PARTICIPANTS:

Rick Jeydel is the senior vice president, secretary and general counsel of Kanematsu USA, Inc., a major Japanese trading company with business in nearly every field throughout the world. He’s an experienced arbitrator and mediator. He’s done about 400 of them himself, and he’s also a frequent advocate for his company in domestic and international arbitration. Rick is a member of the AAA Board and of the ACCA Board.

Jim Schachter is the deputy business editor of the New York Times. He has been an editor and reporter for the Los Angeles Times, and a reporter for the Kansas City Star and the Jacksonville Journal.

Joia Johnson is the executive vice president and general counsel and secretary of RARE Hospitality International. Previously she was vice president, general counsel, and secretary for H. J. Russell & Company. She’s on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the American Arbitration Association and is an arbitrator and mediator.

Francis McGovern is a professor of law at Duke University and a court-appointed special master. He has developed solutions in significant mass claim litigations, the DDT toxic exposure litigation and Dalkon Shield, and is currently working on the silicone gel breast implant litigation. He is the co-author of many books, including Toxic Substances: Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Sam Estreicher is a professor of law at the NYU School of Law; director of NYU Center for Labor and Employment Law; director of the Institute on Judicial Administration; has published a number of papers on legal affairs issues; and was co-counsel in the U.S. Supreme Court case on behalf of Circuit City.

Peter Steenland is the senior counsel for alternative dispute resolution in the Associate Attorney General’s Office at the U.S. Department of Justice, providing advice and guidance to all departments on ADR activities and is the department’s dispute resolution specialist under the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act. He represented the department in testimony before Congress, and is the department’s principal contact for the Inter-Agency ADR Working Group.

Charles Morgan is executive vice president and general counsel for BellSouth Corporation, a Fortune 100 communication services company. He was previously a partner for Mayer, Brown and Platt. He was vice president, general counsel, and secretary of Chiquita Brands International; vice president and senior corporate counsel for Kraft Foods, and is a director of the American Arbitration Association and a member of the American Bar Institute.

David Hechler is a staff reporter of the National Law Journal who has just been assigned ADR as part of his beat. He freelanced for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and has written extensively on legal issues.