American Arbitration Association

Type:	Non-profit
Industry:	Alternative Dispute Resolution
Founded:	1926
Founder(s):	Jules S. Bache Henry Ives Cobb Horace De Lisser James A. O'Gorman Julian W. Mack Moses H. Grossman Charles L. Guy Frank H. Sommer Samual McCune Lindsey Julius Rosenwald David A Schulte Charles Fleischer Franklin Simon J. Noble Braden
Headquarters:	1633 Broadway 10th Floor, New York City
Country:	USA
Website:	www.adr.org
LinkedIn:	American Arbitration Association
Key People
Joia M. Johnson, Chairperson John J. Kerr, Exec. Committee Chairperson

The American Arbitration Association (AAA) provides alternative dispute resolution services to entities that wish to resolve their disputes out of court. AAA also designs and develops alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms for corporations, unions, government agencies, law firms, etc. It also offers elections services education, training, and publications to provide information for all parties interested in acquiring an in-depth knowledge about ADR. The association's headquarters is located in New York City.

Background

The American Arbitration Association was founded in 1926 through the merger of the Arbitration Society of America, the Arbitration Foundation, and the Arbitration Conference, following the enactment of the Federal Arbitration Act in 1925. At the time of its establishment, the association's National Panel of Arbitrators was composed of 480 arbitrators. The first Code of Arbitration Practice and Procedure of the American Arbitration Association was published in 1931. In 1932, the Accident Claims Tribunal of the AAA was created, followed by the Inter-American Commercial Arbitration Commission in 1934, and the Voluntary Labor Arbitration Tribunal in 1937. In 1952, AAA and Japan Commercial Arbitration signed an agreement allowing the use of arbitration clauses in Japan-American trade contracts where disputes may be resolved in tribunals located in New York or Tokyo. The AAA co-sponsored the First National Women's Arbitrator Development Program in 1979 to train and recruit qualified female arbitrators. Over the years, AAA's National Panel Arbitrators increased. In 1995 alone, its' total number of arbitrators was 27,350. In 2009, the Association established the AAA Higginbotham Fellows Program to provide educational opportunities to professionals interested in the field of ADR.

AAA and ICANN

On April 19, 2004, during a special meeting, AAA's International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) was appointed by the ICANN Board to operate the Internet governing body's Independent Review Panel by providing multiple or single arbitration panels based on the requirements set forth in Article IV, Section 3(6) of the ICANN bylaws.

In 2008, the ICDR was again selected by ICANN to handle possible problems that could arise in connection with evaluation of applications for the implementation of new generic top level domain names (gTLDs), particularly with regards to "string confusion objections," when a certain gTLD string is confusingly similar to an existing TLD or to another gTLD string being applied for by other parties.

International Centre for Dispute Resolution

The International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) is a division of AAA that exclusively handles cases filed internationally. The center has cooperative agreements with arbitration institutions worldwide to facilitate the administration of international cases. ICDR arbitrators seek to understand cultural diversity and interpret and apply International and Mediation Rules.

Dispute Resolution Services

AAA provides arbitration and mediation services in the following fields:

• Accounting Industry ADR
• Commercial Finance ADR
• Commercial Insurance ADR Services
• Corporate Bankruptcy ADR
• Federal Communicatons Arbitration
• Intellectual Property ADR
• Internet ADR
• Non-Binding Dispute Resolution Services
• Reinsurance ADR
• Securities, Investor/Broker ADR
• Sports ADR
• Wills and Trusts ADR
• Wireless Industry ADR
• Real Estate Industry ADR
• International ADR
• Energy Industry ADR