UPDATE FROM NAM-NYS MANDATE…PROCEEDING WITH YOUR MEDS/ARBS REMOTELY

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak and Gov. Andrew Cuomo's announcement Friday morning, please be advised that as of Monday, March 23, NAM  will no longer have any in-person hearings or conferences at any of NAM's New York state locations.  All NAM employees and hearing officers in New York will be working remotely from home.

With that said, NAM will continue to provide mediation and arbitration services for our clients, either via video, telephonically or by written submissions (for arbitrations).  Although many of us are working remotely, NAM and its Neutrals have been able to proceed with the mediation/arbitration of a significant number of cases. Over the past few weeks, NAM has had multiple hearings  proceed with one or more parties appearing remotely each day. Indeed,  this methodology has  proven to be just as effective , with the same percent of mediations settled as has been consistent with results historically accomplished through traditional in-person hearings.

In these uncertain times, cases continue to be scheduled and closed at NAM in a consistent and orderly fashion.  Even though the courts have, for the most part, closed, you still have the ability to move your cases to NAM for remote mediation or arbitration.  By way of a gentle reminder, please make sure you reserve a sufficient amount of time when scheduling your cases since video and telephonic conferences have a hard stop at the conclusion of the reserved/end time and generally cannot run longer.  

One final bit of advice I can offer during this time is to those clients who already have cases scheduled for in-person hearings—maintain your scheduled time slots and simply convert those hearings to video or teleconference.  Since ALL cases are proceeding virtually right now, and we are unable to predict when in-person conferencing will resume, open ended adjournments will only result in undue delays and future backlogs. There is high demand for matters to proceed as scheduled and not adjourn.  The technology is easy to use and the transition to remote hearings is seamless.  NAM's neutrals are successfully resolving matters each day and are committed to helping you keep business as usual.

For those clients who want to submit pre-hearing position statements, please DO NOT send them by mail/courier/overnight delivery to NAM's offices.  ALL SUBMISSIONS SHOULD BE SENT VIA E-MAIL TO SUBMISSIONS@NAMADR.COM

If you have any questions, please contact your NAM Account Executive or customer service at 516-794-8950 or customerservice@namadr.com.

Please stay safe and healthy… together, we will get through this.

Sincerely, 

Jacqueline Silvey, Esq.
General Counsel
NAM (National Arbitration and Mediation)