Michael Blechman

Michael Blechman

Mediator & Arbitrator
Name:Michael Blechman
Date of birth:
Address:50 Neustadt Lane, Chappaqua, NY 10514
Phone:201-522-6584
Email:michael.blechman@mdb-adr.com
Website:
An experienced mediator skilled at helping parties to resolve difficult cases and seemingly intractable impasses. Mike's pragmatic style combines a facilitative approach, helping the parties to achieve their goals, with -- where the parties desire -- evaluative assistance. He brings to the task skills developed during a long career as a corporate litigator and counselor at Kaye Scholer LLP (now Arnold and Porter Kaye Scholer LLP): careful preparation, active listening, extensive knowledge and experience and imaginative problem solving. He has mediated over 60 cases and published, taught and spoken widely in the U.S. and abroad on various aspects of dispute resolution

Professional Activities

1. 

  • Mediated 60+ cases
  • Neutral arbitrator in 10+ AAA/ICDR arbitrations
  • Member, Mediation Panel of the American Arbitration Association
  • Court-appointed mediator for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • Special Master, New York State Appellate Division, First Department
  • Member of the Commercial Division Panels for the New York Supreme Court, New York and Westchester Counties
  • U. S. Department of Justice Hearing Officer – Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund

Prior History

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  • Kaye Scholer LLP (now Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP): Partner, 1975-2010; Special Counsel (2011-2016); Member of the Executive Committee, 1996-2003; founder and partner in charge of the firm’s Frankfurt Office; chair of the Firm’s Antitrust Department
  • 40+ years of litigation experience: Represented and advised many US and foreign companies in connection with international mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures, and represented such companies before the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission

ADR-Related Pro Bono Activities

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  • Advised in the creation of the Jerusalem Arbitration Center, an arbitration court now providing a neutral forum for resolving commercial disputes between Israeli and Palestinian businesses (International Senior Lawyers Project, 2012)
  • Prepared assessment and report for the East-West Management Institute (The Judicial Independence and Legal Empowerment Project (JILEP)) on Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Republic of Georgia (USAID funded project, 2011)

Teaching

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  • Adjunct Professor, Fordham Law School, Graduate Practice Seminar in Arbitration
  • Visiting Professor, Károli Gáspár University, Budapest, Hungary and Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University, Kaliningrad, Russia
  • Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, Vienna; New York and Budapest Pre-Moots

Selected Publications & Lectures

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  • “A Practical Guide to Making a Difference: How to Find Meaningful Pro Bono Opportunities” – organized and led Panel Discussion at the ABA Section of International Law 2015 Fall Meeting (Montreal, 2015)
  • Comments on “How Bad is the Italian Colors Decision?”, Proceedings of the Fordham Competition Law Institute, Fordham 41st Annual Conference on International Antitrust Law and Policy (New York, 2014, Publication 2015)
  • Panelist – Comments on American Express v. Italian Colors, Fordham Competition Law Institute (New York, 2014)
  • Panelist – Review of Arbitral Awards Involving Competition Law: The US Perspective, IBA Annual Conference (Boston, October 2013)
  • Roundtable on Antitrust Compliance Issues, ICC Competition Commission (Warsaw, April 22, 2013)
  • Presider, Panel Discussion – Antitrust Developments in India and Mexico; Fordham 39th Annual Conference on International Antitrust Law and Policy (New York, September 21, 2012
  • “Assessment of ADR in Georgia” (USAID; October 2011)
  • Speaker, “Competition and Innovation: A Dialog between Business and Agencies”, ICC Competition Commission (The Hague, May 21, 2011)
  • Speaker and publication, Symposium “Sinn und Grenzen der Preisempfehlung”(Purpose and Limitations of Price Recommendation) (Bonn, January 20, 2011)
  • “Remedies in Arbitration for US Antitrust Violations,” EU and US Antitrust Arbitration: A Handbook for Practitioners, Kluwer Law International (2010)
  • “Current Issues in the USA with respect to Arbitrating Antitrust Claims,” Arbitration and Competition Forum in Dublin, June 2007
  • “Conscious Parallelism, Signaling and Facilitating Devices: The Problem of Tacit Collusion under the Antitrust Laws,” 24 New York Law School Law Review 881 (1979) (cited in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007))
  • “Entwicklungen der Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit im Kartellrecht – Entwicklungen in den USA (Developments in Arbitration in Antitrust Law – Developments in the USA), Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit-Schriftenreihe, Carl Heymanns Verlag (August 2006)
  • “Frühjahrsveranstaltung in Berlin” (Spring Event in Berlin), DIS – Deutsche Institution für Schiedsgerichtsbarkeit (German Institute for Arbitration) (May 2006)

Education

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  • B.A., Harvard College, 1962
  • Freie Universität Berlin, Fulbright Fellowship, 1962–63
  • J.D., Harvard Law School, 1966

Skills