Mediator Resume

Arbitrator since 1988, mediator since 1999. Full time neutral since 2019. Trainer, published author, former adjunct professor in international arbitration. Decisive, process-focused, dedicated to cost-effective and expeditious arbitration.

Certilman ADR - Principal

Attorney, Arbitrator, Mediator

Principal Shareholder, Steven A. Certilman, P.C., 1992-Present; Adjunct Professor, Fordham University School of Law (International Arbitration) 2011-2017; Shareholder, Lev, Spalter Berlin & Certilman, 1990-1992; Associate, Law Office of Bruce L. Lev PC, 1986-1990; Associate, Eisenberg, Honig & Fogler, 1985-1986; Associate, Kimmelman, Sexter & Sobel, 1984-1985; Associate, Queller & Fisher, 1981-1984; Former Trustee (2005-2011) and Chair (2009-2010), Board of Trustees, The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (London, England).

Domestic and international arbitrator since 1988. More than 35 years of legal practice as commercial generalist, corporate and commercial counsel and commercial litigator. More than 400 arbitration cases as chair, co-arbitrator and sole arbitrator under the rules of various domestic and international arbitral bodies and the laws of various nations in a wide range of legal areas including software, ecommerce and website development, business process outsourcing, general corporate and commercial law, asset and stock purchase agreements and earnout disputes, M&A, technology, construction, employment, real estate, insurance, trademark and copyright licensing, art, telecommunications, publishing, marketing and manufacturing, investor and investment disputes, securities, and trusts and estates. Full time ADR practitioner. Chair, sole arbitrator and emergency arbitrator since 1988; member of the AAA and ICDR Large and Complex Case, M&A, Employment, Technology, Mediation and Construction panels, and other panels worldwide. Chartered Arbitrator and Fellow, The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London, England; Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators. Served as arbitrator in more than 350 domestic and international arbitration cases. Commercial proceedings have involved a broad range of contracts including under the CISG, shareholder disputes and business breakups, business brokerage, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud claims, insurance disputes including coverage and valuation disputes in commercial general liability, E&O, directors and officer’s liability, completion/performance/surety bond and property insurance contexts, executive compensation, real estate disputes involving sale, joint venture and development, and breach of contract and related claims arising under agreements such as marketing, distribution, franchise, IP and technology development, art, copyright and trademark and technology licensing, insurance (coverage and claim valuation), publishing, health care, telecommunications, IT including platform development, SEO, software development, business process outsourcing, advertising and employment/consulting agreements (including non-competition and non-solicitation issues). Served as trial referee in more than thirty court trials for the Superior Court of the State of Connecticut. Accredited Mediator, Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). Elected, Board of Trustees, The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London, England (2004-2011). Elected Chairman, Board of Trustees, The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London, England (2009-2011). Martindale-Hubbell AV rated attorney. Super Lawyers (ADR) 2011-date, (corporate) 2011 to 2020. Top Attorneys of New England, Connecticut, New York Metro. The 200 Outstanding Lawyers of Fairfield County (Connecticut). Life Fellow, American Bar Foundation. Life Fellow, New York State Bar Foundation. Collector and gallerist of contemporary art with museum exhibitions. Former co-owner and GC, major brand automobile franchise. Real estate investor.

High success rate in both domestic and cross-border mediations. Typically serve in domestic and international mediation cases involving mergers and acquisitions, technology, licensing, IT, business process outsourcing, trademarks, copyrights, commercial real estate transactions and general corporate and commercial law. Assisted parties with early neutral evaluation and as special counsel on ADR matters. Advocate and speaker on the topic of dispute review boards in IT and IP agreements. CEDR Accredited Mediator. Mediation practice began as a Connecticut trial referee conferencing cases for pre-trial settlement in the Superior Court of the State of Connecticut. After having conducted more than fifty mediations for the Connecticut Superior Court, appointed to the Mediation Panel of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1999 and received training that year from the CPR Institute (now known as the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution) in New York. Conducted more than one hundred mediations for the AAA, CPR, the USDC and on an ad hoc basis.

Representative Mediations: post-closing disputes under stock and asset purchase agreements; joint venture divorces and valuations; breach of commercial lease; breach of contract such as automotive part supply, distribution, property maintenance, nursing home, contract consultants; accountings; breach of fiduciary duty and fraud cases; information technology/business process outsourcing cases involving definition of scope of work, disputed performance to SLA standards; SEO, app development, digital creative agreements, platform development agreements, software licensing cases involving scope of grant, improper termination, scope of license, use of confidential/proprietary information and royalty calculations; patent indemnification agreement dispute; admiralty case involving performance bond relating to shipyard repairs; construction cost over-run cases; NYC public works case with six parties and numerous counterclaims and cross-claims including sureties; insurance coverage and liability disputes; employment discrimination and wrongful termination cases; and personal injury.

I believe that parties who pursue voluntary mediation are recognizing that mediation is their opportunity to have control over the outcome of their dispute. Given the win/lose constraints of the litigation process and the limited number of opportunities for non-monetary resolution, mediation is a highly practical choice. As a mediator, my goal is to help the parties explore and understand the practicalities of the possible outcomes of their dispute in both the adversarial (litigation or arbitration) and non-adversarial (mediation) approaches to conflict resolution. In doing so, it is hoped that they will come to make a well informed decision in their best interest. To achieve that goal, I employ facilitative and evaluative techniques as necessary to progress the process. I have found that the linchpin issues of most cases can be identified and worked through with available information, even before exhaustive discovery is completed. As the cost of discovery routinely consumes half or more of the total cost of conflict resolution, I encourage parties to consider mediation early in the dispute resolution process, but not before they have obtained the information necessary to make an informed and pragmatic assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of their cases. The process is fluid and adapts to the circumstances and events. In many cases I encourage the parties themselves to communicate their views directly to one another as I find that this "airing" often enables the breaking down of barriers to settlement. As an alternative to mediation, I also encourage the use of Early Neutral Intervention. While the mediator's role is primarily to facilitate and not judge, the process of early neutral evaluation is a highly effective way of obtaining an objective view of the merits of one's case. As advocates, a fresh perspective can interject new ideas into the resolution process and I bring to the ENE process the broad experience gained in 40 years as a commercial generalist. Active party participation is vital to success in mediation. I always seek to have party representatives with settlement authority present at the mediation conference. When parties take an active role in the process they become invested in the goal of a successful mediation, making it easier to achieve.

Highly experienced in the use of computer technology and in related legal issues. Completed AAA and CPR Cybersecurity Training; Completed Clearbrief Academy program. Extensive experience with MS Word, Excel and other Office 365 applications, encrypted email and the Zoom and Teams videoconferencing platforms. Proficient with issues involving ESI discovery.

Hofstra University School of Law (JD-1981); Connecticut College (BA-1978, majors in government, psychology and sociology).

Admitted to the Bar: Massachusetts (2012), Connecticut (1987), District of Columbia (1984), New York (1982); U.S. District Court: Southern and Eastern Districts New York, District of Connecticut; U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. Licensed Real Estate Broker, New York and Connecticut (non-practicing). Former issuing agent, Chicago Title Insurance Company, 1992 - 2019.

Member, ICDR and AAA Commercial, Large and Complex Case, International, M&A, Technology, Construction and Employment panels; Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators (Board of Directors 2021 to date); Chartered Arbitrator and Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK); Accredited Mediator, CEDR; Panel member: Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center (SVAMC) "Tech List"; International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR); Court of Arbitration for Art (CAfA); Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre; Asian International Arbitration Centre; Vienna International Arbitration Centre; British Virgin Islands International Arbitration Centre and others. Member: American Bar Association (Business Law Section); Connecticut Bar Association (Former chair, Technology Law Section, ADR Section); New York State Bar Association (Dispute Resolution Section); The New York City Bar. Life Fellow, American Bar Foundation; Life Fellow, New York State Bar Foundation.

PUBLICATIONS: Presented Webinar "To Arbitrate or Not to Arbitrate... That is the Question" for the College of Commercial Arbitrators, April 2026. Arbitrability of IP Disputes, chapter within a treatise entitled Arbitration of International Intellectual Property Disputes (Second Edition), Juris Publishing, 2021; ADR in the Age of Cybersecurity, 12 New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer 14 (Spring, 2019); Comparison of Selected International Arbitration Rules, 2018 Edition, Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation, a publication of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution, Volume 36 Number 5 (May 2018); Arbitrability of IP Disputes, chapter within a treatise entitled Arbitration of International Intellectual Property Disputes, Juris Publishing, 2012; Selected International Arbitration Rules, 2011 Edition, Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation, a publication of International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, Volume 29 Number 9 (October 2011); A Brief History of Arbitration in the United States, New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer (a publication of the Dispute Resolution Section of the New York State Bar Association), Volume 3 No. 1 (Spring, 2010). Author of published article on cybersecurity for arbitrators. RECENT SPEAKING AND TRAINING: Presenter, Commonwealth Lawyers Association Annual Meeting, Judges as Mediators, March, 2025; Faculty, NYSBA Comprehensive Commercial Arbitration Training Program (2015 to date); Panelist, NYSBA, Tough Calls and Recurrent Issues in Arbitration (December 2022); Visiting Lecturer, University of The Bahamas Law School (January 2022); Moderator, Fairfield County Bar Association: Family Law: Arbitration’s Newest Frontier (November 2021); Panelist, CIArb Brazil Branch: Global Perspectives on Vacatur (October 2021); Panelist, AAA Best Practices Roundtable on Different Approaches to Arbitration (September 2021); Panelist, CIArb Brazil Branch: Arbitration in Court (August 2021); Presenter, AAA Webinar, Expedited/Fast Track Arbitrations (December 2020); Presenter, ABA Webinar: Writing Reasoned Awards (November 2020); Course Director and Presenter, CPR Employment Arbitrator Training Program (October 2020); Presenter, AAA Webinar: Best Practices for Arbitrators in Expedited/Fast Track Arbitrations (July 2020); Course Director and Presenter, CPR Employment Arbitrator Training Program (June 2020); Tutor/Assessor, Accelerated Route to Fellowship (International Arbitration) Program, The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London, England – New York Branch (May 2019); Presenter, Practical Considerations in International Arbitration Award Writing, ADR Bahamas, Nassau, The Bahamas (April 2019); Faculty Member and Course Director, Columbia Law School – The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Comprehensive Course on International Arbitration (June 2018); Presenter, Drafting an Effective International Arbitration Clause, ADR Bahamas, Nassau and Freeport, The Bahamas (September 2017); Speaker, Drafting an Effective International Arbitration Clause, Bahamas ADR, Freeport, The Bahamas (September 2017); Faculty Member and Course Director, Columbia Law School – The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Comprehensive Course on International Arbitration (June 2017); Speaker, Connecticut Bar Association Annual Meeting, Advocacy Skills in Commercial Arbitration, Basics of International Arbitration (June 2016); Speaker, Use of Dispute Review Boards in IT Transactions, 18th Annual Meeting and Conference, Dispute Review Board Foundation, Toronto, Canada (October 2014).

New York City, Westchester and Nassau Counties, New York; Lower Fairfield County, Connecticut.

Hourly Rate: Not provided Daily Rate: $6,000.00 Study Rate: $850.00/hr Cancellation: Not provided Cancellation Period: Not provided Comment: Hearing rate charged for first day or part thereof. Study rate applies thereafter. Study time applies to non-hearing activity. Open to rate consideration for smaller cases. Local travel time in excess of one (1) hour each way may be charged at one half hourly rate. No charge for travel time. No charge for travel expenses in NYC, Westchester, County NY and lower Fairfield County, CT.

English

United States of America

New York, New York