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Stephen S. Strick, Esq.
Arbitrator • Mediator • Expert Witness
Download Bio Contact Case ManagerStephen S. Strick serves as an arbitrator, mediator and expert witness with FedArb, with experience spanning technology, intellectual property, entertainment, media, sports, licensing, and corporate and financial transactions. He has served as chair, sole arbitrator or co-arbitrator in approximately 350 domestic and international commercial arbitrations, including high-stakes, multiparty and cross-border proceedings. He is a Fellow and past president of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and a member of the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center’s peer-vetted Tech List of the World’s Leading Technology Neutrals.
A neutral since 1982, Mr. Strick devotes his professional practice exclusively to dispute resolution. His arbitration experience includes jurisdictional challenges, dispositive motions, complex discovery, electronically stored information, technical expert evidence and damages calculations. His matters have involved monetary damages, injunctive and declaratory relief, accountings and other equitable remedies. He conducts in-person and virtual proceedings, emphasizing thorough preparation, careful listening and procedures tailored to the dispute.
As a mediator, Mr. Strick handles commercial, intellectual property, entertainment and cross-border business disputes, including multiparty matters, high-value licensing disagreements and business dissolutions. His executive experience informs his understanding of the financial and operational interests underlying settlement decisions. He also holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology, adding a background in human behavior and conflict to his legal and business experience.
Before establishing his full-time neutral practice, Mr. Strick served as a general counsel and senior executive in the technology, digital imaging, motion picture and television industries. His responsibilities included software and technology licensing, patent portfolios, intellectual property protection, production financing, international distribution and corporate transactions. His entertainment career included work with United Artists, HBO and Dino De Laurentiis, as well as private practice at the predecessor to Loeb & Loeb. He is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Areas of Expertise
- Accounting and Valuation
- Advertising and Marketing
- Aerospace and Defense
- Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain
- Banking and Finance
- Business and Commercial Disputes
- Construction
- Contracts
- Corporate Governance and Fiduciary Duties
- Cybersecurity
- Entertainment, Media and Sports
- Franchise and Agency Agreements
- Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals
- Hospitality
- Insurance
- Intellectual Property
- International Arbitration
- Licensing and Distribution
- Manufacturing and Cross-Border Sourcing
- Mergers and Acquisitions
- Partnerships and Joint Ventures
- Patents and Trade Secrets
- Private Equity and Investment
- Rights of Publicity and Privacy
- Software and Technology
- Telecommunications
- Trademark and Copyright
Representative Matters
Technology and Intellectual Property
- Served as sole arbitrator in a dispute involving the development and implementation of a software platform for a property and casualty insurance business.
- Resolved claims concerning technology agreements, licensed know-how and alleged trade secret misappropriation involving advanced mineral-based products.
- Chaired an arbitration involving surveillance cameras and ground-station hardware and software for military aviation.
- Addressed the assignability of a healthcare consumer products patent claims release valued at up to $15 billion.
- Handled software licensing disputes involving automobile dealerships, hospital management and internet travel services.
- Resolved patent licensing, royalty, software development, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity contractual disputes.
Entertainment, Media and Sports
- Handled motion picture and television disputes involving production, financing, domestic and international distribution, ancillary rights and reversion of rights.
- Resolved music and video copyright, distribution, royalty and accounting disputes.
- Served as arbitrator and mediator in a dispute involving a celebrity product endorsement agreement.
- Decided final-offer arbitrations concerning regional sports network carriage under Federal Communications Commission orders.
- Addressed toy licensing claims involving lost revenue, reputational harm and defamation.
- Resolved disputes involving insurance funding for motion picture production, completion bonds and pay television agreements.
- Mediated a motion picture distribution dispute involving contractual obligations, reversion of rights and payment claims.
Corporate, Finance and Commercial Contracts
- Handled contract, fiduciary duty, fraud, unjust enrichment and accounting claims arising from licensing and other commercial relationships.
- Resolved partnership, joint venture, private equity and investment disputes, including business dissolutions and valuation issues.
- Addressed alleged forgery, conversion and accounting claims concerning the purchase and sale of paintings.
- Handled a dispute involving a master mortgage loan warehousing and security agreement.
- Resolved disputes involving international manufacturing, sourcing and agency agreements, including China-based operations.
- Addressed insurance coverage, franchise, healthcare and pharmaceutical distribution agreements, including disputes between an HMO and medical services providers.
- Mediated claims between U.S. and international parties involving the design, construction, installation and integration of a carbon dioxide-to-methanol process unit.
Professional Background
- Independent arbitrator and mediator, full-time practice, 2001–present.
- Dynacs, Inc. and predecessor companies, including Cerulean Digital, general counsel and subsidiary chief executive officer, 1994–2001.
- Art & Commerce, senior vice president and general counsel, 1989–1994.
- DEG/Dino De Laurentiis Corporation, senior executive responsible for motion picture and television production, financing and distribution, 1982–1989.
- HBO, business affairs, 1980–1982.
- Loeb & Loeb predecessor firm, attorney, 1977–1980.
- United Artists Corporation, attorney, business affairs, 1975–1977.
Professional Recognition and Leadership
- College of Commercial Arbitrators: Fellow and past president; leadership service has included the Executive Committee, Board of Directors, Membership Committee, Outreach Committee and initiatives addressing diversity, international arbitration and professional communications.
- Chartered Institute of Arbitrators: Fellow (FCIArb); former Executive Board member and co-chair of programming for the New York Branch.
- Singapore Institute of Arbitrators: Fellow.
- Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration: Fellow.
- Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center: Tech List of the World’s Leading Technology Neutrals.
- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Voting member, Executive Branch.
Professional Associations
- New York City Bar Association.
- American Bar Association, Dispute Resolution Section.
- International Arbitration Club of New York.
- New York International Arbitration Center, founding member.
- International Council for Commercial Arbitration.
- U.S. Council for International Business.
- National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals.
Selected Speaking and Teaching Engagements
- Panelist, international arbitration in entertainment disputes, California International Arbitration Week, 2024.
- Faculty member and concluding lecturer, Philippine Dispute Resolution Center’s 25th Commercial Arbitration Training Seminar, 2023.
- Moderator, College of Commercial Arbitrators program addressing the Restatement of the U.S. Law of International Commercial and Investor-State Arbitration.
- Moderator, “Arbitration: Past, Present and Future,” featuring Gary Born, College of Commercial Arbitrators Annual Meeting, 2020.
- Judge and arbitrator, Vis Moot competitions in Vienna and Hong Kong.
- Faculty member, Advanced Arbitration Academy, USC Gould School of Law’s Judge Judith O. Hollinger Program in Alternative Dispute Resolution, 2016.
- Guest speaker, Practising Law Institute, 2016.
- Guest lecturer, Stanford Law School, 2015.
- Moderator, diversity and media and entertainment panels, College of Commercial Arbitrators annual meetings.
Education
- Pacifica Graduate Institute, M.A., Counseling Psychology, with an emphasis in Depth Psychology, 2000.
- University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, formerly Hastings College of the Law, J.D., 1974; studies emphasized international law, conflicts of law and contract law.
- Stanford University, B.A., Political Science, 1971; studies included arms control and disarmament and Renaissance art in Florence, Italy.
Bar Admission
- New York, 1975.
Languages
- English, French and Italian.