SCOTUS Swings the Pendulum Back in Favor of Arbitration: Ensure That Your Next Arbitration Clause Is Effective and Enforceable

Ms. Barnum, Co-Chair of the Firm's Construction Industry Practice Group, is a trial lawyer with more than 30 years of experience representing developers, business owners, landlords, lenders, and municipalities in a wide variety of business, commercial, premises and product liability defense, and creditors' rights litigation. Ms. Barnum has an active dispute resolution practice and she also counsels clients on shifting risk and litigation prevention. She also serves as the Chair of the Vision & Leadership Subcommittee of the firm's Diversity Committee.

Jennifer Huang is an Associate at Skadden. She received her JD from Harvard Law School in 2013.

Michael R. Powell is the Vice President of the American Arbitration Association’s (AAA) Los Angeles office. He is primarily responsible for expanding the use of AAA construction, real estate and environmental ADR services in the Western Pacific and Pacific Northwest states. In this capacity, he assists the corporate, legal and public sector communities on dispute avoidance and resolution techniques, and in designing dispute resolution systems to meet their specific needs. He manages and oversees recruitment to the Panel and case administration for all large, complex cases in his 11-state region for construction, real estate and environmental disputes.

Mr. Powell is a graduate of California State University, San Bernardino and is a frequent trainer, speaker and writer on the subject of alternative dispute resolution. He serves on the Board of Directors of the California Dispute Resolution Council, working with state legislators to educate and improve the quality of alternative dispute resolution, and is currently serving as its interim president.

Dr. Patricia D. Galloway is an international arbitrator specializing in energy and construction matters and has over 35 years of experience in US domestic and international arbitration, having served as Chair, member of three-member tribunals on large complex cases, and as sole arbitrator. She is a Fellow in both the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) and the College of Commercial Arbitrators (CCA), being the first non-lawyer elected to the college. She is also a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. She holds a Certificate in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine Law School-Straus Institute, a Diploma in International Arbitration, and is a member of several arbitral institution panels including the International Centre for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), ICDR and the American Arbitration Association (AAA), where she also serves on its Board of Directors. She has lectured and written numerous articles regarding mediation and arbitration.

Dr. Galloway is also the Chairman of the Board of, a management consulting firm advising on megaprojects in the Energy and Infrastructure industries. For more than 40 years, she has provided strategic advice to boards and senior management concerning governance, management structures, and performance and risk management.

Dr. Galloway's experience includes arbitration, mediation, dispute review boards, and project neutrals. Prior to 2008, she served as both a consulting or testifying expert in numerous arbitration forums including; American Arbitration Association (AAA), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), UNCITRAL, Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC), and London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) with disputes ranging from US$1 million to US$ 6 billion.

Dr. Galloway was appointed by President George W. Bush to the United States National Science Board in 2006 for a six-year term. In that position, she served as vice chair from 2008 to 2010. In 2004, she was honored to be elected by her peers to serve as the first woman president of the American Society of Civil Engineers. She has served as an advisor to multiple independent review panels and has extensive international experience, having worked on some of the world’s largest projects in over 60 countries.