Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at 4:00 PM EST, Via Zoom
Join the CIArb-NAB Senior Lawyers Committee on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, at 4:00 PM EST via Zoom for a timely and thought-provoking program featuring a distinguished panel from the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center (SVAMC).
The discussion will be moderated by Les Schiefelbein, FCIArb, an internationally recognized arbitrator and mediator with over four decades of experience in corporate and government legal practice, specializing in U.S. and international business and technology matters.
Our panel of leading experts includes:
- Jonathan Fitch, FCIArb, FCollArb
- Sarah Reynolds, FCIArb
- Chris Compton, FCIArb
- Dr. Dorothy Schramm, FCIArb, Dr. iur
- Michael Diamant, FCIArb, FCollArb
Together, they will explore the evolving field of technology arbitration and alternative dispute resolution (ADR), offering insights drawn from their extensive work at the intersection of law, innovation, and emerging technologies.
Discussion topics will include:
• What defines a “tech arbitration”
• Challenges of expedited arbitration proceedings
• Deepfakes and evidentiary authentication
• Arbitrator questioning of expert and lay witnesses
• Confidentiality and data security in the AI era
Audience participation is encouraged—bring your questions and be part of a dynamic exchange with some of the foremost experts shaping the future of dispute resolution.
Register here for the event: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qrdr0zRaRbGqKqRYMEDlQg
Les Schiefelbein, FCIArb
Les Schiefelbein is the CEO and founder of Schiefelbein Global Dispute Resolution. He is a leading arbitrator and mediator serving in domestic and international cases in the resolution of complex multi-million dollar commercial and government disputes.
Les brings to his practice an extensive background of more than thirty years as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, where he developed and led a successful arbitration and litigation practice of 18 attorneys with a near perfect record of 156 cases won and only two lost. He has arbitrated matters under the rules of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, the London Court of International Arbitration and the American Arbitration Association. The arbitrations involved complex technical and unique legal issues in the design, production and performance of commercial and aerospace products each with a cost in the range of $15 million to $250 million. He defeated a plaintiff claim of $3 billion in a Civil False Claims Act litigation.
At Lockheed Martin, Les was a trusted advisor to senior management on a wide range of aerospace and national security matters, global disputes, corporate governance and intellectual property issues. Les has negotiated contracts and business arrangements across the globe to include the first U.S. aerospace business with Russian partners and a state-of-the-art air traffic control system in the Republic of China. Les further gained global dispute resolution experience as an Air Force Judge Advocate Reserve lawyer.
Les is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a member of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, International Panel of Arbitrators, London Court of International Arbitration and the American Arbitration Association Commercial Panel. He is a member of the California Bar, Arizona Bar and District of Columbia Bar.
Jonathan Fitch, FCIArb, FCollArb
Jonathan W. Fitch is the CEO and a director of the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center. He is an international arbitrator and mediator at JAMS. He recently retired as managing partner of Fitch Law Partners LLP, a Boston based, 25 lawyer litigation boutique recognized as a Best Law Firm in America by U.S. News and World Report.
The Best Lawyers in America named Mr. Fitch as the 2023 “Lawyer of the Year” for Arbitration in Boston and also as the 2023 “Lawyer of the Year” for Litigation-Trusts and Estates in Boston. He was previously recognized as a “Lawyer of the Year” by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Newspaper (2009) and by The Best Lawyers in America (2021) and twice named as a “Top 100 Massachusetts Super Lawyer.” Regularly listed as a Best Lawyer in America in the areas of Arbitration, Commercial Litigation and Litigation-Trusts and Estates. Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators. Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Mr. Fitch is graduate of Boston College Law School (J.D.), Yale School of Management (M.P.P.M.) and Williams College (B.A.). He frequently speaks on international and domestic arbitration and management topics at law schools, the Boston Bar Association, the Massachusetts Bar Association, and at SVAMC and AAA-ICDR arbitration programs. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Boston Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators North America Branch. He is a founding director of the Boston International Arbitration Council. Mr. Fitch is a director of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and the former Co-chair of its Education Committee.
Sarah Reynolds
Sarah acts as an arbitrator and counsel representing technology and pharmaceutical companies before domestic and international arbitral bodies. Sarah is a former SVAMC CEO and current Board Member, as well as Executive Committee Member. She is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Sarah is named on the ICDR Panel of Arbitrators and Mediators, the British Virgin Islands Arbitration Center Panel of Arbitrators, and the Hong Kong Center for International Arbitration List of Arbitrators. Sarah is also cross licensed in the United States (Illinois and California) the U.K. (England and Wales) and Ireland.
Chris Compton
Chris is a co-founder and currently serves as Vice-Chairman of the SVAMC Board. He is an independent arbitrator and mediator who has served since 1987 on the AAA’s Large Complex Case Panel. He is a mediator and early neutral evaluator for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
At Silicon Valley’s Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C., Chris was a litigator and senior antitrust partner representing technology companies, their employees and investors in state and federal courts, as well as arbitral tribunals, for over 30 years. He handled over 900 successful merger investigations before the DOJ, FTC and foreign competition agencies.
Chris has for many years been named a Northern California Super Lawyer and included in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business and Best Lawyers in America. He has published extensively over the years and has taught antitrust and its intersection with IP law at both the UC Hastings College of the Law and the Santa Clara University School of Law.
Earning a J.D. from New York University School of Law, Chris was managing editor of the Law Review and a Root-Tilden-Snow Scholar. He graduated with a B.S. degree from This program is presented by the North America Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators the U.S. Air Force Academy, majoring in Chinese studies, and served as a Military Judge in the Air Force JAG Corps.
Dr. Dorothee Schramm, FCIArb, Dr. iur
Dorothee is a full-time arbitrator with 20+ years of arbitration experience who has been deciding complex commercial disputes around the world since 2011. A Swiss lawyer by qualification and former partner at Sidley Austin LLP, she feels at home in both civil law and common law contexts and has extensive experience with “translating” between the two systems. Dorothee is one of few arbitrators who have hands-on advocacy experience in billion-dollar cases but are fully independent with few conflicts of interest.
While Dorothee’s experience spans many industries, she has particular focus on technology, engineering, life sciences and energy. As former Head of Europe of Sidley’s Global Life Sciences team and member of Sidley’s Technology Committee, her insights into the life sciences and technology industries go far beyond contract disputes.
Dorothee is recognized as a thought leader both globally and within Switzerland, and she helps further the development of international arbitration as the Vice-President of the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Centre (SVAMC) and a member of the Executive Committee of the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA). Dorothee is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a CEDR Accredited Mediator.
Michael Diamant, FCIArb, FCollArb
Michael H. Diamant received a B.S. in Engineering, with high honors, focusing on applied physics, from Case Western Reserve University, and a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School. He retired at the end of 2016 as partner and remains Of Counsel at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP in its Cleveland Ohio office.
Michael has litigated and arbitrated around the country including the U.S. Supreme Court and tried numerous jury and non-jury cases involving complex engineering, IP, and business disputes. He has been an arbitrator and mediator for forty years hearing and resolving complex technology disputes and serving on the panels of the American Arbitration Association, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, and the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution.
Michael is a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and a member of the Tech List and the Executive Committee of the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center. He focuses on engineering and technology, as well as business disputes. He has spoken at numerous national and international conferences and published articles on ADR in technology cases.
This program is presented by the North America Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
