BY Philip Zimmerman, CPA

Hanan M. Isaacs, a Princeton, New Jersey-based mediator, arbitrator, and trial attorney, addressed the fundamentals of effective negotiation and dispute resolution at the Arbitration and Mediation Committee's January 19 meeting.

The AAA, founded in 1926, is the largest nonprofit provider of dispute resolution services in the United States. The New York City office alone handled about 1,200 commercial arbitration and mediation cases in 1998. Society members could refer cases involving fee disputes or malpractice, for example, with the consent of the malpractice insurer, to the AAA for alternative dispute resolution (ADR) rather than proceeding with litigation in the court system.

Wilson stated that the most important part of the process is writing the dispute resolution clause into the engagement letter before the dispute arises, or including it in a post-dispute agreement. She explained that the AAA allows a great deal of latitude in designing the type and format of the hearing. The agreement could provide for the types of disputes covered; whether mediation, arbitration, or both should be used; the particular ground rules to follow in selecting neutral contacts or the number of such neutrals; etc. If such details are not specified, AAA's own rules are followed.

After the process starts, the first step is for one of the parties to file a demand for ADR to which the other party then has the right to respond. The AAA next assigns a case administrator, the neutral contact for the parties, with the mediator who will either facilitate the dispute resolution through mediation, or with the arbitrators to whom the parties give the authority to decide the resolution and issue a decision in a legally enforceable award.

Wilson also pointed out that there is little knowledge of mediation in the New York business community in comparison to other parts of the country and that mediation has many advantages including speed, lower cost, confidentiality, and the maximum of control over the process and the outcome by the parties.

One of the Arbitration and Mediation Committee's missions is to inform Society members about mediation and arbitration for both their own and their clients' benefit. The committee is conducting a survey to learn more about members' needs (Please see the accompanying sidebar). For more information on the committee's services contact Chair Mitchell R. Tanner (Mid Hudson) at (914) 354-1100 or NYSSCPA Director of Ethics and Regulation Ann E. Spaulding at (212) 719-8348, (800) 633-6320, or aspaulding@nysscpa.org. *