Resolving Employment Disputes Using Mediation and Arbitration

Mia Levi | CPR Dispute Resolution Services LLC

Mia Levi is the Vice President and Corporate Secretary for CPR Dispute Resolution Services, LLC, the dispute management arm of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (“CPR”). In her role, she leads the Dispute Resolution Services and Panels department of CPR, helping CPR further put into practice the innovative tools generated by CPR’s think tank (the CPR Institute), overseeing CPR’s matter management, and managing CPR’s Distinguished Panel of Neutrals. She works with the CPR team to develop new ADR rules and processes. Mia is also responsible for developing CPR’s ADR skills trainings which cover various topics ranging from the ADR process to innovations and programs being developed by CPR.

Mia is passionate about the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution. Prior to joining CPR, Mia held multiple positions with the American Arbitration Association – in the International Centre for Dispute Resolution and later in the Construction Division. She has authored several articles on the topic of dispute resolution, which have been published in various ADR and industry publications, including the ABA’s Business Law

Today and GPSolo eReport, New York International Law Review, the AAA Dispute Resolution Journal, NASBP Surety Bond Quarterly, and LexisNexis LegalBlogger. Mia is also a trained mediator. She began her mediation experience at Fordham University’s Mediation Clinic where she was a mediator at the New York City Small Claims Court in the Bronx.

Mia is actively engaged in advocating for the continued use of ADR through multiple bar associations. Mia is the programming chair for the Dispute Resolution Committee of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section; Mia is an Advisory Board Member of the ITA and IEL; and social media chair of the North America Sub-Committee of the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations. She is dedicated to bringing diversity to ADR and has been involved in CPR’s many diversity efforts as well as co-Founding the Women’s Construction Initiative.

Prior to working with arbitral institutions, Mia served as a Research Assistant for Judge William G. Bassler (Ret.), a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and adjunct professor at Fordham Law School in New York City. Mia received her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and her B.A. from Brown University. In addition to her native English and Serbian, Mia speaks fluent Spanish and is proficient in French.

Theo Cheng | ADR Office of Theo Cheng

Theo Cheng is an independent, full-time arbitrator and mediator, focusing on commercial, intellectual property, technology, entertainment, and employment disputes, including breach of contract and negligence actions, trade secret theft, employment discrimination claims, wage-and-hour disputes, and IP infringement contentions. Mr. Cheng has been appointed to the rosters of the American Arbitration Association, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, the CPR Institute, Resolute Systems, the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s List of Arbitrators and Mediators, and the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center’s List of the World’s Leading Technology Neutrals. He is also a AAA Master Mediator and serves on the AAA’s Council. Mr. Cheng is an Adjunct Professor at New York Law School and was appointed a Practitioner in Residence at the Center for Intellectual Property x Innovation Policy (C-IP2) at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School. Mr. Cheng is a Past President of the Justice Marie L. Garibaldi American Inn of Court for ADR, a Past Chair of the New York State Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section, and currently serves as the Vice President of the Copyright Society.

Mr. Cheng is also a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators. He received the 2024 Richard K. Jeydel Award from the Garibaldi Inn and the 2020 James B. Boskey ADR Practitioner of the Year Award from the New Jersey State Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section, and the National Law Journal named him a 2017 ADR Champion. In 2022-2024, Mr. Cheng was voted a Top Arbitrator in the New York Law Journal’s Best of Reader Rankings Survey. In 2021, Mr. Cheng was voted the BestMediator/Arbitrator in the New Jersey Law Journal’s Best of Reader Rankings Survey.

Mr. Cheng has nearly 25 years of experience as an IP and general commercial litigator with a focus on trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets. He has handled a broad array of business disputes and counseled high net-worth individuals and small to middle-market business entities in industries as varied as high-tech, telecommunications, entertainment, consumer products, fashion, food and hospitality, retail, and financial services.

In 2007, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association named him one of the Best Lawyers Under 40. Mr. Cheng received his A.B. cum laude in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard University and his J.D. from New York University School of Law, where he served as the editor-in-chief of the Moot Court Board. He was a senior litigator at several prominent national law firms, including Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Proskauer Rose LLP, and Loeb & Loeb LLP. He was also a marketing consultant in the brokerage operations of MetLife Insurance Company, where he held Chartered Life Underwriter and Chartered Financial Consultant designations and a Series 7 General Securities Representative registration. Mr. Cheng began his legal career serving as a law clerk to the Honorable Julio M. Fuentes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Honorable Ronald L. Buckwalter of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Mr. Cheng frequently writes and speaks on a wide variety of ADR issues.

He writes a regular column called Resolution Alley in the NYSBA Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal, which addresses the use of ADR in those industries.

I. Use of ADR Processes for Employment Disputes | 1:00pm – 1:20pm

• Discuss dispute resolution provisions found in executive agreements, company dispute resolution programs, and collective bargaining agreements
• Mandating individual processes vs. step clauses
• Mandatory class action waivers and mass arbitrations
• Examples of ADR provisions in the employment context

II. Mediating Employment Disputes | 1:20pm – 2:00pm

• Generally define mediation (e.g., a voluntary, consensual, and private process for dispute resolution, in which the parties engage a neutral, disinterested third-party (mediator) to improve communications, facilitate negotiations, and assist them in reaching a mutually acceptable outcome of their own making)
• Key attributes of mediation, including any that are employment-specific
• Key distinctions between mediation and adjudicatory processes for resolving disputes
• Process phases (preparation, initial joint session, caucusing, closure and formalization)
• Preparing for mediation
• Other strategic considerations for counsel

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

III. Arbitrating Employment Disputes | 2:10pm – 2:40pm

• Generally define arbitration (e.g., a voluntary, consensual, and private adjudicatory process for dispute resolution, in which the parties engage a neutral, disinterested third-party (arbitrator) to determine the merits of the dispute, usually in a final and binding manner, based upon rules and procedures agreed-upon by the parties)
• Key attributes of arbitration, including any that are employment-specific
• Key distinctions between arbitration and litigation for resolving disputes
• Process phases (commencement, tribunal constitution, preliminary hearing, information and document exchange, other pre-hearing conferences, evidentiary hearing, deliberations/issuance of final award)
• Preparing for arbitration
• Other strategic considerations for counsel

IV. The Role of ADR Providers | 2:40pm – 3:10pm

• Purposes that arbitral institutions serve
• Relationship between arbitral institutions and arbitrators
• Administered vs. ad hoc cases
• CPR’s employment-related mass claims protocol