Commercial Arbitration
What is it?
Commercial arbitration is a private, binding alternative to litigation that many business contracts require, and it moves differently than court proceedings in ways that significantly affect how cases need to be prepared and presented. The procedural framework of arbitration is more flexible than civil litigation but also less predictable, with arbitrators who bring their own approaches to discovery, briefing, and the conduct of hearings that differ from the rules that govern federal and state court proceedings. The absence of a jury, the limited appellate review available for arbitration awards, and the compressed timelines that many arbitration proceedings involve all shape the strategy in ways that require experience with the arbitration process specifically, not just with litigation generally.
The finality of arbitration is both its most significant advantage and its most significant risk. A well-prepared party that obtains a favorable arbitration award has a binding resolution that is extremely difficult to overturn on appeal. A poorly prepared party that receives an unfavorable award has very limited options for seeking relief, because the grounds on which arbitration awards can be vacated are narrow and courts apply them strictly. The stakes of getting arbitration preparation right are at least as high as the stakes of litigation preparation, and in some respects higher.
How we can help:
We represent clients in commercial arbitration before the American Arbitration Association, JAMS, and other arbitration forums, bringing the same preparation and advocacy to the arbitration room that we bring to the courtroom. That means understanding the specific rules and procedures of the forum, selecting arbitrators strategically when the process allows for party input, developing the discovery and briefing strategy that fits the specific arbitration framework, and presenting the case with the clarity and force that persuades arbitrators who are experienced business and legal professionals rather than lay jurors.
We also advise clients at the contract drafting stage on arbitration clauses that are well-designed for the type of disputes likely to arise under the agreement, because a poorly drafted arbitration clause can create procedural complications that affect how disputes are resolved before the merits are ever reached.
Construction Arbitration
What is it?
Most construction contracts require disputes to be resolved through arbitration, and the American Arbitration Association’s Construction Industry Arbitration Rules govern a significant percentage of those proceedings. Construction arbitration involves technical issues, significant documentation, and the need for attorneys who understand how construction projects actually work, not just how the contracts that govern them are written. The factual complexity of construction disputes, including questions about project schedules, critical path analysis, the causes of delays and defects, and the proper measurement of damages, requires a level of technical engagement that goes beyond the legal framework and into the substance of how construction projects are planned, managed, and built.
Construction arbitration also tends to be document intensive in ways that require careful management to present effectively. Project records, daily logs, RFI responses, change order documentation, schedule updates, and correspondence between the parties can run to hundreds of thousands of pages in a significant construction dispute, and presenting that record to an arbitration panel in a way that supports a clear and compelling narrative requires both organizational discipline and a thorough understanding of which documents matter most and why.
How we can help:
We represent contractors, subcontractors, and project owners in construction arbitration, building cases that address the technical and legal dimensions of these disputes with equal rigor. That means working with scheduling experts, construction defect experts, and damages analysts who can address the technical issues at the level of sophistication that construction arbitration panels expect, while building the legal framework that presents the overall case in the most coherent and persuasive way.
We approach construction arbitration with the same preparation and thoroughness that we bring to construction litigation in court, because the stakes are the same and the quality of the preparation determines the outcome in both forums. For clients who are new to arbitration, we explain the process clearly and make sure they understand how the proceedings will unfold and what role they will play in them.
Employment Arbitration
What is it?
Many employment agreements require disputes to be resolved through arbitration rather than in court, and the employment arbitration landscape has evolved significantly in recent years as courts, legislatures, and regulators have wrestled with the appropriate scope of mandatory arbitration in the employment context. The statutory limitations on arbitration of certain employment claims, the procedural protections that some arbitration agreements provide and others don’t, and the ongoing legal developments around class and collective action waivers in employment arbitration all affect how these proceedings are structured and what strategies are available to each side.
Employment arbitration carries the same substantive stakes as employment litigation in court, including the potential for significant damages awards in discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, and wage and hour cases, but the different procedural framework changes how cases need to be prepared and presented. The more limited discovery available in arbitration, the arbitrator’s discretion in managing the proceedings, and the compressed timeline that many employment arbitration agreements require all shape the strategy in ways that require experience with employment arbitration specifically.
How we can help:
We represent employers and employees in employment arbitration, bringing the preparation and advocacy these proceedings demand to every matter we handle. For employers, that means defending against claims in a forum that often moves faster than court litigation while building the factual record that supports the employer’s position on the merits. For employees, it means navigating the procedural constraints of arbitration in a way that preserves the ability to present a full and compelling case on the substantive claims.
We also advise employers on the drafting of arbitration clauses in employment agreements, helping them build provisions that are enforceable, that provide fair procedures for both parties, and that are designed to survive the legal challenges that overbroad or procedurally deficient arbitration clauses increasingly face.
Arbitration Award Enforcement
What is it?
Winning an arbitration is only the first step. When the losing party refuses to comply with an award, or when the award needs to be reduced to a court judgment to be enforceable against the losing party’s assets, court intervention becomes necessary to give the award the legal force it needs to actually deliver the relief it granted. The Federal Arbitration Act and its state law equivalents provide the framework for confirming arbitration awards in court, but the process involves its own procedural requirements and potential defenses that need to be navigated correctly to obtain a judgment that can be enforced through the same collection mechanisms available for any other court judgment.
The enforcement process also needs to account for the possibility that the losing party will oppose confirmation by raising one of the limited grounds for vacating or modifying an award that the applicable arbitration statute permits. Anticipating those arguments and building the record that defeats them is part of effective enforcement strategy, because an enforcement proceeding that turns into a contested vacatur motion requires a different level of preparation than a straightforward confirmation petition.
How we can help:
We pursue arbitration award enforcement in court when the losing party refuses to comply, moving efficiently through the confirmation process and managing the arguments the opposing party is most likely to raise. That means filing the confirmation petition in the correct court with the documentation the applicable statute requires, opposing any vacatur or modification motion with the legal arguments that address the specific grounds the opposing party raises, and obtaining a court judgment that gives our client the full benefit of the arbitration award they earned.
When a confirmed award needs to be collected against a party that is resisting payment, we pursue the judgment collection process with the same efficiency and persistence that we bring to the enforcement proceeding itself, because the value of an arbitration award depends ultimately on the ability to actually collect it.
Arbitration Award Challenges
What is it?
Arbitration awards can be challenged in court, but the grounds on which they can be vacated are narrow and courts apply them strictly, reflecting the strong federal and state policy in favor of finality in arbitration. The Federal Arbitration Act permits vacatur of an arbitration award on grounds including corruption or fraud in the arbitration proceeding, evident partiality or corruption by an arbitrator, the arbitrators’ refusal to hear pertinent evidence, and the arbitrators exceeding their powers. Manifest disregard of the law is recognized as an additional ground in some jurisdictions, though its scope and availability continue to be contested.
What the grounds for vacatur do not include is a belief that the arbitrators reached the wrong result on the merits, applied the law incorrectly in a way that affected the outcome, or weighed the evidence differently than a court would have. The finality of arbitration means that losing parties who simply disagree with the result have very limited options, and a challenge that doesn’t fit within the recognized grounds for vacatur will be denied regardless of how strongly the losing party believes the award was wrong.
How we can help:
We advise clients on the viability of arbitration award challenges with the honest assessment these situations require, because a challenge that doesn’t have a genuine legal basis wastes resources and delays the inevitable while the other party collects interest on the award. When a viable ground for challenge exists, we pursue it with the rigor and preparation that the narrow window for vacatur demands, building the legal and factual record that supports the specific ground being asserted and presenting it to the court with the clarity and precision that gives the challenge the best available chance of success.
For clients on the other side of an arbitration award challenge, we oppose vacatur motions by establishing that the award falls within the broad discretion that arbitrators are entitled to exercise and that the specific grounds the challenging party has asserted are not supported by the record or the applicable legal standards. The finality of an arbitration award that our client has earned is worth defending with the same preparation and conviction we bring to every other matter.