidentiary hearing measured in days rather than years. Throughout, we hold a mediation window open, because many matters settle once each side's written case is on the table.
A final award ends the merits but leaves the matter open. We brief post-award interest and costs, defend the award against vacatur or set-aside at the seat, and convert it into money through confirmation in U.S. court or recognition abroad under the New York Convention, then collection against assets.
The arbitration that goes well was drafted years before anyone was angry.
Arbitration is private adjudication: the parties choose the decision-makers, the award binds them, a court converts it into a judgment on a motion to confirm, and review is limited to the four narrow grounds in the Federal Arbitration Act, so an error of law is not corrected on appeal. Mediation is a negotiation run by a neutral who has no power to decide anything; it binds no one until a settlement is signed, and what is said in the room is privileged in Illinois under the Uniform Mediation Act. Litigation is public, comes with full discovery and an appeal of right, and runs on the court's calendar rather than the parties'.
Arbitration makes more sense when the counterparty is abroad, because an award travels under the New York Convention and an American judgment does not; when the dispute is technical enough that choosing the decision-maker matters more than the right to appeal; and when confidentiality has been written into the clause rather than assumed. It makes less sense when the case needs broad discovery or third-party witnesses, since an arbitrator's subpoena power is limited, when a preliminary injunction against a non-party is likely, or when the client wants a published ruling that governs the next ten contracts. The choice is made at drafting, which is where we would like to be consulted.
Yes, and that is its design. The mediator has no authority to decide; the parties settle or they do not. What makes it work is structure: a decision-maker with authority in the room, a window chosen after the documents are exchanged but before the expert fees are spent, and a term sheet signed before anyone leaves, because an agreement in principle is not an agreement. Mediation communications are privileged under the Illinois Uniform Mediation Act and inadmissible to prove liability under Federal Rule of Evidence 408, so a candid offer costs nothing at trial. Many clauses now make mediation a condition precedent to arbitration, with a deadline so it cannot be used for delay.
Usually, and in more detail than most clauses realize. A complete clause names the seat, the institution and the number of arbitrators, states who decides arbitrability, and carves out the right to seek interim relief in court. It also says whether the arbitrator may award fees, whether class or consolidated proceedings are permitted, and whether the proceedings are confidential, since none of those follows by default. Where two related contracts contain different dispute clauses, a court decides which one governs before anyone is compelled anywhere. When the clause was drafted years ago by people who never expected to need it, the first step is finding out what it actually says.
Mostly through the clause's architecture rather than its spirit. A tiered clause sends the dispute first to senior executives who were not involved in it, then to mediation, then to arbitration, each step with a deadline measured in weeks, because a negotiation step with no deadline becomes a tool for delay. Confidentiality keeps the dispute out of the trade press and the customer's inbox. An arbitrator with industry experience can be asked to decide a pricing or specification dispute while the contract keeps running, and the parties can agree that the loser pays, which concentrates minds. None of this works if the clause is boilerplate; it has to be built for the relationship it is meant to protect.
It begins with the clause at the deal stage, where most of the outcome is set. When a counterparty files in the wrong forum, we move to compel or resist arbitration and handle the stay that follows. We select the tribunal, including conflict checks on the candidates and the negotiation over the chair, and we run the written phases, the hearing and the mediation window during it. After the award we move to confirm, within a year under the Federal Arbitration Act or three for an award under the New York Convention, defend any motion to vacate, which must be served within three months, and enforce against assets here or abroad through the firm's partner network of locally admitted counsel. One partner is accountable for the whole of it.
Trial advocacy for complex business disputes, contract breaches, and commercial conflicts in state and federal courts, with deliberate handling when a matter must be tried.
Explore →Representation in futures, commodities, and derivatives disputes, including matters involving brokers, trading conduct, and proceedings before the CFTC.
Explore →Protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, trade secrets, and proprietary information through litigation and dispute resolution.
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Explore →Reviewed by Jonathan D. Herpy, Sr., Senior Partner · Last updated October 2026 · Educational overview · Not legal advice
One partner is accountable for the whole matter, and you have that partner's direct line. Chicago, London, and Dubai work to the same standard.