Commercial arbitration and special-master appointments involving business torts, construction, financial services, healthcare, technology/AI, trade secrets, closely held entities, real estate, tribal enterprises, cannabis, and economic damages.
Experience
Since 1995, Aiken has received more than 300 administered and ad hoc arbitral appointments and issued more than 160 awards under the ICDR Rules and AAA Commercial Arbitration Rules, including the Large, Complex Commercial Disputes Procedures, Construction Rules and Employment Arbitration Rules. He now accepts new appointments only through AAA and ICDR. As sole arbitrator, he has managed disputes ranging from approximately $200,000 to $250 million. Representative matters have involved business sales and failed mergers; partnership, shareholder and corporate-governance disputes; technology and intellectual-property licensing; trade-secret misappropriation and data theft; real-estate transactions and valuation; franchises; healthcare businesses and medical-services agreements; financial services; construction; cannabis businesses; executive employment; restrictive covenants; unfair competition; fraud; fiduciary duties; and complex economic damages. Aiken frequently serves as chair of three-member panels in matters involving claims from $20 million to more than $100 million. Panel matters have included multifamily real-estate projects, intertribal gaming rights, utility agreements, intergovernmental agreements, banking claims, failed mergers, patent licensing, partnership and closely held business valuations, hotel and commercial-property valuations, and insurance coverage. His international matters have involved parties or businesses from Sweden, India, Taiwan, Australia, France, Mexico, Canada and Belgium. He has also served on a multi-arbitrator mass-claims panel resolving thousands of employee claims totaling more than $30 million. Aiken serves as special master in employment, healthcare, trade-secret and related matters involving electronically stored information. His work has included discovery management, cost allocation, spoliation claims, access to private hardware, attorney-client privilege, work-product protection and search methodology. Before concentrating exclusively on neutral work, Aiken had more than three decades of state and federal trial and appellate experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in complex business disputes. He retired from mediation in February 2026 after mediating more than 1,100 matters.
Work History
Neutral, Shawn Aiken PLLC, 2016-present; Attorney, Aiken Law Firm PLLC, 2022-2025; Designated Principal, Aiken Farrell Kroloff LLC, 2023-2025; Shareholder, Aiken Schenk Hawkins & Ricciardi P.C., 1990-2015; Associate, Beus Gilbert Wake & Morrill, 1984-1990; Associate, O’Connor Cavanagh, 1983-1984.
Training
Clearbrief Academy, completed June 2025. Selected AAA training includes Dealing With Delay Tactics in Arbitration; Chairing an Arbitration Panel: Managing Procedures, Process & Dynamics; Arbitration Awards: Safeguarding, Deciding & Writing Awards; Arbitrator Ethics & Disclosure; Commercial Arbitrator II: Advanced Case Management Issues; Commercial Arbitrator Training; and Introductory Arbitrator Training.
License(s)
Arizona, 1983; U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, 1983; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1983; Supreme Court of the United States, 2010.
Education
Arizona State University, J.D., 1983; St. Olaf College, B.A., cum laude, 1980.
Publications
Selected programs include “Commercial Arbitration: Practical Guidance,” Scottsdale Bar Association, April 2026, presenter; “Arbitration Agreements,” Arizona Judicial Conference, 2022, panelist; ABA Arbitration Training Institute, 2020, facilitator; “ADR Talks: Creative Procedures in Arbitration,” State Bar of Arizona Annual Convention, June 2019, panelist; “Best Practices in Commercial Arbitration,” American Arbitration Association, April 2016, webinar co-presenter; “Neutrals’ Roundtable: Motions and Award Modifications,” American Arbitration Association, September 2015, panelist; “Research and Investigations: The Arbitrator’s Authority,” American Arbitration Association, September 2014; “Principled Deliberations: Decision-Making Skills for Arbitrators,” American Arbitration Association, May 2014; and “Native American Sovereign Nations and Arbitration: The Skywalk Case,” College of Commercial Arbitrators Annual Meeting, October 2013. A more complete list appears at https://shawnaiken.com/bio/.
Awards
Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers, 2015; Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators, 2009; listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation, Mediation and Arbitration, 2007-2027; Best Lawyers’ Phoenix Lawyer of the Year for Arbitration, 2019, 2021 and 2026; Best Lawyers’ Phoenix Lawyer of the Year for Mediation, 2012 and 2015; Southwest Super Lawyers, 2007-2026; Super Lawyers’ Top 50 Arizona Lawyers, 2009-2026.
Panels
American Arbitration Association and International Centre for Dispute Resolution national rosters, 1995-present. Experience includes commercial, large-complex, construction, consumer, franchise, financial-services, cannabis and international matters, including proceedings conducted under expedited and fast-track procedures. Aiken accepts new arbitral appointments only through AAA and ICDR.
Associations
Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers; Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators; Fellow, American College of Civil Trial Mediators; Fellow, Academy of Court-Appointed Neutrals; Charter Member, National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals; Arbitrator, American Arbitration Association and International Centre for Dispute Resolution; AAA AI Ambassador and member of the AI-Driven Commerce & Automated Transactions Working Group.
Miscellaneous
Aiken regularly conducts remote and hybrid arbitration proceedings and uses digital exhibits and secure electronic case-management tools. He maintains a published Statement on the Use of Artificial Intelligence and follows the AAA-ICDR Guidance on Arbitrators’ Use of AI Tools. No AI output is adopted without independent review, and citations and record references are independently verified before an order or award is issued. Every finding, conclusion and decision rests on the arbitrator’s independent judgment. With advance disclosure and party consent, Aiken may use locally processed technology to record and transcribe conferences or hearings and prepare AI-assisted personal notes. Recordings, transcripts and summaries remain on the arbitrator’s computer, are not transmitted to external AI services and do not replace any official hearing record. The current statement appears at https://shawnaiken.com/ai/. Aiken is available for remote hearings throughout the year; for in-person hearings in Phoenix and elsewhere from November through April; and for in-person hearings in the Seattle area from May through October. Subject to seasonal availability, airfare is not charged for hearings in Seattle, Minneapolis or New York. Hotel, meals and other applicable travel expenses are charged.
