For more than four decades, Stephen G. Yusem has been actively engaged in arbitration. Whether serving under the auspices of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) or as an ad hoc individual Neutral or through a court-annexed system, he has adjudicated countless commercial and construction claims as a sole arbitrator, panel chair and as impartial and partial arbitrator under the ABA/AAA Code of Ethics for Arbitrators in Commercial Disputes.

He is a fellow of both the prestigious 200-member College of Commercial Arbitrators and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators having successfully completed an intensive training course at Keble College, Oxford University. Mr. Yusem serves as chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee and recently chaired the Commercial Subcommittee of the Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission Advisory Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution. He is a past Director of the Commercial Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution, and he is certified as both an arbitrator and mediator by Construction Dispute Resolution Services (CDRS).

Mr. Yusem is continually sought out to teach arbitration to fellow members of the Bar. Having served as a member of the AAA commercial arbitration faculty, he has taught numerous classes and workshops on advanced commercial and construction case management issues. He has also served as a faculty member of the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section and the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. Since 2005, he has been an Adjunct Professor of Law (Dispute Resolution) at Cornell University Law School, Ithaca, New York.

In addition to his Arbitration practice, Mr. Yusem has over three decades of mediation experience. In 2009, he achieved mediator accreditation from the Center for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) universally recognized as the “gold standard” for mediator certification. He has also been certified as a mediator by the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Yusem began his law practice with the Norristown, Pennsylvania firm of High, Swartz, Roberts and Seidel where he advanced to become the senior partner. He resigned from the firm in 2007 to focus on his Neutral practice and to avoid conflicts of interest derived from partners’ and associates’ relationships with prospective arbitration parties. Until opening his own independent Neutral practice this year, Mr. Yusem served Of Counsel to Morris and Clemm, P.C. in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.

A past president of the Montgomery (County) Bar Association and past chair of its Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, he is also the founding president of the Montgomery Bar Foundation.

Simultaneously with his law practice, Mr. Yusem served as a United States Navy Reserve officer rising to the grade of Rear Admiral and ultimately becoming the highest ranking Navy Reserve Surface Line Officer in the United States. As a Navy flag officer, he represented the Reserve Officers Association of the United States as its president at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and directed the NATO Language Academy throughout all of the nations of Eastern and Central Europe.

A graduate of Cornell University (B.A., Economics) and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, he is admitted to the bars of Pennsylvania, Maine (inactive), the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.

Recent Teaching Engagements

“Fiduciary Arbitration,” College of Commercial Arbitrators, 2011; “Fiduciary ADR,” Pennsylvania Bar Association, 2011; “Probate ADR,” ABA Dispute Resolution Section, 2010, 2011; “Planning Resolution Strategies,” ABA Dispute Resolution Section, 2010; “Probate Mediation,” ABA Dispute Resolution Section, 2009; “Innovative Construction ADR Techniques,” ABA Dispute Resolution Section, 2009; “Dispute Resolution Training Course,” Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, 2008; “Probate Mediation,” Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Estate Law Institute, 2005-2008; “ADR Institute,” Pennsylvania Bar Institute, 2004-2007; “Commercial Arbitrators Guide to Avoiding Vacatur,” ABA Dispute Resolution Section, 2007; “Construction Dispute Review Boards,” ABA Dispute Resolution Section, 2007; “Arbitration Disclosure Issues,” ABA Dispute Resolution Section, 2007; AAA Commercial Arbitration II Training, 2006-2001; “Avoiding Vacatur,” Association for Conflict Resolution Annual Conference, 2006; Pennsylvania Bar Association ADR Committee, Commercial Arbitration Ethics, 2006; “Managing the Multi-party Complex Construction Mediation,” ABA Dispute Resolution Section, 2006; “Arbitration Training Institute,” ABA Dispute Resolution Section, 2006-2004; “Mediation,” Pennsylvania Bar Association Estate Law Institute, 2006; “The Commercial Arbitration Hearing,” ABA Dispute Resolution Section, 2005; “Practicing Commercial Arbitration Today,” Bar of the City of New York, 2004; “Mediation for the Professional,” Center for Dispute Settlement, 2004; “Arbitration Training Institute,” ABA Dispute Resolution Section, 2004; “Maximize Your Mediations,” Pennsylvania Bar Institute, 2003; “Advanced Mediation,” ABA Dispute Resolution Section, 2003; “Commercial Arbitration Issues and Resolving Land Use Disputes,” Association for Conflict Resolution, 2003; AAA, Commercial Arbitration, Train the Trainers, 2001; AAA, Commercial Arbitration I, 2000-2002; “Transnational Arbitration,” Pennsylvania Bar Institute, 2000

Recent Arbitration Training

Domestic:

AAA/ICDR Neutrals Conference, 2012, 2010, 2003, 2000; AAA Construction Conference, 2010; AAA Webinar, How to Prevent Arbitrations from Transforming into Litigation, 2009; AAA Arbitrator Ethics and Disclosure (ACE003), 2008; ABA Dispute Resolution Section Conference, 2008; Construction Dispute Resolution Services, Dispute Resolution Boards, 2007; Center for Dispute Settlement, Mediation for the Professional, 2004; AAA Arbitration Awards: Safeguarding, Deciding and Writing Awards (ACE001), 2003; ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, Advanced Mediation Training, 2003, 2002; AAA Commercial Train the Trainer Course, 2000; AAA Advanced Case Management Issues, 2000; ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, Collaborative Problem Solving, 2000

International:

Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Best Practices Guidelines for International Arbitration and Mediation, 2010; International Conference of Commercial Arbitrators, 2010; Association for International Arbitration, The UNCITRAL Model Law: 25 Years, 2010; ICDR 8th Annual Miami International Arbitration Conference: Resolving International Construction Disputes, 2010; Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, International Commercial Arbitration, 2008; ICC, International Advanced Arbitration Practice Workshop, 2007; ICC, Current Issues in ICC Arbitration, 2006; JAMS Institute, International Arbitration Workshop, 2005; ICC, International Commercial Dispute Resolution, 2005; ICC, Meeting the Challenges of Global Dispute Resolution, 2004; ABA Dispute Resolution Section, Building an International ADR Practice, 2004; ABA Dispute Resolution Section, International Dispute Resolution, 2003

ADR Memberships and Accreditations

• Accredited Mediator, Center for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), London, United Kingdom
• Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London, United Kingdom
• Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators
• Chair, Pennsylvania Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee
• Adjunct Professor of Law (Dispute Resolution), Cornell University Law School, Ithaca, New York