Cliff Bloomfield is a neutral at JAMS, where he also serves on the National Arbitration Committee, among other responsibilities. He is an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law teaching arbitration law and practice.

Mr. Bloomfield started his legal career as a litigator at both large and boutique law firms, representing clients in matters ranging from complex commercial disputes to personal injury cases. In 2009, Mr. Bloomfield began a clerkship at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York, which was followed by additional federal clerkships including at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Bloomfield then began working at JAMS in 2016 as an associate and law clerk. After starting his work as a panelist in 2021, he continues to work at JAMS and to work with some of JAMS’ top arbitrators, helping to draft awards and orders and assisting with case management issues, while also serving as a resource on federal and state arbitration law, arbitrator provider rules, and best practices. Mr. Bloomfield also takes part in internal training programs for arbitrators. In addition, he was the project attorney for the New York City Stop & Frisk Joint Remedial Process. This extensive legal experience has served him well as a JAMS neutral.

Mr. Bloomfield has presented on and written a number of articles on arbitration law, including two chapters in the Practicing Law Institute’s Arbitrating Commercial Disputes in the United States. Thorough, patient and pragmatic, he is known for his ability to cut through extraneous matters and zero in on the truly determinative issues in his quest to ensure the fair and efficient resolution of disputes where all parties are heard, understood, and treated respectfully.

A hallmark of Mr. Bloomfield’s work is his ability to craft nuanced awards that guide the parties with clear and concise explanations of his rulings.

Representative Matters

• Bankruptcy
• As a litigator, represented secured lender in adversary proceeding
• As a law clerk in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Eastern District of New York, reviewed and analyzed legal and factual issues in business and consumer bankruptcy proceedings, and drafted decisions, bench memoranda, and orders on topics such as:
• Chapter 11 plan confirmation, including feasibility, cramdown, and the absolute priority rule;
• Asset sales under section 363, including the interplay between the Bankruptcy Code and the Tax Injunction Act; and
• Enforceability of prepayment consideration clauses; the use of cash collateral when the lender holds an absolute assignment of rents; the impact of post-petition payments on the secured status of a creditor; and the enforceability of a guarantee entered into by a debtor’s principals
• Provided information to pro se parties in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of New York’s Office of the Pro Se Law Clerk
• As a law clerk in the U.S. District Court in the Sothern District of New York under Judge Shira A. Scheindlin, drafted opinions on Bankruptcy topics such as the constitutional limits of bankruptcy court authority, mandatory abstention, customer status under the Securities Investor Protection Act, claim subordination under section 510(b), discharging claims in chapter 11, and denial of discharge under section 727
• Business/Commercial/Antitrust
• Arbitrated and rendered an award in a dispute over the allocation of shares in certain limited liability companies; the parties waived a hearing and proceeded on the papers
• Arbitrated and rendered awards in several matters involving breach of business loan agreements secured by personal guarantees following virtual hearings
• Arbitrated and rendered an award in a consumer matter involving retaliation claims by credit card holder under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and state consumer protection statutes following in-person hearing
• Arbitrated several matters involving auto loans and rendered awards following virtual hearings
• Served as arbitrator in several matters involving alleged damage to roof due to faulty solar panel installation (handled cases through discovery motion practice before settlement)
• Served as arbitrator and rendered award in consumer protection claim brought under Virginia law following in-person hearing
• As a litigator, argued and served as lead trial attorney in complex commercial dispute involving the failure of a business due to usurious loans
• As a litigator, defended bank and securities firm in suits by insurance companies that lost substantial capital in an infamous Ponzi scheme
• As a litigator, represented credit card association in antitrust class action relating to interchange rates
• As a litigator, defended credit card association against multiple consumer antitrust class actions under state law
• As a litigator, handled FTC and DOJ second requests
• As a litigator, supervised debt collection practices at law firm to ensure compliance with statutes and regulations, including the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Credit Reporting Act
• Served in an arbitration support role on disputes among members of an LLC, and disputes arising from mergers and other corporate transactions, the purchase of distressed assets, a putative art sale, a supply agreement, non-payment of a business loan, and an attorney fee-sharing agreement
• Served in an arbitration support role on several Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) claims
• As a law clerk, drafted decisions in dozens of complex commercial disputes
• Civil Rights/First Amendment/Libel
• As a litigator, drafted amicus curiae brief arguing that Georgia’s voter ID law was unconstitutional
• As a litigator, provided pre-publication legal advice to local newspapers as part of a “Libel Hotline”
• As a law clerk, drafted decisions in numerous civil rights cases
• Employment Law
• As a litigator, handled a breach of employment contract litigation brought by hedge fund’s former marketing director
• As a litigator, represented a client accused of violating federal employment laws such as ERISA and the WARN Act
• Served in an arbitration support role handing discrimination and wage claims, breach of a non-solicitation agreement and disputes arising under employment agreements, including entitlement to earnout payments and whether an employer was required to advance attorneys’ fees in a pending litigation
• Served, as part of UPENN’s Civil Practice Clinic, as co-lead counsel in an employment discrimination jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• As a law clerk, drafted a number of decisions in employment discrimination and related matters
• As a law clerk drafted decisions involving wage claims
• Intellectual Property/Life Sciences
• As a litigator, represented a pharmaceutical company in a breach of contract matter with a former researcher who alleged that the company misappropriated his intellectual property
• As a litigator, represented a watch company accused of trademark infringement
• As a litigator, represented a software developer alleged to have breached a covenant not to compete
• Served in an arbitration support role in a supply agreement dispute involving biopharmaceutical companies
• Served as a law clerk in multiple arbitrations involving biopharmaceutical companies concerning allegations under state and federal trade secret misappropriation law
• Relevant Clerkship Work
• Draft awards and orders addressing issues related to arbitrability, discovery, spoliation and sanctions, exclusion of evidence, privilege claims, expert witnesses, protocols for remote arbitration, summary disposition, liability and the award of attorneys’ fees and arbitration costs, confirming an arbitration award and enjoining or compelling arbitration
• Serve as a resource regarding federal and state arbitration law, ethics and the rules of arbitration providers
• Assisted discovery master with report and recommendation regarding privilege disputes in a multidistrict litigation
• Served as the project attorney for the New York City Stop & Frisk Joint Remedial Process
• Drafted policy memorandum regarding remote arbitration
• Securities
• As a litigator, handled securities fraud cases arising under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
• As a litigator, handled regulatory inquiries
• Served in an arbitration support role handling “Blue Sky” claims arising under state law
• As a law clerk, drafted decisions involving class certification, materiality, loss causation and scienter (including securities fraud related to the publication of false London Interbank Offered Rates and the failure to disclose predatory practices in a dark pool trading platform), as well as application of the Trust Indenture Act to the removal of parent guarantees in suits brought by bondholders against firm
• Torts/Personal Injury
• As a litigator, served as lead counsel during discovery, during evidentiary hearings and at jury trials in personal injury cases, including medical malpractice and negligent supervision claims
• As a law clerk, drafted decisions involving claims under the Jones Act and the Death on the High Seas Act

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

Memberships and Affiliations

• Adjunct Professor, arbitration law and practice, Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law, 2022 – 2023
• Member, American Bar Association, Business Law Section, 2023
• Past Member, Election Law Committee, New York City Bar Association
• Past Member, International Law and Practice Section, New York Bar Association
• Past Member, Penn Advocates, University of Pennsylvania
• Past Board Member, Equal Justice Foundation, University of Pennsylvania

Bar Admissions

• New York, First Department, 2002
• U.S. District Courts, Southern District of New York and Eastern District of New York, 2005

Selected Publications

• “Arbitrating Commercial Disputes in the United States,” Chapter 3: The FAA Statutory Framework (co-authored with Michael D. Young), Practising Law Institute, 2020
• “Arbitrating Commercial Disputes in the United States,” Chapter 10: Discovery (co-authored with Michael D. Young), Practising Law Institute, 2020
• “Resolving Insurance Claim Disputes Before Trial,” Chapter 1: Binding Alternative Dispute Resolution and Insurance Claims (co-authored with Michael D. Young), ABA Book Publishing, 2018
• “Interim and Emergency Measures in International Commercial Arbitration: Time to Say Goodbye to Irreparable Harm and Likelihood of Success on the Merits,” New York Law Journal, 2018
• “Ethical Considerations for Effective Deposition Defense in New York,” Taking and Defending Depositions (co-authored with Partha P. Chattoraj and Alon M. Markowitz), Practising Law Institute, 2009

Background and Education

• Associate and Law Clerk, JAMS, 2016–2023
• Law Clerk to Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 2013–2016
• Law Clerk, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of New York, 2009–2013
• Hon. Carla E. Craig, 2013
• Hon. Jerome Feller, 2012–2013
• Hon. Elizabeth S. Stong, 2009–2012
• Associate, Markowitz & Chattoraj LLP, 2008–2009
• Associate, Law Office of Marshall E. Bloomfield, 2007–2008
• Associate, Paul, Weis, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, 2004–2007
• Associate, Clifford Chance LLP, 2001–2004
• J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School, 2001
• B.A., cum laude, Cornell University, 1997