Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Practice Area Insights — The State of Alternative Dispute Resolution

14 Min View By: Ingeuneal C. Gray, Leslie Ann Berkoff September 5, 2023

Since 2018, a remarkable number of cases involving alternative dispute resolution (ADR) issues have made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. In this conversation, Leslie A. Berkoff, chair of the ABA Business Law Section’s Dispute Resolution Committee, and Ingeuneal C. Gray, commercial Vice President of the American Arbitration Association, share their considerable expertise and insight on the growing place of ADR in the legal landscape. They explore the different ways that mediation and arbitration continue to gain prominence, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing attention to contracts’ dispute resolution clauses, and more.

Read more about the video’s featured speakers below:

Leslie A. Berkoff is a Partner and Member of the Management Committee of the firm of Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP where she also serves as Chair of the Dispute Resolution Practice Group. Ms. Berkoff has served as a neutral for over twenty-five years, as both a panel mediator for Bankruptcy Courts nationwide and New York State and Appellate Courts. Ms. Berkoff serves on multiple arbitration and mediation panels for the AAA, is a member of the AAA-ICDR international panel, and the AAA-ICDR Council. Ms. Berkoff is the current Chair of the ABA Business Law Section Dispute Resolution Committee.

Ingeuneal C. Gray is Commercial Vice President of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), a not-for-profit organization and the largest private global provider of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services. Ms. Gray engages with business executives and counsel on ADR initiatives; and oversees the administration of large complex cases, the regional panel of arbitrators and mediators as well as the AAA’s national energy panel.

Recognized as one of The Top 50 Women Leaders of Houston, Ms. Gray is an Attorney-Arbitrator-Mediator with over 20 years of legal experience. Before joining the AAA she was the principal of ICG Law Firm, which focused on transactions, compliance, conflict prevention and ADR in the areas of government contracts, commercial, construction, and employment-law related matters. Today, Ms. Gray proudly serves as Co-Chair of the AAA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and is a member of the distinguished Texas Bar College of Legal Scholars. In addition, she is Vice-Chair of the ABA Business Law Section’s Dispute Resolution Committee, Secretary of the State Bar of Texas’ ADR Section and an active member of the Houston Bar Association.

Ms. Gray received her JD from Southern Methodist University School of Law and her BA in psychology from the University of Houston. A frequent speaker at legal and industry conferences, Ms. Gray is dedicated to educating on the benefits of ADR and increasing diversity, equity and inclusion in the field.

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