Hon. Carol E. Heckman (Ret.), a partner and leader of the alternative dispute resolution practice team at Lippes Mathias LLP, will be a featured speaker at the New York State Bar Association’s program Consumer Arbitration Clauses in the Mass Filing Era, taking place October 15 at the American Arbitration Association in New York City.

The program will address the changing dispute resolution landscape as mass arbitration challenges traditional arbitration frameworks. Heckman will discuss her extensive experience as a process arbitrator under the Massachusetts Arbitration Rules, focusing on key procedural and strategic considerations for parties and counsel. Topics will include trends driving mass filings, the role of process arbitrators, and approaches to managing large-scale consumer disputes.

Presented in a hybrid format and open to both members and non-members of NYSBA, the program is designed for general counsel, transactional attorneys, and arbitrators seeking to adapt to the growing complexity of consumer arbitration.

About Hon. Carol E. Heckman (Ret.)

With more than 40 years of experience as a trial lawyer and judge, Judge Heckman (Ret.) has an active practice as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and conducts arbitrations in most major metropolitan areas, with a particular concentration in New York City. In addition to arbitrations and mediations, Judge Heckman was selected as a fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, where she serves as co-chair of the education committee and as a member of its board of directors. She is a contributing author to the group’s new edition of Best Practices in Commercial Arbitration, published in June 2025.

Judge Heckman served as a magistrate judge in the Western District of New York for eight years, where she was selected to sit on the Federal Judicial Conference’s Education Committee for Magistrate Judges and served as an officer in the Federal Magistrate Judges Association. She has also served as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., an assistant U.S. attorney in Buffalo, New York, and as a law clerk for Hon. John T. Curtin, former chief judge of the Western District of New York.

Lippes Mathias is a full-service law firm with 220-plus attorneys serving clients regionally, nationally, and internationally. With offices in Buffalo, Clarence, Albany, Long Island, New York, Rochester, Syracuse, and Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; Greater Toronto Area; Chicago, Ill.; Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, and West Palm Beach, Fla.; Cleveland, Ohio; San Antonio, Texas; Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Washington, D.C., the firm represents publicly and privately owned companies, private equity and venture capital firms, independent sponsors, real estate developers, financial institutions, municipalities, governmental entities, and individuals.