President Vernon addresses importance of preserving the cultural values implicit in collective bargaining: the human dignity of employees; the moral obligation of the employer to give consideration to their requests; and the economic freedom of both to say no. Given the conflation, in the media and the public’s mind, of labor, employment, and consumer arbitration, …

President Holley shares the wisdom of Academy colleagues and his own experience on how to become an arbitrator, conduct a hearing, and write a decision. (Avoid bench discussions! Don’t quit your day job.) He touchingly closes with a letter to the Academy expressing what membership has meant to him

President Picher recounts the changing role of arbitrators in applying external law, culminating in the Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in 14 Penn Plaza v Pyett.

A light-hearted review of the progress of women in the arbitration profession, and a word of cuation about the Academy’s upcoming vote on a change in its constitution, giving increased recognition to employment arbitration.

Video presentation of Presidential Address

President Fleischli describes how his work experience brought him to service as a labor arbitrator, and the reasons that he finds the practice to be satisfying and worthwhile. He emphasizes the need to preserve the virtues of arbitration, especially insofar as it pertains to employer promulgated systems and employment arbitration disputes. President Fleischli cites the …

NAA President Richard I. Bloch is introduced by U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Harry T. Edwards. President Block proposes that arbitrators engage in more experimentation and innovation in the processes by which they resolve disputes, and describes several approaches he has used.

President Sherman describes his early years and offers observations about the nature of arbitrators.

NAA President Kagel warns of the increasingly legalistic environment for labor arbitration caused by the spill-over of practices from the courts and from private commercial dispute resolution (including employment disputes). And he offers advise as to what arbitrators can do to slow the trend.

An examination of the roles of arbitrators and the courts in interpreting and enforcing labor agreements. Bases on which courts have refused to enforce arbitrators’ decisions are examined, and advice given about contract interpretation and public policy.