Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin (Ret.)

The Honorable Shira A. Scheindlin was appointed by President Bill Clinton as a Federal Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and served with distinction for 22 years. She presided over settlements, motions, discovery and trials – both civil and criminal. She also sat by designation on the Second and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals during her time as a jurist. Judge Scheindlin left the bench in May 2016. In the two years that followed, she arbitrated and mediated numerous complex civil cases, has heard mock arguments in several high-profile disputes, has served as an expert witness, and has been appointed as a Special Master by the federal court in Manhattan on two occasions.

Judge Scheindlin has handled dozens of mediations, mostly in complex commercial cases involving, securities class actions, ERISA litigation, employment discrimination, real estate, residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) fraud, Jones Act/maritime, intellectual property, construction, and breach of contract. She has also overseen a number of general commercial, product liability, cybersecurity and terrorist attack cases. Judge Scheindlin is known to be well prepared and adept at comprehending even the most complex issues.

Representative matters in which Judge Scheindlin has served as an arbitrator include, among others, a commercial/bankruptcy case in which a portion of a group of Secured Lenders, signatories to Credit Documents, sought millions of dollars claiming that they were not allocated a fair share of the proceeds; a commercial transaction between two pharmaceutical companies with one claiming that a stream of payments totaling millions of dollars continued to be owed to the other; wrongful termination, breach of contract, and a cybersecurity issue involving an investor’s loss of funds in a cryptocurrency exchange.

Her experience acquired in over four decades of private practice and on the bench makes her exceptionally well-qualified to assist parties and their counsel in resolving disputes through arbitration or mediation. She is a hard-working and detail-oriented jurist whose even-handed disposition makes her highly effective in facilitating the resolution of a variety of complex matters.

In the mid-70s, she served as Chief Administrative United States Attorney and Deputy Chief of the Economic Crimes Unit in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. She left to become the General Counsel of the Department of Investigations of the City of New York, and then returned to that Court as a Magistrate Judge for five years. That was followed by eight years in practice as a partner at two large New York City law firms representing clients in commercial litigation and product liability cases, in both state and federal court.

Judge Scheindlin has also participated in numerous mock arguments that include an appellate argument regarding a dispute between various insureds and their insurers regarding scope of coverage and tiers of coverage; a trial court argument regarding a very large antitrust case against a major computer component manufacturer; an ERISA class action dispute that involved a mandatory arbitration clause, and a LIBOR-related matter against a major U.S. bank. She has also served as an expert witness on issues of United States law in cases involving very large U.S. technology companies.

Judge Scheindlin is available to arbitrate and mediate cases throughout the United States.