Arbitration Today: Goals and Reality (Online Seminar)

A pre-recorded streaming video replay from the December 2016 webcast, Arbitration Today: Goals and Reality.

Cosponsored with the Virginia Bar Association-Virginia State Bar Joint Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee

ADR is fully accepted and embraced by almost all stakeholders as a meaningful and preferred alternative to litigation in the courts. Arbitration has been a significant option for parties with disputes, and has been adopted and required by a wide variety of employers, industries, and organizations, having grown from commercial and construction industry disputes to become more widely used in financial services, consumer claims of many types, and claims arising from the workplace. This growth has not been without issues, and the courts have reviewed challenges relating to enforceability, arbitrability, class actions, and other issues. Arbitration services are offered by a number of sponsoring and self-regulatory organizations. So how is it working? How can it work better? Where does it work best, and how and where can arbitration agreements be best implemented?

This seminar will survey the state of the art of arbitration, where it has been, where it can go, and the issues in between. Arbitration will be viewed in terms of how it works as an alternative to litigation, and how it works as a tool to manage risk and expense. These topics and perspectives will be of interest to employers, competitive businesses, and their in-house counsel, as well as the practicing bar, including those practicing in litigation, labor and employment, and commercial contracts.

Topics to be covered include:

• Major sponsoring organizations
• Types of cases, volume, trends
• Intended advantages v. actual
• Statutory basis and support; excluded cases
• Workplace/employer arbitration programs
• Class action waivers
• Basis of agreement; enforcement of the obligation
• Judicial construction; burdens
• Scope of the issues to be arbitrated; submission agreements
• Avoiding the arbitration obligation
• Court action pending arbitration
• Issues in the hearing; compelling third parties
• Differences in adjudication
• Types of remedies; enforcement
• Judicial review
• Judge Pro Tempore option and procedure
• Current cases, and pending legislation

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Hon. LeRoy F. Millette Jr., The McCammon Group / Richmond
After having served as a member of the Virginia judiciary at every level, most recently as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia, Justice Millette has been actively engaged in providing mediation, arbitration, judge pro tempore, and special master with the McCammon Group, a leading provider of these services in the mid-Atlantic region.

James C. Cosby, Vandeventer Black LLP / Richmond
A litigation partner with Vandeventer Black LLP in its Richmond office, James Cosby has represented clients in hundreds of arbitrations across the U.S., in disputes ranging from financial services, investment banking, construction and development, consumer claims, professional liability, and employment matters arising from a wide variety of industries.  He also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Richmond School of Law.

Bradfute W. Davenport Jr., Troutman Sanders / Richmond
Brad Davenport is a partner in the Business Litigation practice with extensive experience in a wide variety of cases throughout Virginia and neighboring states. For 44 years, Mr. Davenport has participated in many arbitrations, as sole arbitrator, as a panelist, and as counsel. The subject matters have included construction and commercial and business disputes, some of which have been “bet-the-company” arbitrations. They have been self-administered as well as before the American Arbitration Association, JAMS-Endispute, the CPR Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, and the McCammon Group.

Robert W. Loftin, McGuire Woods / Richmond
Robert Loftin is Senior Counsel at McGuireWoods in Richmond. His practice includes all aspects of state and federal civil litigation at the trial and appellate levels, as well as conducting internal investigations and representing clients who are being investigated by federal or state agencies.  In his work, Mr. Loftin represents clients in court-ordered, contractual, and voluntary arbitration and mediation proceedings.

David E. Nagle, Jackson Lewis / Richmond
David Nagle has represented and counseled employers in labor and employment law cases for 35 years, and is a partner with Jackson Lewis, a national workplace law firm.  He has experience developing, implementing, and enforcing arbitration programs, and argued Circuit City Stores v. Adams, the case in which the Supreme Court held that the FAA could be utilized to enforce arbitration agreements in the workplace.  He teaches Labor Law at the University of Virginia as an adjunct faculty member, and is a member of the AAA Panel of Arbitrators (Employment).