Large Firms
May 31, 2001
Arbitrator Joins JAMS as Vice President
LOS ANGELES - The American Arbitration Association has lost arbitrator Richard Chernick to JAMS, one of its competitors in the field of alternative dispute resolution.
Irvine-based JAMS announced Tuesday that Chernick has joined its Los Angeles office as a vice president and managing director of the arbitration practice.
"My practice has matured and now primarily consists of large and complex multiparty arbitrations," Chernick said.
"And I think that JAMS is committed to going after those kinds of cases as a primary focus," he said.
Chernick said that American Arbitration Association did not share the same focus. He worked at the local office of the New York-based organization for more than six years.
"It became increasingly impossible for me to grow my practice the way I wanted to at AAA," he said.
Chernick let the American Arbitration Association know last week that he no longer would be able to accept cases. His official start date at JAMS is June 1.
Steve Price, president and chief executive officer of JAMS, said that hiring Chernick fits with strategic priorities developed by the firm more than two years ago.
"One was to become the resolution experts, and the other was to focus on multiparty, complex cases," Price said.
JAMS has been successful at growing that area of the practice, he said, but Chernick's leadership will "take it to the next level."
Chernick began handling alternative dispute resolution matters at Los Angeles' Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, where he worked for more than 20 years. He was partner in charge of Gibson Dunn's ADR practice before joining American Arbitration Association as a full-time neutral in 1994.
"Richard had the foresight years ago to see the benefits of arbitration and helped develop the processes that are used by arbitrators around the world today," Price said.
In addition to his arbitration work, Chernick served as president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association from 1992 to 1993, and he founded its dispute resolution section in 1994.
Most recently, Chernick co-founded and became president of the College of Commercial Arbitrators in April.
John Ryan
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