About American Arbitration Association

In conjunction with its administrative services, the American Arbitration Association provides time- and court-tested rules and procedures. When a clause referring to AAA rules is included in an agreement, either party may file a request for arbitration or mediation with the AAA in the event of a dispute. Parties also may file a case without the presence of an arbitration or mediation clause once there is mutual consent to do so.

Administration of a case begins when a case is filed with the AAA. Parties involved in certain types of disputes may file their cases via the Internet through the AAA's proprietary, easy-to-use online system known as AAAWebFile ^SM . Alternatively, cases may be filed through the AAA's offices nationwide, including any of the organization's Case Management Centers throughout the U.S., which are staffed by professional case managers.

Once a case is filed, parties may select from the AAA's National Roster of over 8,000 impartial experts, or "neutrals," to hear and resolve their cases. Recognized for their standing and expertise in their fields, neutrals, who are attorneys as well as non-attorneys, are nominated to the National Roster by leaders in their industry or profession. The collective expertise of AAA neutrals' is wide-ranging--all have at least a decade of industry specific expertise in such areas as construction, employment, healthcare, real estate, technology and many others.

The conduct of AAA arbitrators is regulated by codes of ethics that have been jointly developed with organizations including the American Bar Association (ABA) and the National Academy of Arbitrators; mediators must comply with model standards of conduct jointly developed by the AAA, the ABA and the National Association for Conflict Resolution.

The AAA is a not-for-profit-organization with offices throughout the U.S. and in Dublin, Ireland. The AAA headquarters is in New York, New York.