Lippes Mathias LLP is pleased to announce that Hon. Carol E. Heckman (Ret.), partner and team leader of the firm's alternative dispute resolution practice team, will speak at the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) Annual Meeting on Friday, June 28, 2024, during a panel presentation titled The Evolution of Mass Arbitration and Its Future. 

Judge Heckman will be joined on the panel by American Arbitration Association Senior Vice Presidents Aaron Schmidt and Heather Sano and Alfred Feliu of Neutral Services, LLC. The panel will be moderated by Ann S. Lesser, Esq. of the American Arbitration Association. 

The session will examine mass arbitration in employment disputes, highlighting the American Arbitration Association's history of handling large-scale mass arbitration caseloads and the development of its mass arbitration supplementary rules. The panel will discuss what constitutes mass arbitration, how it differs from class arbitration, and the purpose and function of the mass arbitration Supplementary Rules. Additionally, they will explore the role of the process arbitrator in these cases. 

About Hon. Carol E. Heckman (Ret.) 

With more than 40 years of experience as a trial lawyer and judge, Judge Heckman (Ret.) has an active practice as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and conducts arbitrations in most major metropolitan areas with a particular concentration in New York City. In addition to arbitrations and mediations, Judge Heckman was selected as a fellow to the College of Commercial Arbitrators, an exclusive group of commercial arbitrators representing the best in the United States, where she serves as co-chair of the Education Committee. Judge Heckman also engages in litigation counseling and trial work for American Indian tribes and a group of business clients, providing representation in government investigations, complex commercial matters, taxation, and gaming. She has tried numerous cases as a lawyer, a judge, and an arbitrator in a broad range of disputes. Judge Heckman served as a magistrate judge in the Western District of New York for eight years, where she was selected to sit on the Federal Judicial Conference’s Education Committee for Magistrate Judges and served as an officer in the Federal Magistrate Judges Association. She has also served as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., an assistant U.S. attorney in Buffalo, New York, and as a law clerk for Hon. John T. Curtin, former chief judge of the Western District of New York. 

About the Labor and Employment Relations Association 

The Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) is the singular organization in the country where professionals interested in all aspects of labor and employment relations network to share ideas and learn about new developments, issues, and practices in the field. Founded in 1947 as the Industrial Relations Research Association (IRRA), the National LERA provides a unique forum where the views of representatives of labor, management, government and academics, advocates and neutrals are welcome. 

About Lippes Mathias LLP 

Lippes Mathias is a full-service law firm with nearly 200 attorneys serving clients regionally, nationally, and internationally. With offices in Buffalo, Clarence, Albany, Long Island, New York, Rochester, Saratoga Springs, and Syracuse, N.Y.; Greater Toronto Area; Chicago, Ill.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Cleveland, Ohio; San Antonio, Texas; Oklahoma City, Okla. and Washington, D.C., the firm represents publicly and privately-owned companies, private equity and venture capital firms, real estate developers, financial institutions, municipalities, governmental entities, and individuals. 

Year after year, Lippes Mathias is proud to be recognized by The Best Lawyers in America®, U.S. News - Best Lawyers®, Super Lawyers, and Chambers USA. For more information, visit www.lippes.com.