The Commercial Arbitration Playbook: From Arbitrator Selection to the Final Award

John A. Shope, Partner | Foley Hoag LLP

John A. Shope is a commercial arbitration and litigation partner at Foley Hoag LLP, where he has practiced for thirty-four(34) years following a federal court clerkship. His primary practice areas have been the consumer and energy industries, in which he represents household name brands such as Dell, Enterprise, Constellation, and many others. Since 2009, he has served as arbitrator in over seventy-five (75) arbitrations.

• Education & Credentials

Shope earned his J.D. with honors from the University of Chicago Law School in 1991, following a B.A. from Amherst College in 1987 and a certificate from Leningrad State University in 1986. He is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, and before the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and the federal district courts for Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Southern District of New York.

• Recognition & Leadership

BTI Consulting named Shope a 2022 Client Service All-Star, citing client feedback praising his legal skill and work product. Boston Magazine named him a New England Super Lawyer from 2009 through 2017 and a Massachusetts Super Lawyer in 2008, and he was included among Boston Magazine’s “40 Bostonians to Watch” in 2002 and the Boston Business Journal’s list of forty outstanding young business and community leaders in 2001. He also received the Boston Police Commissioner’s Community Service Award in 2001 and served on the University of Chicago Law Review.

• Professional Involvement

Shope is a member of the International Chamber of Commerce’s New England Arbitration Subcommittee. He has also served the Boston legal community as a past board member of the New England Legal Foundation, a board member and past president of the Frank J. Murray Inn of Court, and a past member of the Boston Bar Association’s Business and Commercial Litigation Section steering committee and a member and past co-chair of its Class Action Committee. His civic involvement includes past leadership of the Bay Village Neighborhood Association, a past board seat with the Community Music Center of Boston, membership in the University Club of Boston, and past service on the Boston Planning and Development Authority’s Impact Advisory Groups.

• Experience

Shope has obtained arbitration awards and represented parties across complex commercial arbitrations, including a $2 million award from the American Arbitration Association’s International Centre for Dispute Resolution over the mismanagement of a diesel-fired power plant in Guyana, a successful international arbitration on behalf of a private equity fund over a power plant in North Africa, and an arbitration over successor gas indices in a power purchase agreement. He has also used arbitration clauses to obtain dismissals of consumer class actions brought against internet and technology companies. His broader commercial litigation practice includes obtaining dismissals of consumer class actions in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, defeating class certification for a financial services company, and defending a power purchase agreement valued at more than $40 million in a dispute over long-term gas supply restructuring. Before entering practice, he clerked for U.S. District Judge José A. Cabranes in New Haven, Connecticut, and served as a research assistant to U.S. Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner in Chicago.

Lisa Romeo, Vice President | American Arbitration Association

As Vice President of the American Arbitration Association’s Boston Regional Office, Lisa Romeo oversees the recruitment of arbitrators and manages large, complex commercial arbitrations throughout Massachusetts. She has worked at the AAA since 1988, where she also leads outreach, education, and business development for commercial disputes across New England and serves as the organization’s national co-lead for Technology business development.

• Education & Credentials

Romeo holds a Master of Science in Management from Lesley University, with a focus on institutional development, and a B.A. from Bates College.

• Recognition & Leadership

Romeo serves as the American Arbitration Association’s national co-lead for Technology business development, in addition to her regional leadership of the Boston office.

• Professional Involvement

She also conducts outreach and education for the AAA in the Cannabis, Insurance, and Franchise industries.

• Experience

Romeo has taught continuing legal education courses on arbitration practice, including “Clause and Order: Drafting Effective Arbitration Clauses” with Kent Sinclair and “Arbitrate Like a Pro: Mastering the Preliminary Hearing” with John Shope. In her AAA role, she manages large, complex commercial arbitrations in Massachusetts and is responsible for recruiting and vetting potential arbitrators for the region.

SESSION 1 – Taking Control Early: The Preliminary Conference, the Scheduling Order, and Discovery Management | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

This session examines the procedural machinery that determines whether a commercial arbitration stays efficient or drifts toward litigation-scale cost. Drawing on extensive experience representing parties in arbitration, serving as arbitrators, and administering complex commercial proceedings, the speakers will address how counsel can use the preliminary conference to shape the case, negotiate a realistic scheduling order, keep document exchange and ESI proportional, protect privilege and confidentiality, and deploy dispositive and emergency motions strategically.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – Trying the Case to the Arbitrator: Witnesses, Experts, Exhibits, and Post-Hearing Advocacy | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

This session focuses on advocacy at the evidentiary hearing and in the submissions that follow. The speakers will explore how presenting a case to an arbitrator differs from trying it to a judge or jury — from openings and witness examinations to expert presentation, exhibit management, and remote or hybrid formats — and how counsel can use closing arguments and post-hearing briefs to frame the disputed issues around the questions the tribunal must decide.