Wednesday, August 6, 2003
Page 3
Richard Chernick to Head ABA Dispute Resolution Section
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Los Angeles attorney and former Los Angeles County Bar Association President Richard Chernick will become chair of the American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section at the ABA’s annual meeting which begins tomorrow in San Francisco.
Chernick will be the second Californian to lead the section, which was established in 1993. He will serve until the ABA’s 2004 annual meeting.
Chernick described the section yesterday as “a very collegial group” and noted he served for the past year as chair-elect. “I have sort of been transitioning into this job for a year or so,” he said.
He said he and his predecessor, outgoing chair Bruce Meyerson of Phoenix, are the first two “full-time neutrals” to lead the section. Previous chairs have been attorneys or judges with an interest in the area, but did not earn their entire livings from arbitration or mediation services, Chernick observed.
He and Meyerson have “reoriented” the section’s activities to focus more closely on the commercial market for dispute resolution, Chernick said.
Chernick is vice president of JAMS, a nationwide arbitration and dispute resolution service based in Irvine, and managing director of its arbitration practice. In a statement, JAMS President and CEO Steve Price called Chernick “an ADR pioneer.”
The ABA Dispute Resolution Section has more than 7,500 members.
Chernick has been a full-time arbitrator and mediator since 1994. From 1977 to 1994 he was a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher specializing in business litigation, international and domestic arbitration and alternative dispute resolution.
He has taught ADR at the University of Southern California, Pepperdine Law Institute for Dispute Resolution and the International Lawyers Development Institute in Rome. Chernick founded of LACBA’s Dispute Resolution Section and is a co-author of arbitration texts, handbooks and practice guides.
Chernick is a former chair of the ABA Dispute Resolution Section’s Arbitration Committee.
ABA section chairs are elected by the section membership.
Copyright 2003, Metropolitan News Company