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Evaluations of Arbitrators and Mediators

Monday, December 29, 2025 2:55 PM | Anonymous

Employee Evaluations - CEDR

When an institution evaluates arbitrators and mediators, which stakeholders, if any, should have access to those evaluations?

What are your thoughts?

Comments

  • Friday, January 02, 2026 1:59 PM | Jack Levin
    The work of the neutral is mostly solitary. Even co-arbitrators may unwilling or unable to give helpful criticism. Any system that can provide feedback to neutrals would be beneficial. Of course, no one should be forced to hear it.
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  • Friday, January 02, 2026 2:06 PM | M. Seng
    I wish AAA would ALWAYS share evaluations and litigant comments with we Arbitrators and Mediators. That would provide the best opportunity to learn and correct. Sources could be anonymous. A single year-end report would protect individual sources.

    I also believe litigants should have access to the evaluations but only after AAA staff screens/curates for legitimacy vs. simply disgruntled party.
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    • Friday, January 02, 2026 2:23 PM | Charlie Herf
      Could not agree more with M. Seng. Parties, their counsel and the arbitrator/mediator that is the subject of the evaluation need access. How else will the neutral learn or improve ? Screening lawyer and party arbitrator/mediator evaluations to get rid of dissatisfied litigants is a plus. Served as Superior Court Judge Pro Tem for 37 years and very disappointed with % of responsive evaluations.
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    • Friday, January 02, 2026 2:58 PM | AAA neutral
      How will the AAA know if the review of the arbitrator is legitimate or not? I had a negative review from a non-prevailing party that was 100% untrue regarding matters that occurred during a final hearing that was not taken down. If a negative review is available to future potential litigants, then the arbitrator should be able to publish a response.
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    • Friday, January 02, 2026 3:01 PM | Raoul East Drapeau
      During practically every case I have served there have been surprises and other thorny issues that made me wonder how did the parties think I did? Did I listen to their presentation carefully? Did I seem biased?. All those things. Clearly, the authors should be anonymous and the reviews screened by staff to eliminate the annoyed.
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  • Friday, January 02, 2026 3:01 PM | Denise Hammond
    I think evaluations are extremely helpful to the parties, the arbitrators and the AAA. How else do we know if we are providing the best service to the parties? I would also go a step further and have the AAA publish, say quarterly, a composite of some of the best feedback given by partie,s both positive and negative so we can all hone our skills a bit more. Obviously it should b anonymous. And the arbitrator should alwas be provided the opportunity to comment - it is only fair.
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    • Friday, January 02, 2026 4:58 PM | Mark Painter
      Evaluations would be very helpful. But unless I am missing something I have never received any.
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  • Friday, January 02, 2026 3:18 PM | John Feerick
    Long time ago re. labor arbitrators reports existed, at the AAA library, as to their proclivities in various areas such as management rights.. Worth looking at ,as I did as a labor and employment lawyer for airlines and printing unions and made judgments accordingly as to selecion of arbitrators after reading the cited decisions.
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    • Friday, January 02, 2026 5:12 PM | Sharon W. Ware
      Evaluations are helpful and essential and assist us in improving how we handle the arbitrations and mediations. It also help us continue to develop our skills. The litigants, their attorneys, arbitrators and mediators should have access to their evaluations. The evaluators' names should not be shared and the institute should review for constructive comments before sharing.
      Link  •  Reply
  • Friday, January 02, 2026 8:36 PM | m gruber
    it depends on the "institution" doing the evaluation, the reason for the evaluation and what is being evaluated. The question posed related to Institutions performing evaluations and not the parties. My concern would relate to the reason for such evaluations and making sure they were fair, unbiased, are properly performed . Hard to form an opinion on who should have access without more information.
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  • Saturday, January 03, 2026 8:31 AM | Geoffrey BH
    For what it is worth, I believe so-called evaluation to be invidious and misleading.
    The unfit may be exclude from the qualifying institution, removed by the Court or, in plural tribunals, overridden by a majority.
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  • Saturday, January 03, 2026 10:32 AM | Thomas Levak
    I’ve been an active labor arbitrator in Portland for over 40 years, and all that time the major employer labor firms have evaluated arbitrators and shared the information.
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  • Sunday, January 04, 2026 7:26 PM | Doris J. Dabrowski
    I urge AAA and other providers to share evaluations by parties. The evaluations would help arbitrators to address concerns in the future. Arbitrators should have an opportunity to respond to the substance of evaluations. The comments as conveyed to the arbitrator could be anonymous.
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  • Monday, January 05, 2026 12:44 AM | Gary L. Benton
    It would be constructive for AAA-ICDR to address this issue. Providing arbitrators with meaningful feedback would serve three important purposes:
    (1) Fairness — it would afford arbitrators an opportunity to understand and, where appropriate, respond to criticism, consistent with AAA’s commitment to fairness;
    (2) Professional development — it would enable arbitrators to improve the quality and effectiveness of their service; and
    (3) Institutional legitimacy — greater transparency around evaluation practices would strengthen confidence in AAA’s processes and enhance its institutional credibility.
    Link  •  Reply
  • Monday, January 05, 2026 6:06 PM | Edwin H. Stern
    I agree that evaluation of an arbitrator or mediator might be helpful to the arbitrator or mediator, depending upon when submitted and the form of evaluation. If evaluation of an arbitrator is submitted before the award is rendered, an evaluator could try and incur favoritism at least if signed . After the matter ends, evaluations could be helpful, particularly if there are similar or repetitious comments from several responders.

    Releasing the evaluations to prospective parties may lead to more challenges and delay the process, and may require an opportunity for the arbitrator or mediator to respond as a matter of fairness and to provide a complete picture.
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  • Tuesday, January 06, 2026 12:33 PM | Diane E O'Connell
    I would love to get feedback from Co-arbitrators, case managers and of course parties. It can seem a little like a black hole on what the case managers need, ie the of communication as I know they are busy and try to make my emails short and keep them to a minimum. However, this is not great for relationship building. Also, how do the parties perceive us would be invaluable to know. It's difficult to know how you are doing without feedback.
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