Selected Activities

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December 2011

• Edna is selected to chair an arbitration of a putative class action concerning the provision and pricing of electricity. Edna mediates a dispute concerning a breach of a contract to fund the development of a pharmaceutical product and mediates a dispute concerning insurance payments on a title insurance policy.  
Edna is asked to join the Executive Committee of the New York Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and works on editing the next issue of the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer.

November 2011

• Edna consults and advises on a billion dollar arbitration in the pharmaceutical industry and mediates a dispute concerning allegations of theft of confidential information by a prior employee in the provision of services to the financial sector. 

• Edna participates in a panel on why arbitration and mediation may be advantageous during the development week conference sponsored by the World Bank, IFC, ICSID and MIGA. Edna speaks at the International Bar Association conference in Dubai on the arbitrator’s role in promoting settlement and publishes her article entitled  The Dodd Frank Act: Seeking Fairness and the Public Interest in Consumer Arbitration. Edna trains twenty new AAA arbitrators as one of the six American Arbitration Association trainers nationwide entrusted to deliver the basic two day training for new arbitrators.

October  2011

• Edna is appointed as the chair in an arbitration concerning the contractual interpretation of a buy-out provision between owners of a closely held company and to serve as a co-arbitrator in an executive compensation case in the financial sector.

• Edna is advised that based on peer reviews that she has been named by Best Lawyers as the 2012 New York City Mediation Lawyer of the Year. She presents the update on U.S. arbitration law at the American Bar Association International Section’s fall meeting in Dublin.

September 2011

• Edna is selected to chair a dispute concerning breaches of duties in the provision of investment advice and to serve as a co-arbitrator in a dispute concerning division of properties between owners of a closely held corporation.

• Edna continues to chair the ongoing meetings of the “I Love York Group,” comprised of representatives from bar associations and arbitral institutions which is looking at ways to promote New York as the venue of choice for arbitrations. 

August 2011

Edna is selected as the sole arbitrator in a case alleging failure of a Chinese company to make license payments to a Japanese company for electronic equipment and to serve as a co-arbitrator in a dispute against an investment advisor alleging breaches of duties with respect to investments. She mediates a dispute concerning a breach of contract for failure to make payments in the pharmaceutical sector. 
Edna participates in a mock arbitration presentation demonstrating  cultural differences in counsel presentation and participates in a panel on med-arb combinations at the American Bar Association annual meeting in Toronto.  She presents on arbitration ethics in Atlanta and participates in a panel on the arbitration of securities disputes for the Practicing Law Institute.

July 2011

• Edna is appointed as the sole arbitrator in a dispute concerning breach of a stock purchase agreement which presents claims of sovereign immunity and as a wing arbitrator in an arbitration alleging violations of the securities law in connection with investment advice. She mediates a dispute about a failure to deliver contracted for veterinary pharmaceutical products raising several commercial code issues and a dispute between a landlord and a major commercial tenant for rent.

• Edna is advised that she has been selected for listing in The International Who's Who of Commercial Mediation 2011, one of 194 mediators selected worldwide and one of only 11 mediators listed in New York. She edits the next issue of the NY Dispute Resolution Lawyer.

June 2011

• Edna is appointed as a wing arbitrator in a claim brought by a Dutch company for coverage under a fidelity insurance policy for dishonest conduct in the energy markets and is appointed as a wing arbitrator in a claim involving Brazilian parties with respect to investment advice. Edna mediates a valuation claim by the family of a deceased founding owner of a closely held pharmaceutical company.

• Edna speaks on a panel at a conference jointly sponsored by the International Bar Association and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution on saving costs in arbitration and chairs a conference for Fordham Law School and the NYSBA on third party funding of international arbitration. Edna provides five days of arbitration training for 120 professionals in the field for the AAA and the NYSBA and chairs an ADR program at Fordham Law School for Brazilian judges.  

May 2011

• Edna sits as a wing at an arbitration hearing concerning amounts claimed to be owing for use of an investment model and is appointed as a wing arbitrator in a claim brought by an investor against his broker for fraud, securities law violations and breach of supervisory obligations. She mediates a post-closing dispute concerning pension liability in the wholesale food business and a dispute between Canadian and U.S. parties as to sums owing under a sales commission agreement.

• Edna presents on the benefits of arbitration and mediation for the resolution of many intellectual property disputes at a conference in Israel sponsored by the American Bar Association and the Israeli Bar Association. She attends the American Arbitration Association board of directors meeting in Montreal. Edna’s article on dispositive motions in arbitration is published in the NY Dispute Resolution Lawyer. She is informed that she will be listed again in Super Lawyers and is elected by the membership to serve on the nominating committee of the New York City Bar Association.

April 2011

• Edna conducts a hearing as chair in a dispute as to the interpretation of a joint venture agreement in the energy field entered into by French and American companies and is appointed to chair a panel in a dispute concerning post-closing adjustments relating to a major acquisition in the health care industry. She mediates a derivative claim against company officers for securities law violations which followed an SEC enforcement proceeding.

• Edna runs committee meetings as chair of the arbitration committee of the American Bar Association Section of International Law at the spring meeting. She presents on ADR ethics at the ABA Dispute Resolution Section annual meeting. Edna completes her analysis of the Dodd-Frank Act’s implications for arbitration in the financial sector and obtains the approval of the NYSBA Dispute Resolution Section for comprehensive comments of which she was the principal author for delivery to the newly constituted U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

March 2011

• Edna chairs a hearing in London in a dispute between Middle Eastern and U.S. parties relating to rights to purchase a majority share in a closely held corporation in the aviation industry. She is appointed as a wing arbitrator in a dispute involving European and U.S. parties concerning breach of an agreement for the sale of planes in the Middle East.

• Edna presents on best practices for preliminary conferences and disclosure in arbitration at the American Arbitration Association’s program on muscular arbitration and presents on combinations of arbitration and mediation at the AAA’s construction arbitration conference in Santa Monica. Edna serves as an arbitrator in the vis-moot practice rounds in NY for the ICC and the ICDR.

February 2011

• Edna mediates a dispute between a U.S. distributor and an Italian spirits producer over credit terms and participates as an arbitrator in a mock arbitration relating to a structured investment product.

• Edna presents on the College of Commercial Arbitrators Protocols for Expeditious Cost Effective Commercial Arbitration at the American Bar Association mid- winter meeting in Atlanta. She organizes a group with representatives from all relevant bar association committee to coordinate and further the work of the NYSBA Task Force on New York Law in International Matters. Her article on mediation of investor state disputes is published by Revista Brasileira de Arbitragem.

January 2011

• Edna conducts a hearing as sole arbitrator in a dispute between Middle Eastern and U.S. parties concerning rights to intellectual property in the energy field and commences the mediation of a claim arising under the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act.

• Edna is appointed as one of two advisors, along with the former Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals, to the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force on New York Law in International Matters. She participates in a panel sponsored by the NYSBA on promoting settlement within arbitration and her article on the need for a multi-lateral investment treaty for the energy sector is published in the International Lawyer.

December 2010

• Edna mediates a dispute concerning breach of contract for failure to meet specifications and deliver airplane parts.  She sits as an arbitrator in a mock arbitration concerning marketing in the pharmaceutical industry.
Edna’s article on Combinations and Permutations of Arbitration and Mediation is published as a chapter in ADR in Business. She completes the editing of the Choose New York for arbitration brochure and of the NYSBA Dispute Resolution Section white papers on the benefits of ADR in various substantive areas of the law.  

November 2010

• Edna is appointed as the sole arbitrator in a dispute between parties from the U.S and the Middle East who were major shareholders in a closely held corporation in the energy field raising governance issues and issues an award as chair in a dispute between French partners in an accounting firm.

• Edna opens the conference as the first speaker on Guerilla Tactics in Arbitration at the ICC Austria conference in Vienna and gives a presentation on Legislative and other U.S. Arbitration Developments at the U.S. Secretary of State's Advisory Committee on Private International Law Conference. She delivers a talk on the use of alternative dispute resolution in the energy sector at a conference on the subject at Cardozo Law School. 

October 2010

• Edna is appointed as a wing arbitrator in a dispute alleging a partnership relationship in the financial sector. She hears final arguments in one of her arbitrations and is selected to mediate a dispute between Swiss and Italian parties in the aviation industry in the context of a U.S. bankruptcy proceeding.

• Edna moderates roundtables at the Mediation Café at the International Bar Association conference in Vancouver and presents on Cultural Differences in Mediation at the International Centre for Dispute Resolution conference in Orlando. She is asked to serve on the Executive Committee of the College of Commercial Arbitrators.

September 2010

• Edna mediates a dispute alleging  failure to provide contracted inspections of oil refinery equipment in Spain and a dispute concerning amounts owing under a long term flight staff accommodations contract with a major Asian airline.

• Edna, now into the third month of her term as chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section, initiates a series of activities and projects that will serve her triple bottom line goals of educating users about ADR, promoting the use of ADR  and expanding section membership.

August 2010

• Edna is selected as an arbitrator for a dispute between shareholders of a closely held corporation who are based in Kuwait and California, mediates a dispute concerning post-closing adjustments following an insurance company acquisition and issues an award in a franchise dispute.

• Edna is appointed to the arbitration panel of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre and starts her term as co-chair of the arbitration committee of the international Section of the American Bar Association. Edna presents “Engaging the Public in Environmental Decision Making” at the American Bar Association annual meeting in San Francisco where she also participated in the International Section’s Leadership Conference

July 2010

• Edna conducts a hearing as chair in a dispute concerning allegations of breach of fiduciary duties in the diversion of customers in the accounting industry and is selected to mediate an adversary proceeding in bankruptcy court in which the debtor is alleged to have tortiously interfered with a contract and breached fiduciary duties. She starts a complex mediation process  with multiple judgment creditors with claims against a large superfund (CERCLA) land parcel.

• Edna  is advised that she will be listed as first-tierfor alternative disoute resolution  in the inaugural national ranking of lawyers to be issued in October by U.S.News & World Report . Edna organizes and moderates an ABA teleconference on the recent Supreme Court decision in Jackson v. Rent –a-Center  and edits and submits the next issue of the NY Dispute Resolution Lawyer.

June 2010

• Edna, as chair, issues an award on jurisdiction in one of the first interpretations of the recent Supreme Court decision in Stolt-Neilsen and is selected to mediate a dispute as to the meaning of an asset purchase agreement between U.S. and Japanese parties.

• Edna is advised that she will be listed in Super Lawyers for Alternative Dispute Resolution in its upcoming issue. Edna conducts the two day “Arbitration Fundamentals and Best Practices” program for arbitrators newly accepted to serve on American Arbitration Association’s panels.

May 2010

• Edna is selected as a sole arbitrator to hear an attorney’s fee dispute and issues a final award, as chair, in a partnership dispute matter.

• Edna attends the International Council Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) meeting in Rio and has an opportunity to converse with  many colleagues from around the world. She is advised she will be listed in Best Lawyers for Alternative Dispute Resolution for 2011.  

April 2010

• Edna is selected as sole arbitrator in a dispute concerning electricity pricing and to serve on a panel for a dispute relating to executive compensation. She mediates a securities fraud case and issues an award on a dispute relating to post-closing adjustments.

• Edna attends the American Arbitration Association Board of Director’s meeting and is featured in an article on international arbitration published in the American Bar Association Journal. She presents a session on drafting the ADR clause in the “Managing your First Arbitration” program sponsored by the American Arbitration Association and the College of Commercial Arbitrators.

March 2010

• Edna is selected to hear two car dealership termination arbitrations and conducts hearings as sole arbitrator in two franchise disputes in the fast food industry concerning parties in Europe.
Edna co-chairs a program sponsored by the  Institute for Transnational Law and the American Society of International Law and introduces the session she organized on Recalibrating the BIT: Are Changes Needed?.

February 2010

• Edna conducts a hearing as chair in a dispute administered by the ICDR concerning post-closing acquisition adjustments and governance issues for a company with operations in Costa Rica. She conducts a mediation between a South American business entity and an American manufacturer and supplier concerning delivery of a defective industrial grade product and is selected as a mediator for a dispute administered by the ICC between Canadian and American parties.

• Edna is invited to join the American Arbitration Association Board of Directors. Edna speaks at a national ABA teleconference on the subject of disputes emerging out of climate change and the utilization of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to resolve those disputes. Edna edits and assembles materials for the next issue of the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer.

January 2010

• Edna is selected and will serve as chair in a dispute concerning allegations of securities fraud asserted by South American investors. She sits as a panel member in a hearing concerning claims relating to contract formation and UCC issues in the steel industry.

• Edna presents at the New York State Bar Association annual meeting on privacy and discovery conflicts in international disputes, and prepares procedures for the College of Commercial Arbitrators Public Positions Committee which she co-chairs. The article which Edna edited and served as lead author “Adaptation to Climate Change: Fostering Progress Through Law and Regulation” is published by the New York University Law School Environmental Law Journal.

December 2009

• Edna chairs an 8 day hearing of a dispute between partners arising from a failed real estate development project and is selected to arbitrate claims relating to the continued use of a trade name by a partner after the dissolution of the partnership and a claim alleging a failure to pay for finished steel.

• Edna conducts the two day Arbitration Fundamentals and Best Practices Program for arbitrators newly accepted to serve on American Arbitration Association’s panels in locales around the country.

November 2009

• Edna mediates a claim for reimbursement for defective airplane engine parts and is selected to mediate ­­­­­ a Brazil/U.S. claim relating to an allegedly defective product and failure of support.

• Edna conducts a training session on same neutral med-arb combinations at the American Arbitration Association’s Advanced Mediation Training Program. She speaks on “The Relationship between Culture and Disputing Processes” at Fordham Law School’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Symposium and on Effective Legal Strategies to Resolve Environmental Disputes, at Pace Law School’s Kheel Center program.  Her article entitled Arbitration Agreements and Bankruptcy: Which Law Trumps When? is published in the New York State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Lawyer.

October 2009

• Edna mediates a securities fraud claim with respect to a private placement and is selected as the sole arbitrator in two matter involving U.S./Greek franchise relationships.

• Edna moderates a panel on the Arbitration Fairness Act and presents views on draft arbitration protocols at the College of Commercial Arbitrators (CCA) annual meeting, is elected to join CCA’s Board of Directors and begins her service as co-chair of the CCA’s Public Positions committee. Edna’s article entitled Why Arbitrate: The Benefits and Savings is published in the New York State Bar Association Journal.

September 2009

• Edna mediates a dispute concerning failure to deliver SOx (air pollution) credits and is selected as the mediator for claims under a product warranty for defective parts.

• Edna is advised that she has been selected for listing in Best Lawyers for Alternative Dispute Resolution for 2010. She presents mediation tips and participates in a mock mediation at the ABA’s Section of Environment Energy and Resources fall meeting in Baltimore. Edna’s article entitled User Preferences and Mediator Practices: Can They Be Reconciled Within the Parameters Set by Ethical Considerations is published in the World Arbitration and Mediation Review.

August 2009

• Edna is selected as an arbitrator for a dispute involving claims of defective steel and as a mediator for a dispute concerning the allocation of the proceeds of the sale of a CERCLA superfund site.

• The Resolutions and Report that Edna spearheaded for the Section of International Law of the American Bar Association with respect to the Arbitration Fairness Act’s impacts on international business arbitration is adopted by the House of Delegates at the ABA annual meeting in Chicago. Edna receives the Section’s Unsung Hero Award for her efforts. Her article on the subject entitled The Arbitration Fairness Act: Unintended Consequences Threatens U.S. Business is published in The American Review of International Arbitration.

July 2009

• Edna sits as a sole arbitrator on a franchise fee refund claim and mediates disputes concerning an Italian/US. distribution agreement. She is selected to co-chair an arbitration panel in a dispute between partners with regard to intellectual property ownership. 

• Edna accepts an invitation to chair the Arbitration Committee of the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association. In recognition of her qualifications, Edna is certified as a mediator by the International Mediation Institute and is accepted for the roster of the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution.  Her article entitled The New York Convention Through A Mediation Prism, is published in the American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Magazine.

June 2009

• Edna sits on a claim for a trade credit insurance payment and is selected as an arbitrator for a $60 million case between an electricity generator and a state agency, for a $30 million dollar insurance claim and for a franchisor/franchisee dispute.

• Edna accepts an invitation to co-chair the 2010 Institute for Transnational Arbitration and the American Society for International Law joint conference, speaks at the Fordham Law School Conference on international Arbitration and Mediation on Med–Arb Issues and presents at two Association for Conflict Resolution conferences on the Future of Investment State Dispute Mediation and on Community Engagement for Climate Change.

May 2009

• Edna sits as sole arbitrator on a claim concerning breach of a product development agreement and on an arbitration panel on a claim concerning failure to pay investment management fees and is selected as a mediator for a dispute  involving computer software development.  

• Edna completes the chapter on how the law can be used to foster adaptation solutions to global warming for Mayor Bloomberg’s New York City Panel on Climate Change and is appointed as chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the Environment Energy and Resources Section of the American Bar Association for the 2009-2010 term.

April 2009

• Edna is selected as a mediator in a dispute involving claims against an accountant for professional malpractice and as an arbitrator in a dispute involving failure to make payments under a debenture.

• Edna moderates a panel on the Arbitration Fairness Act bills pending in Congress at the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section meeting and presents a Report and Resolutions with respect to the Arbitration Fairness Act pending in Congress which was adopted by the American Bar Association ‘s Section of International Law Council for presentation to the ABA House of Delegates.

March 2009

• Edna is selected as the sole arbitrator in a dispute involving a product development agreement entered into by a major retailer and mediates a renewable energy credit delivery dispute.

• Edna accepts an invitation to serve on the board of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and finishes her articles on designing an arb-med and med-arb process that will withstand court scrutiny and on the Arbitration Fairness Act pending in Congress.

February 2009:

• Edna is selected as chair of the arbitral panel and conducts the first preliminary conference in a partnership dispute concerning a major real estate development in the Caribbean and mediates a music copyright dispute.

• Edna is appointed as the first Distinguished ADR Practitioner in Residence by the Fordham University School of Law, effective April 1, 2009.

January 2009:

• Edna is elected as chair elect of the Dispute Resolution Section of the New York State Bar Association
for 2009-2010

• Edna mediates a dispute between a hedge fund and a securities dealer over entitlement to oil warrants issued by the Republic of Venezuela in conjunction with its Brady Bonds and payments made on those warrants pegged to export oil prices.

• Edna speaks at the annual meeting of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution and the annual meeting of of the New York State Bar Association about the impact that the Fairness in Arbitration Act bill pending in congress would have, if enacted, on domestic and international business to business arbitration.

December 2008:

• Edna is selected to serve as sole arbitrator in a matter claiming an alleged breach of a settlement achieved during the pendency of a bankruptcy proceeding concerning technical knowledge, expertise and know-how in developing and manufacturing certain products.

• Edna is asked by the nominating committee to run for election as the chair-elect of the Dispute Resolution Section of the New York State Bar Association.

November 2008:

• Edna mediates a claim by a French medical diagnostic equipment company against an American manufacturer for failure to pay for intellectual property development alleged to be due pursuant to an R&D development contract.

• Edna speaks about the ethical considerations in ADR from the perspective of the advocates at the Energy Bar Association mid-year meeting and speaks on a panel about resolving environmental interest disputes for the Kheel Center of Pace Law School at the NYC Bar Association. Edna is inducted as a fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and attends their annual conference in San Francisco.

October 2008:

• Edna mediates a claim by a Japanese company against a Jersey company for failure to make royalty payments alleged to be due under a technology licensing arrangement.

• Edna chairs the program she organized for the American Arbitration Association and Fordham Law School and presides over the session on discovery and pre-hearing issues in arbitration. She is invited to join the Advisory Council of the Westchester County Climate Change Action Plan 2008 to work on implementation of the plan.

September 2008:

• Edna mediates a franchise termination dispute between a franchisee and a franchisor in the food industry and conducts a further mediation between the two owners of the franchise to meet the requirements of the franchisor.

• Edna is listed as an arbitrator on the panel of the newly created Chinese European Arbitration Centre in Hamburg, Germany.

August 2008:

• Edna commences the mediation of a CERCLA claim with respect to a polluted site and ultimately suggests and facilitates a stay of discovery which is granted by the court pending the Supreme Court’s decision in the Burlington case.

• Edna is asked to join as a member of the Section of Dispute Resolution Council of the American Bar Association to represent the liaisons from all ABA sections’ ADR committees to the Council and is appointed by Mayor Bloomberg to the New York City Panel on Climate Change. At the American Bar Association annual meeting, Edna chairs a program on avoiding, managing and resolving emerging risks, disputes and liability related to climate change.

July 2008:

• Edna is selected to serve as an arbitrator in a dispute concerning a failure to pay fees alleged to be owing to an investment banker for arranging a private placement of securities.

• Edna accepts an invitation to chair the alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the Environment Energy and Resources Section of the American Bar Association.

June 2008:

• Edna is selected to serve as an arbitrator in a matter involving Cayman Island and U.S. entities alleging failure by an insurance company to pay sums owing under an export credit insurance policy in connection with transactions in Mexico.

• Edna speaks at the Fordham Law School Conference on International Arbitration and Mediation about issues related to enforcing mediation settlement agreements and attends the ICCA conference in Dublin.

May 2008:

• Edna mediates a dispute between a terminated franchisee and a franchisor in the hospitality industry seeking royalty fees, liquidated damages and other charges.

• Edna is appointed as the editor-in-chief of New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer, the publication of the New York State Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section, and as chair of its Publications Committee. She speaks at the American Bar Association Eastern Water Conference about what local communities across the United States are doing to plan for adaptation to climate change.

April 2008:

• Edna finalizes procedures for a hearing in which she is sitting as the sole arbitrator in a case involving alleged failures to pay commissions in the travel industry.

• Edna speaks on two panels at the American Bar Association Section of International Law annual meeting on the Energy Charter Treaty and developments in climate change related energy policy around the world.

March 2008:

• As chair of the arbitration panel, Edna conducts a hearing concerning claims of liability by an accounting firm in connection with tax shelter advice.

• Edna speaks at a PLI green buildings program on municipal actions to foster the development of green buildings.

February 2008:

• Edna’s service as an arbitration panel member at a hearing concerning a family dispute by members of a family based in Europe, New York and Israel over ownership to real estate established under an inter vivos trust is concluded with the issuance of the award.
• Edna is asked to chair the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the Energy Bar Association.

January 2008:

• Edna mediates a claim by an indenture trustee against the issuer for failure to make required payments on Series B and C notes secured by real estate holdings.

• Edna attends the ICC, ICDR, IBA and LCIA conferences in New York, with a focus on the 50th anniversary of the New York Convention on the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards.