William A.
Baten
Summary of ADR Experience
Mr. Baten teamed with John Van Winkle in 1995 to create the first
Indiana firm devoted exclusively to ADR. Since that time, Mr. Baten
has served as a mediator, arbitrator, and special master in over
2,000 matters involving a wide range of disputes. Mr. Baten serves
as Vice-Chairman of the ABA’s
Mediation Committee and is one of only a few full-time mediators
to be named as an "Indiana Super Lawyer."
Mediation
Mr. Baten has developed a reputation as a resourceful and tenacious mediator who will stay actively involved until the dispute is resolved. Mr. Baten’s keys to success in mediation are his patience, preparation, and ability to deal with difficult issues and personalities. While Mr. Baten mediates matters across a wide spectrum, including employment, commercial, insurance coverage, construction, environmental, energy and securities matters, he specializes in the resolution of large, multi-party matters throughout the country, including class actions, mass torts and multi-district litigation.
For example, Mr. Baten has resolved construction disputes such as the “Big Dig” matter in Boston, commercial disputes such as Amtrak’s dispute with the manufacturer of its high-speed trains between D.C. and Boston, employment class actions involving racial and gender discrimination at Fortune 500 companies, and a variety of insurance coverage disputes totaling in excess of $1,000,000,000.
Arbitration
Mr. Baten enjoys a reputation as an arbitrator who is willing to make tough decisions based on the facts and the law, and is critical of arbitrators who simply wish to “split the baby.” Mr. Baten also believes that efficiency is one of the core benefits of arbitration, and therefore pledges never to make parties wait undue time for rulings or the final decision. Mr. Baten has served as an industry advisor to the Uniform Law Commissioners’ multi-year project to revise the Uniform Arbitration Act for the first time since its creation in 1955. Mr. Baten also has served on mass-tort arbitration panels for matters such as Dalkon Shield (product liability) and Black Farmers (civil rights).
Special Master
Mr. Baten has served as a special master and neutral administrator in several nine- and ten-figure disputes among Fortune 500 companies. His responsibilities have ranged from rulings on discovery disputes to rulings on responsibilities for national and local defense structure among scores of defendants in mass-tort cases. As with arbitration, Mr. Baten believes an important role of a special master is to expedite those matters which the courts are too overburdened to handle in a timely manner. Therefore, Mr. Baten places emphasis on efficiency and timely action in his special master assignments.
Education
Mr. Baten graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was an editor of the law review. He received his undergraduate degree from Susquehanna University, where he graduated magna cum laude with Honors in Political Science.
Personal
Mr. Baten has been married to Valerie Rovine Baten since 1986, and they
have one daughter, Kendall Rose. Outside of work and family, Mr. Baten
spends his time auto racing in the SCCA racing series, where he was Rookie
of the Year in 1997 and Regional Champion in 1998. Most recently, he finished 3rd at the 2004 Pocono Grand Prix.
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