Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP
In This Issue:
- Dispute Resolution Symposium Focuses on Improving Business Performance By Managing Disputes »
- Implementing Work Life Policies While Avoiding Legal Pitfalls »
- The Legislature Expands Employer Liability Under CEPA »
- Supreme Court Expands Warranty Protection to Lessees »
- Raymond M. Brown Joins GRS&D as Chair, White Collar Defense & Corporate Compliance Practice Group »
- David A. Roth Joins GRS&D as Chair, Environmental Practice Group »
- Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Holds that Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Provides for Civil Remedies »
- BUSINESS FOR BREAKFAST SEMINAR - A Continuing Seminar Series »
- Digging Deeper: What You Need to Know About the Recently Expanded Grantee Fee (Mansion Tax) and the New Transferee Tax »
- The Employee’s Common Law Duty of Loyalty — Combatting the Faithless Employee »
- 30 GRS&D Attorneys Honored by Legal Directories »
- Highlights »
Dispute Resolution Symposium Focuses on Improving Business Performance By Managing Disputes
What is the cost of an unresolved business dispute? What is the financial effect of alienating a major customer or supplier because of a disagreement? These questions and other issues were the focus of Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP’s first annual symposium on dispute resolution.
On March 16, 2006, the firm hosted, “Bottom Line Dispute Resolution in the Twenty-first Century,” at the Woodbridge Hilton to inform the business and legal communities of the evolving uses of alternative dispute resolution tools, such as arbitration, mediation and mini-trials, to decrease the costs and disruption of disputes in the workplace. The Symposium brought together nearly 100 attendees from a variety of industries and professions.
Warren Wood, Of Counsel at Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP, moderated the Symposium’s panel of distinguished experts. The panel members were:
• Robert S. Buford, Managing Partner, Robert A. M. Stern, Architects, LLP, NYC;
• Stephen M. Dahl, V.P. & Chief Legal Counsel, K. Hovnanian Companies, Edison, NJ;
• Robert S. Greenbaum, Partner, Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP;
• Dennis J. Helfman, General Counsel, BMW of North America, Inc., Woodcliff Lake, NJ;
• Richard K. Jeydel, Secretary & General Counsel, Kanematsu USA Inc., NYC;
• Alan S. Naar, Partner, Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP; and
• Michael J. Wolf, Counsel for Dispute Resolution Technology to the National Mediation Board, Washington, D.C.
During the two hour Symposium, the panel considered three business dispute scenarios: a shareholder dispute in a closely held corporation, a dispute among various parties involved in a construction project, and a supplier dispute. In discussions by the panel members, a host of conflict management strategies to reduce the costs of disputes and to support ongoing relationships with important business partners were described. Among the strategies discussed were:
• Contract clauses calling for early and escalating dispute resolution techniques starting with negotiations at the first sign of a conflict, and progressing to mediation and arbitration;
• The importance of having senior managers involved early in the mediation process; and
• The need for increased scrutiny of the applicable credentials of the neutral – mediator or arbitrator – so that the neutral’s expertise is appropriate to the parameters of the dispute. This heightened scrutiny is increasingly important to resolving conflicts stretching beyond international boundaries. Many audience members from all size firms recognized the global scope of many of their contracts and contract partners.
In commenting on the genesis of the Symposium, Robert S. Greenbaum noted, “ADR has been around a long time. Business leaders need current information about the wide variety of strategies and cutting edge techniques that can help them decrease the stunning costs of litigation and preserve relationships that affect the bottom line.”
The Dispute Resolution Practice Group at Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP is comprised of attorneys from nearly every practice area and includes both litigators and transactional lawyers. Their breadth of experience is a critical qualification in representing clients whose disputes spring from every area of business enterprise. All of the group’s members are actively involved in the conflict resolution field as neutrals (arbitrators or mediators) or as advocates for clients involved in mediations, arbitrations or mini-trials.