JAMS Wraps Up First Annual Arbitration Week

School might be out, but education is still in full swing at JAMS, which recently held five days of workshops, panels and receptions all focused exclusively on arbitration.

The nationwide event, known as Arbitration Week, was a learning experience for everyone involved.

Expert JAMS panelists and outside speakers engaged at-capacity rooms of attendees with presentations on drafting effective arbitration clauses, navigating the arbitration process and controlling costs along the way.

Hundreds of attendees interacted with the speakers with questions and comments about their experiences with arbitration.

The talks provided an interactive forum where audience members picked up suggestions on making the process work better for them and their clients.

In turn, presenters heard outside attorneys’ and in house counsels’ experiences—positive or otherwise— with arbitration.

Following the workshops, attendees consistently remarked that the panelists were “very knowledgeable” and the information presented was “down-to-earth, practical advice.”

Other participants said that the in-depth presentations given by experts in the field further showed that JAMS is at the forefront of the practice of arbitration.

Leading up to and following the week’s events, a number of JAMS speakers also published articles on arbitration: Alexander Polsky wrote an article for Law360 that offered arbitration tips to lawyers, and Michael Timpane wrote for The Recorder a defense of the criticisms against commercial arbitration.

One of the most important lessons for the entire company was the importance of listening to clients’ concerns and being able to address them in an open forum.

Arbitration Week provided an opportunity for JAMS to do just that.

“It is so clear that you are all genuinely working to make the legal process better and appropriately transparent,” said one participant, a partner with a global law firm who also said that doing so is a difficult balancing act.

“Thank you for taking the time,” the partner added, “for appreciating the quandaries we face as advocators.”