Robert Davidson

Robert B. Davidson, Esq., FCIArb

JAMS Mediator, Arbitrator and Referee/Special Master

Case Manager
Anthony Messina
T: 212-607-2753
F: 212-751-4099
620 Eighth Avenue, 34th Floor, New York, NY 10018
AMessina@JAMSADR.com

Biography

Robert B. Davidson, Esq., FCIArb is a full-time arbitrator and mediator, and the Executive Director of JAMS Arbitration Practice. He has sat in over 200 domestic and international arbitrations as sole arbitrator and as a member of tripartite panels in both institutional and ad hoc settings. Cases arbitrated have involved complex commercial and financial business issues, including contract actions, pharmaceutical licensing disputes, disputes under APA and SPA agreements, construction, insurance and reinsurance claims, oil and gas disputes, securities, tax, real estate, intellectual property, employment disputes, and sports matters.

Over the course of his career as a litigation partner at a major international law firm, Mr. Davidson acted as counsel for clients in numerous arbitrations involving a variety of disputes, including serving as lead counsel in domestic and international arbitrations, including 11 cases before the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal (more than any other lawyer), cases before domestic panels, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Netherlands Arbitration Institute, and ad hoc panels.

Mr. Davidson has also mediated numerous employment disputes involving executive and other terminations, executive contract disputes, disputes over bonuses or the computation of carried interests; disputes over the right to deferred compensation, stock options and the like. 

Representative Matters


Arbitrations

Arbitrated employment claims brought by investment bankers involving claims to bonus and base compensation; claims by general counsel of dot.com company for loan forgiveness; claims of executives for wrongful termination and breach of contract; claims under ADEA, and Title VII; claim to contractual compensation to be computed pursuant to a formula related to loan origination and profitability brought by group employed by foreign bank; dispute between shareholders of closely-held company and terminated employee/shareholder in an action to compel buyout of terminated employee/shareholder's equity interest; dispute between software manufacturer and former shareholder/employee to enforce restrictive covenant.

Mediations

Mediated numerous claims involving, among others, executive compensation (rights to bonus compensation, carried interests, or stock options); vesting disputes; whistleblower claims; ERISA disputes; ADEA and Title VII claims; FSLA claim involving the construction industry; dispute between an investment company and departing traders who left employer to form competing business in alleged violation of anti-solicitation clause in employment contracts; dispute between options traders and former employer over alleged breaches of non-compete and non-solicitation covenants; sexual discrimination claim brought by former broker against brokerage firm involving firm’s alleged failure to treat female broker comparably to male brokers; dispute between investment bank and former oversees employee over correct computation of tax equalization under employment contract; mediated disparate pay dispute between female investment banker and employer.

  • Completed Virtual ADR training conducted by the JAMS Institute, the training arm of JAMS, 2020
  • Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb)
  • Listed as one of the World’s Leading Technology Neutrals, 2018-2021
  • The Best Lawyers in America, listed in the practice areas of Arbitration and International Arbitration - Commercial since 2016 and named Arbitrator of the Year for New York City in 2018
  • Euromoney, "2021 Commercial Arbitration Expert Guide," listed as a leading Commercial Arbitration practitioner, 2021
  • Chambers USA Guides, listed as one of the Leading International Arbitrators since 2010
  • Listed under International Arbitration in Chambers USA America’s Leading Lawyers for Business
  • Who's Who Legal, listed in the practice area of Mediation since 2016
  • Presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who
  • Listed as a New York Super Lawyer for alternative dispute resolution since 2006
  • Listed as one of the world's leading commercial arbitrators in Who's Who Legal: Arbitration
  • Advisory Board, Institute for Transnational Arbitration
  • Listed in various Marquis Who’s Who publications, including: Who’s Who in the World, in America, and in American Law, Cambridge Who's Who; "AV Preeminent" rating from Martindale Hubbell
  • Past Chair, Committee on Arbitration, New York City Bar Association; Member, In-House/Outside Litigation Counsel Committee; member of NYCBA Committee on International Commercial Disputes
  • Fellow and Past Board Member, College of Commercial Arbitrators (CCA)
  • Fellow, American Bar Foundation
  • Member, International Arbitration Club of New York 
  • Member, Maritime Law Association of the United States (since 1979)
  • Member, International Bar Association (IBA) 
  • Member, American Bar Association and its Sections on Dispute Resolution and International Law
  • Panel Memberships: JAMS panel; CPR New York and National Panels; HKIAC (Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre) arbitrator and mediator panels; panel of arbitrators for SIAC (Shanghai International Arbitration Center);  CIETAC (China) Arbitrator Panel; Beijing Arbitration Commission (BAC) panel of arbitrators; Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA); Netherlands Arbitration Institute panel; panel of arbitrators, Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration
  • Regularly sit as arbitrator in AAA, ICDR, ICC, JAMS, CPR, ad hoc, LCIA, HKIAC (Hong Kong), CIETAC and NAI (Netherlands Arbitration Institute) arbitrations
  • Chair, final argument, Vis Moot Court competition, Vienna (2008)
  • Member, ICC Task Force on Reducing Time and Cost in International Arbitration
  • Member, CEDR Task Force on Settlement in International Arbitration
  • Published articles have appeared in legal publications throughout the country including, among others, the New York Law Journal, The National Law Journal, Middle East Executive Reports, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, World Arbitration and Mediation Report, The American Review of International Arbitration, and Mealey's International Arbitration Report 
  • Contributing author to The Leading Arbitrators' Guide to International Arbitration, 3d ed. (Juris Pub. 2014); all four editions of the College of Commercial Arbitrators’ Guide to Best Practices in Commercial Arbitration, (Juris Pub.); two editions of the Practitioner’s Handbook on International Arbitration and Mediation, 2d and 3d Eds. (Juris Pub. 2007 and 2012) (Chapters on International Mediation); and two editions of International Arbitration Checklists, (Juris Pub. 2003 and 2009)
  • Frequent lecturer to bar associations and CLE programs on arbitration topics. Guest lecturer on international and other legal topics at University of Georgia Law School, Fordham Law School, Columbia Law School, Yale Law School, Brooklyn Law School, Cardozo School of Law, New York Law School, and Pace Law School
  • Retired Partner, Baker & McKenzie, (Partner 1979-2003; Associate 1972-1979), former co-head of the litigation department in New York
  • Significant experience in commercial contract and shareholder disputes, including post-closing adjustment disputes, valuation exercises, and the like; regularly act in securities, insurance, licensing, joint venture, construction, and IP arbitrations and mediations 
  • Admitted to the Bar of the State of New York in January of 1973; although practicing ADR full time, still a member of the Bars of the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the United States Tax Court, and various of the United States Courts of Appeal
  • Former Director of The Wall Street Fund (a mutual fund)
  • Peace Corps Volunteer (Philippines), 1968-1970
  • J.D., Columbia School of Law, 1972 (Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar)
  • B.S., in Economics, cum laude, The Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, University of Pennsylvania

Languages
  • English

Specializations
  • IP (patents, trademarks, pharmaceutical and other licensing disputes)
  • Corporate transactions (disputes under SPA and APA agreements; M&A disputes)
  • Contracts (construction, sales of goods, distributorship agreements)
  • Insurance and reinsurance disputes
  • Finance and investment (hedge fund disputes; investment issues involving CDOs or CLOs, swaps, etc.)
  • Bankruptcy claims
  • Employment disputes

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General Biography

Disclaimer

This page is for general information purposes.  JAMS makes no representations or warranties regarding its accuracy or completeness.  Interested persons should conduct their own research regarding information on this website before deciding to use JAMS, including investigation and research of JAMS neutrals. See More

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