William H. Levit

As a Foreign Service Officer, more than 4 decades as a trial lawyer, and 4 years as General Counsel of a major corporation and more than 35 years as a neutral, Mr. Levit is highly regarded as a skilled and experienced arbitrator and mediator.

Experience

Over 50 years experience as a lawyer, both in a law firm and corporate setting, and over 40 years experience as an arbitrator and mediator principally in complex commercial, business, and corporate disputes. Substantial experience in dealer, product distribution and franchise disputes, corporate, LLC, shareholder and partnership disputes, private equity, executive employment disputes, breach of fiduciary duty, health insurance, reinsurance, insurance coverage, bad faith and insolvency, banking, commercial law, antitrust, trade secrets, unfair competition, covenants not to compete, professional liability (attorneys and accountants), Native American law, intellectual property, including trademark, software and patent licensing disputes and AI, statutory consumer disputes, environmental law, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and international transactions. Has acted as counsel for clients in arbitrations under American Arbitration Association, CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, International Chamber of Commerce, Zurich Chamber of Commerce, International Arbitral Centre of Federal Economic Chamber of Vienna, Iran-US Claims Tribunal, UNCITRAL and other ad hoc rules. Substitute Arbitrator, Iran-US Claims Tribunal (The Hague), 1984-88. Has served as sole arbitrator, emergency arbitrator, chair or co-arbitrator in well over 100 arbitrations under a wide variety of domestic and international rules. Visiting Professor, International Commercial Arbitration, Faculty of Law and Administration, Jagiellonian University, 2014, Krakow, Poland; Lecturer, International Commercial Arbitration, African Centre for Legal Excellence, 2013, Maseru, Lesotho; Visiting Professor, International Commercial Arbitration and Mediation, Vilnius University Faculty of Law, 2013, Vilnius, Lithuania; Visiting Professor, International Commercial Arbitration and Mediation, Baikal National University of Economics and Law, 2012, Irkutsk, Russia; and Visiting Professor, International Commercial Arbitration, Law & Management Institute, Vladivostok State University of Economics & Service, Vladivostok, Russia, 2011. Listed in current edition of The Best Lawyers in America (Arbitration, International Arbitration, Mediation, Commercial Litigation and IP Litigation). Listed through 2014 in Chambers & Partners Directory of America’s Leading Business Lawyers (most recently as Senior Statesman - General Commercial Litigation), Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law and Who’s Who in the World. Chair of Board of Administrative Oversight of Supreme Court of Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation (2000-2006). Appointed and reappointed by Governor of Wisconsin as Trustee of State of Wisconsin Investment Board, one of ten largest U.S. public pension plans (May 2003-September 2015). Additional information can be found on my website (www.levitadr.com).

Work History

Principal, Levit ADR LLC; Former Shareholder, Chair International Practice Group, Loss Prevention Partner, Claims Counsel, Board Member and Chair Litigation Practice Group, Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. (1983-2014); Secretary and General Counsel, Rexnord Inc. (1979-83); Partner, Hughes Hubbard & Reed (1973-79); Associate, Davis Polk & Wardwell (1967-73); U.S. Foreign Service Officer, American Embassy, New Delhi (1962-64).

Training

Regularly participates in ADR educational programs, including, among others, College of Commercial Arbitrators and CPR Annual Meetings; Attended AAA Cyber Security: A Shared Responsibility, 2019; AAA/ICDR Mediation.org Panel Conference, 2019 and 2021; AAA Arbitrator Performance and Demeanor - Meeting Participant Expectations, 2018; AAA When Experts Come from Different Planets, 2017; ICDR International Symposia in Advanced Case Management Issues, 2016; AAA/ICDR Mediation.org Panel Conference, 2016; AAA Impasse Mediating in the Red Zone, 2015; AAA Writing Arbitration Awards, 2014; AAA Managing the Arbitration Process for Efficiency & Economy Following the Preliminary Hearing, 2012; AAA Maximizing Efficiency & Economy in Arbitration: Challenges at the Preliminary Hearing, 2011; AAA Chairing an Arbitration Panel: Managing Procedures, Process & Dynamics, 2010, 2005; AAA/ICDR Neutrals Conference, 2009; AAA/ICDR International Arbitration Symposium, 2006; AAA Neutrals Conference, 2003-2006; AAA Arbitrator Ethics & Disclosure, 2006; AAA Arbitration Awards: Safeguarding, Deciding & Writing Awards, 2003; AAA Annual Arbitrator Update 2003, 2001; AAA Central Case Management Center, Administrative Issues Workshop, 2001; AAA International Arbitrator Training, 2000; AAA Commercial Arbitrator Training, 1999; as well as various other ADR training. Extensive mediator training through CPR and AAA.

License(s)

Admitted to the Bar: New York, 1968 (active); California, 1974 (active); Wisconsin, 1979 (active); U.S. District Court: Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; Central and Northern Districts of California; Eastern and Western Districts of Wisconsin; Federal Court of Claims; U.S. Court of Appeals: Second, Third, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth and Federal Circuits; U.S. Supreme Court, 1971. Tribal Court of the Forest County Wisconsin Potawatomi Community.

Education

Yale University (BA, Asian History magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa-1960); University of California at Berkeley (MA, International Relations-1962); Harvard University (LLB-1967).

Publications

Contributor, L.W. Newman et al., INTERIM MEASURES IN THE UNITED STATES IN AID OF ARBITRATION (Juris Publishing Inc. 2022); Contributor, 4th edition, College of Commercial Arbitrators Guide to Best Practices in Commercial Arbitration (2017); Co-author, ’Wisconsin’s Experience in Allocating Jurisdiction Between State and Tribal Courts,’ 45 COURT REVIEW 20 (2008-2009); Co-author, ’Surveying the Boundaries: Overlapping State and Tribal Court Jurisdiction,’ WISCONSIN LAWYER, June 2006; chapter author, ’An Introduction to ADR,’ WINNING LEGAL STRATEGIES FOR ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION, Aspatore Books, 2005; contributor, MERGERS AND THE PRIVATE ANTITRUST SUIT: PRIVATE ENFORCEMENT OF SECTION 7 OF THE CLAYTON ACT, American Bar Association, 1977; Editor-in-Chief, HARVARD INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL, 1966-67.

Panels

Regional Panelist for both Arbitration and Mediation, CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution Panel of Distinguished Neutrals, and member of CPR Insurance, Franchise, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Challenge, Special Arbitrator and General Counsel Panels; Panel of Arbitrators, The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (London); American Arbitration Association’s Commercial; Large, Complex Case; M&A; Joint Venture; Consumer; Employment and International Centre for Dispute Resolution Panels of Arbitrators and American Arbitration Association and International Centre for Dispute Resolution Panels of Mediators; London Court of International Arbitration North American Users Council; FedArb Panel of Commercial Neutrals; Panel of Mediators, International Mediation Institute (The Hague); Chicago International Dispute Resolution Association Panel of Arbitrators and Mediators.

Associations

American Law Institute; Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators; Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London (Fellow (FCIArb) and Chartered Arbitrator (CArb)); Certified Mediator, International Mediation Institute; Association of the Bar of the City of New York; Seventh Circuit Bar Association (Past President); active member of the State Bars of California, New York and Wisconsin (Fee Arbitration Committee, Past Chair); Milwaukee Bar Association (Fee Arbitration Committee, Past Chair); American Society of Corporate Secretaries (Wisconsin Chapter, Past President); American Bar Foundation (Fellow); Wisconsin Law Foundation (Fellow). Institute of Judicial Administration