1.5 Hours MCLE; 1.5 Recognition and Elimination of Bias

Angela M. Banks is a legal scholar who specializes in membership and belonging in democratic societies. Her research explores this topic in the areas of immigration, citizenship, law school curriculum, and professional development for faculty. She is the Charles J. Merriam Distinguished Professor of law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Her scholarship has appeared in leading American law review journals and her book Civic Education in the Age of Mass Migration: Implications for Theory and Practice is forthcoming with Teachers College Press.

Prior to joining the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law faculty, Professor Banks was a Professor of Law at William & Mary School of Law. She has also served as the Reginald F. Lewis Fellow for Law Teaching at Harvard Law School, a legal advisor to Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal; an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, DC (now WilmerHale); and a law clerk for Judge Carlos F. Lucero of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Professor Banks is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where she served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review and the Harvard International Law Journal. Prior to attending law school Professor Banks received a Master of Letters degree in sociology from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Marshall Scholar, and a B.A. in sociology from Spelman College summa cum laude.

Gary L. Benton is the Co-Chair of the California Lawyers Association (CLA) International ADR Subcommittee (Litigation Section). He is a US and International Arbitrator based in Palo Alto.

Jeffery Daar is a principal of the law firm Daar & Newman in Los Angeles with an international litigation and arbitration track record for more than 20 years. Jeff has been involved with cross-border disputes involving numerous countries and cultures and is a regular speaker on international business and legal issues. He is currently the Chair of the ADR Committee of the California Lawyers Association Litigation Section. Jeff is a Past Chair of the International Law Section of The State Bar of California and the International Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. Jeff currently serves as a Commissioner on the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission and has been a City Commissioner in Los Angeles since 2003.

Reginald A. Holmes is a prominent American based mediator, arbitrator and Settlement Counselor with a global practice. He enjoys an international reputation for success for resolving highly intractable disputes and conflicts across a broad range of subject matters including those involving intellectual property, employment, technology, entertainment, international and large complex business disputes. He also mediates high profile personal injury and socially charged conflicts. He is an independent neutral on numerous panels of the AAA, CPR, Resolute Services and the ICDR. He is a fellow and past member of the board of directors for the College of Commercial Arbitrators (CCA), a past President of the California Dispute Resolution Council (CDRC) and a board member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. He is President and Executive Director of the Neutrals Diversity Alliance (NDA). A former patent attorney, he earned an Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Florida and a Law degree from Georgetown University. He has held senior executive, business, and partner positions with several Fortune 500 corporations and law firms and has been active in national and local civic, community and professional organizations. He has a multinational caseload with practice centers in California, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Toronto and Beijing. His website is www.theholmeslawfirm.com.

Mimi Lee is part of a team that manages litigation, arbitration, pre-disputes, and investigations stemming from Chevron’s International Upstream operations. The team’s docket includes a variety of matters including commercial disputes, labor and employment, complex construction claims, coverage, tax, white collar, personal injury, and property damage.

Mimi and her group interact with external counsel located all over the world and are responsible for ensuring that all litigation matters are handled efficiently and in a cost effective manner consistent with Chevron’s Objectives-Based Litigation Technique (“””COBALT®”””), which is a structured and disciplined technique for achieving reliability, efficiency and world class performance in litigation management. Prior to joining Chevron, Mimi was in private practice as a litigator. She was formerly a partner with Thelen Reid & Priest and later with McKenna Long & Aldridge.

Montserrat Manzano’s practice is focused on the resolution of investor-state and commercial disputes. She has participated as counsel, arbitrator and secretary in more than fifty complex international arbitrations before the top arbitration institutions worldwide. She has availed from her knowledge of international law and the laws of various Latin American countries (such as Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Guatemala) and European countries. Montserrat boasts expertise in different jurisdictions and in different sectors: infrastructure, generation, supply and transportation of natural gas, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and consumer goods, among others. In particular, she has experience in disputes arising from infrastructure investments and projects in Latin America. To successfully manage them, regardless of their complexity, she combines her skills in administrative law, commercial law and investment.

K. Luan Tran is a partner with King & Spalding’s international arbitration practice, ranked the No. 1 practice worldwide by the 2020 Global Arbitration Review. Luan is based in the firm’s Los Angeles and Singapore offices. He has nearly 25 years of experience handling international arbitration matters worldwide, and has lived and practiced in North America, Asia, and Europe. Prior to King & Spalding, Luan led the Southeast Asia disputes practice of another international law firm. He is a frequent speaker and author on the fast-growing Southeast Asia region, particularly his native Vietnam. Luan was recently recognized as a “Traiblazer” by the Recorder for his work in the region. He was a recent member of the board of directors of the AAA/ICDR. He holds three law degrees, two from Canada and one from Harvard Law School.

In addition to his international arbitration experience, Luan is recognized as a leading attorney in ownership and partnership disputes between co-founders of technology companies. In a profile of his work in co-founder lawsuits, such as the Snapchat and Yik Yak matters, Forbes magazine called him the “go-to lawyer” in this area. During his career, Luan has recovered over $150 million on behalf of plaintiffs in his tech co-founder cases. Tran’s experience and success for the plaintiffs gives him significant advantages and insights when representing the defendants.

Steve Andersen, VP, ICDR Steve has over 20 years’ experience as an international dispute resolution professional. He is the point person to interface and collaborate with legal professionals, industry groups, advisory committees in the technology, energy, finance, aerospace, aviation, and construction industries in locations around the world. Steve dedicates a substantial amount of time organizing and facilitating international dispute resolution education including multiple events in the North America, Europe, Asia, and South America. Inaugural winner of the Outstanding Contribution to Technology Dispute Resolution Award by Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center. Steve oversaw and managed the 2021 ICDR Rule Amendments.
He is appointed by U.S. State Department to be member of the USMCA 31.22 (NAFTA 2022) Advisory Committee on Private Commercial Dispute Resolution and chairs its mediation committee. Responsible for the launch of ICDR Canada services that include a full range of dispute resolution services, rules, arbitrators, mediators, training and more. Selected as point person among team to interface and collaborate with professionals, industry groups, advisory committees in the technology, energy, finance, aerospace, aviation, national security and construction industries. Inaugural winner of the Outstanding Contribution to Technology Dispute Resolution Award by Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center.

Steve dedicates a substantial amount of time organizing and facilitating international dispute resolution education. Organized multiple prominent international dispute resolution events in the North America, Europe, Asia and South America. Organized and lead training programs on negotiation, mediation and arbitration for corporate counsel groups. He also has significant experience presenting to large groups, training professionals, publishing articles, and building executive networks with multinational companies and top-tier law firms. Steve has organized and facilitated many mediation training programs. Steve has had a leadership role with many rule project initiatives including 2021 and 2014 ICDR rule changes, Final Offer Arbitration Rule offering, Canadian Arbitrator Appointing Authority Rules, ICDR Canada Arbitration and Mediation Rules, mediation, early neutral evaluation, fact-finding and mini-trial service offerings.