Display event - Show & Tell: Using Data to Increase Diversity in ADR

This webinar is FREE for DRI members and non-members

Despite long standing discussion about how to increase diversity in the ranks of neutrals, there is an absence of quantifiable data about the demographics profile of mediators and arbitrators chosen by insurers and lawyers. The absence of this critical data point makes increasing diversity and inclusiveness amongst mediators and arbitrators difficult. Most everyone agrees there needs to be more diversity, but we lack data to measure the problem and any progress we hope to make. DRI’s initiative seeks to increase the appointment of mediators and arbitrators in underrepresented demographic categories. The increased appointments are measured by the creation of and use of quantitative data to set milestones for insurers’, affinity bar associations’, and lawyers’ journeys in learning about how to design opportunities for mediator and arbitrators who are not members of a candidates’ pool for mediators and arbitrators, whose membership is dependent upon prior experiences with insurers and lawyers. Lack of experiences with insurers and lawyers can be barriers to mediators and arbitrators without opportunities for these experiences.

Join us as we talk with world renowned alternative dispute resolution expert, Kenneth R. Feinberg, former Special Master of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, as he discusses lessons learned about voice and cultural considerations through his practice as a distinguished neutral.

Then hear from Chris Kwok, JAMS Mediator, Arbitrator, Referee/Special Master, Hearing Officer, Tom Maroney, Partner, Maroney O’Connor LLP, Chair, DRI’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee and Maria Volpe, Professor of Sociology, Director of the Dispute Resolution Program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice - City University of New York, and Director of the CUNY Dispute Resolution Center and Dean Martinez, CEO of DRI about this initiative.

Finally, engage in a lively discussion with our panel of experts as we have a facilitated dialog about this initiative and the importance of growing the diversity of perspective, experience, and voice in alternative dispute resolution. This esteemed group is sure to bring value to how you consider and make neutral selections in your practice.

Presenters:
Opening Remarks
Douglas Burrell, Partner, Drew, Eckl, & Farnham LLP and DRI’s President-Elect

Introduction of Keynote Speaker
Krista Glenn, Chief Claims Officer, IAT Insurance Group

Lessons Learned About Voice and Cultural Considerations
Kenneth R. Feinberg is one of the nation’s leading experts in alternative dispute resolution, having served as Special Master of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, the Department of Justice Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund, the Department of the Treasury’s TARP Executive Compensation Program and the Treasury’s Private Multiemployer Pension Reform program. He was also Special Settlement Master of the Agent Orange Victim Compensation Program. In 2010, Mr. Feinberg was appointed by the Obama Administration to oversee compensation of victims of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Most recently, he has served as Administrator of the New York State Dioceses’ Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Funds (along with dioceses in four other states), the One Orlando Fund, the GM Ignition Switch Compensation Program, and the One Fund Boston Compensation Program arising out of the Boston Marathon bombings. He was the Court-appointed Settlement Master in the Ford/Chrysler Diesel Emissions class action litigation in San Francisco and serves in a similar capacity in the Monsanto Roundup mass tort litigation. He has been appointed mediator and arbitrator in thousands of complex disputes over the past 35 years.

Mr. Feinberg was appointed in June of 2007 as the Distribution Agent in In Re: United States Securities and Exchange Commission v. American International Group, Inc., responsible for the design and implementation of a Plan for the distribution of a Fair Fund settlement of $800 million to eligible claimants. He has also served as Fund Administrator in other prominent settlements including In Re: United States of America v. Computer Associates International, Inc. (responsible for the design and administration of a $200 million fund); In Re: Zyprexa Product Liability Litigation (a $700 million settlement fund); and In Re: Latino Officers Association City of New York, Inc., et al., v. The City of New York, et al. (a $17 million settlement fund).

He was also one of three arbitrators selected in 1999 to determine the fair market value of the original Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination and was one of two arbitrators selected to determine the allocation of legal fees in the Holocaust slave labor litigation.

Mr. Feinberg received his B.A. cum laude from the University of Massachusetts in 1967 and his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1970, where he was Articles Editor of the Law Review. He was a Law Clerk for Chief Judge Stanley H. Fuld, New York State Court of Appeals from 1970 to 1972; Assistant United States Attorney, Southern District of New York from 1972 to 1975; Special Counsel, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary from 1975 to 1978; Chief of Staff to Senator Edward M. Kennedy from 1978 to 1980, Partner at Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler from 1980 to 1993; and founded The Feinberg Group, LLP in 1993. Mr. Feinberg has been a Court-Appointed Special Settlement Master, mediator and arbitrator in thousands of disputes.

Mr. Feinberg was a member of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Human Radiation Experiments from 1994 to 1998; the Presidential Commission on Catastrophic Nuclear Accidents from 1989 to 1990 and the Carnegie Commission Task Force on Science and Technology in Judicial and Regulatory Decision Making from 1989 to 1993. He previously chaired the American Bar Association Special Committee on Mass Torts from 1988 to 1989. He is also a national arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association.

Mr. Feinberg serves on the RAND Corporation’s Board of Trustees and is also the former president of the Washington National Opera.

He has had a distinguished teaching career as Adjunct Professor of Law at Harvard, Georgetown, The University of Pennsylvania, New York University, the University of Virginia, and Columbia. He has also taught as a visiting lecturer at various other law schools, including UCLA, Vanderbilt, Duke and New York Law School.

Mr. Feinberg was designated “Lawyer of the Year” by the National Law Journal (December 2004). He is listed in “Profiles in Power: The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” (National Law Journal, May 2, 1988; March 25, 1991; April 4, 1994; June 12, 2000; June 19, 2006). He is the author of numerous articles and essays on mediation, mass torts and other matters and is the author of two books: What is Life Worth? The Unprecedented Effort to Compensate the Victims of 9/11 (Public Affairs 2005); Who Gets What: Fair Compensation After Tragedy and Financial Upheaval (Public Affairs 2012).

Mr. Feinberg’s book detailing his work as Special Master of the September 11 Fund has been the subject of a major motion picture (to be released in on Netflix beginning September 3, 2021). He is also the subject of a movie documentary, “Playing God,” released in 2018.

• Chris Kwok, JAMS Mediator, Arbitrator, Referee/Special Master, Hearing Officer
• Tom Maroney, Partner, Maroney O’Connor LLP, Chair, DRI’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee
• Maria Volpe, Professor of Sociology, Director of the Dispute Resolution Program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice - City University of New York, and Director of the CUNY Dispute Resolution Center
• Dean Martinez, CEO, DRI

• Rebekah Ratliff, JAMS Mediator, Arbitrator and Neutral Evaluator

• Michael Zeoli, AVP, Litigation & Vendor Management, IAT Insurance Group
• Joshua Schwartz, Director of Reinsurance Litigation, Chubb
• Gwen Larkin, J.D., Claims Technical Director, American Family Insurance
• Christine Renella, Partner, Zelle Property Insurance Practice Group and Managing Partner of Zelle’s Miami Office
• Kenneth Feinberg

Closing Remarks
Douglas Burrell, Partner, Drew, Eckl, & Farnham LLP and DRI’s President-Elect

Thank you to DRI's Webinar Partners

The Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) is an incorporated, not-for-profit, national membership association that represents the interests of over 65,000 Hispanic attorneys, judges, law professors, legal assistants, law students, and legal professionals in the United States and its territories. Since 1972, the HNBA has acted as a force for positive change within the legal profession by creating opportunities for Hispanic lawyers and by helping generations of lawyers to succeed. The HNBA has also effectively advocated on issues of importance to the national Hispanic community. While we are proud of our accomplishments, we are mindful that our mission is as vital today as it was nearly five decades ago, especially as the U.S. Hispanic population continues to grow.

NAPABA is the nation's largest Asian Pacific American membership organization representing the interest of 60,000 attorneys, judges, law professors, and law students.

• We are the national voice for the Asian Pacific American legal profession.
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The National Bar Association was founded in 1925 and is the nation's oldest and largest national network of predominantly African-American attorneys and judges. It represents the interests of approximately 66,000 lawyers, judges, law professors, and law students. The NBA is proud of its Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, which is comprised of diverse highly trained, skilled and experienced Mediators and Arbitrators. We have years of experience in the full spectrum of practice areas. A number of our members belong to our certified Panels of Arbitrators and Mediators.