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MarkMorril
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IMI Certified Mediator
United States
New York
Mediation Profile

Mark C. Morril is an independent arbitrator and mediator based in New York City who focuses on complex commercial disputes. He is an IMI certified mediator, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is on the roster of leading alternative dispute organizations in the United States and other countries. Previously, he served for ten years (1989-1998) as General Counsel of Simon & Schuster, then the largest English language publisher in the world, and for thirteen years (1999-2012) as Deputy General Counsel of the global media company Viacom. Viacom's businesses comprise Paramount Pictures and 170 cable TV channels and multiplatform properties (including MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, COMEDY CENTRAL and BET) and formerly included CBS Broadcasting, CBS Radio, Viacom Outdoor, Showtime, Simon & Schuster and the discontinued industrial operations of Westinghouse, Gulf+Western and Charter Oil. Further details at morrilADR.com

Mr. Morril has been substantially engaged in commercial mediation and arbitration for more than 25 years, initially as counsel in private practice, later as in-house counsel highly involved in major commercial mediation and arbitration matters and, since September 2012, as a full-time neutral. He has been appointed in more than 100 mediations and more than 30 arbitrations. In each area, many of the matters are large, complex and international. The mediations and arbitrations have been conducted under the auspices of major administering institutions, court-annexed and privately administered or ad hoc matters.  A list of representative matters appears at morrilADR.com.  

Mr. Morril has experience and expertise as a neutral in disputes relating to complex commercial contracts, joint ventures, partnerships, construction, intellectual property including copyrights, trademarks, patents; telecommunications, Internet and domain names, distribution and licensing agreements, good faith and fair dealing, insurance, real estate, motion picture and television financing and production, music licensing, insurance, favored nations pricing; law firm partnerships; fraud; mergers and acquisitions including post-closing adjustments; accounting; energy and power generation, defamation, executive employment; securities law, unfair competition and antitrust.

Mr. Morril's experience at Viacom included transactional, labor and employment (including executive employment), benefits, copyright, trademark, patent, environmental, real estate, privacy, technology, insurance, compliance, regulatory and government affairs matters. He has extensive experience with the law relating to the internet and online technologies. His involvement in complex negotiations and transactions included Viacom's sale of Simon & Schuster, the acquisitions of Blockbuster and CBS, the IPO of Blockbuster and the later spin-offs of Blockbuster and CBS.

Mr. Morril managed the liabilities arising from Viacom's extensive Westinghouse, Gulf+Western and Charter Oil discontinued industrial operations, including 138,000 asbestos cases arising from the Westinghouse business, numerous environmental matters arising from the operations of Gulf+Western and very large pollution insurance coverage disputes.

Mr. Morril's extensive litigation experience as business client and internal lawyer at Viacom included:
Contract and commercial matters
Patent cases involving video games and various interactive video uses
Copyright matters, involving new media copyrights, issues under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and idea origination cases
Executive employment, labor and benefits disputes
Insurance coverage disputes
Securities law claims
Derivative actions
Music performance rights and issues under the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees
Trademark cases
Environmental matters
Antitrust matters involving book pricing, video and home video distribution, cable network distribution and music licensing
Asbestos litigation (138,000 cases)
Internal investigations and compliance
Defamation matters relating to books, cable TV programming and movies
First Amendment matters
Mr. Morril was involved in a variety of mediations and arbitrations at Viacom as business client and internal lawyer, including disputes involving:
Post-closing adjustments in transactions, including earnout disputes
Contract and commercial matters
Labor and employment, including executive employment disputes and discrimination claims
Intellectual property (copyright and patent) and defamation claims
Insurance coverage disputes (pollution, general liability, errors and omissions, directors' and officers' liability and business interruption coverages)
Environmental disputes
Mr. Morril directly represented Viacom as the principal lawyer in numerous mediations.

Mr. Morril also has extensive experience in complex transactions, general commercial matters, legal issues relating to new technologies and the Internet and in numerous other areas of substantive law. He had extensive business experience as a senior manager at Viacom, as a member of the Executive Committee of Simon & Schuster and as manager of Viacom's large worldwide law department and its outside counsel relationships.

The mediator’s core role, in my view, is to facilitate productive communication between (or among) the parties towards a resolution. Where feasible, the mediator should help the parties consider solutions that involve benefits outside the strict confines of the dispute, such as facilitating insurance or indemnity coverage or the possibility of future business relationships that can confer value on both parties and while resolving the current dispute. I believe that a mediator should be persistent in trying to find a solution and imaginative in suggesting potential solutions that may not be immediately apparent to the parties. As a general principle, the mediator should be non-judgmental, but she or he may express views on the merits of the dispute or on individual issues when invited to do so to help the parties assess the risks and opportunities involved and make appropriate risk-based decisions. Finally, I believe that efficiency is an important value in mediation, as it is in arbitration.

Mr. Morril's experience at Viacom included transactional, labor and employment (including executive employment), benefits, copyright, trademark, patent, environmental, real estate, privacy, technology, insurance, compliance, regulatory and government affairs matters. He has extensive experience with the law relating to the internet and online technologies. His involvement in complex negotiations and transactions included Viacom's sale of Simon & Schuster, the acquisitions of Blockbuster and CBS, the IPO of Blockbuster and the later spin-offs of Blockbuster and CBS. Mr. Morril managed the liabilities arising from Viacom's extensive Westinghouse, Gulf+Western and Charter Oil discontinued industrial operations, including 138,000 asbestos cases arising from the Westinghouse business, numerous environmental matters arising from the operations of Gulf+Western and very large pollution insurance coverage disputes. Mr. Morril's extensive litigation experience as business client and internal lawyer at Viacom included: Contract and commercial matters Patent cases involving video games and various interactive video uses Copyright matters, involving new media copyrights, issues under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and idea origination cases Executive employment, labor and benefits disputes Insurance coverage disputes Securities law claims Derivative actions Music performance rights and issues under the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees Trademark cases Environmental matters Antitrust matters involving book pricing, video and home video distribution, cable network distribution and music licensing Asbestos litigation (138,000 cases) Internal investigations and compliance Defamation matters relating to books, cable TV programming and movies First Amendment matters Mr. Morril was involved in a variety of mediations and arbitrations at Viacom as business client and internal lawyer, including disputes involving: Post-closing adjustments in transactions, including earnout disputes Contract and commercial matters Labor and employment, including executive employment disputes and discrimination claims Intellectual property (copyright and patent) and defamation claims Insurance coverage disputes (pollution, general liability, errors and omissions, directors' and officers' liability and business interruption coverages) Environmental disputes Mr. Morril directly represented Viacom as the principal lawyer in numerous mediations.

Daily rates preferred for mediation, inclusive of preparation and a reasonable amount of follow up time. Please contact for details. Hourly rates also are available.

Association of the Bar of the City of New York; Immediate past Chair, Council on the Profession Prior: Vice President; Executive Committee, Chair; Executive Committee Liaison to Committees on Arbitration, ADR and International Commercial Disputes; Chair, Task Force on New Lawyers in a Changing Profession; Chair, Committee on Professional and Judicial Ethics

Chief Litigation Counsel Association (past Chair)

Corporate Counsel International Arbitration Group

Institute for Transnational Arbitration (Advisory Board)

American Bar Association (Dispute Resolution, Intellectual Property Law and Litigation Sections; Fellow)

New York State Bar Association (Dispute Resolution Section)

Federal Bar Council.

Training and Education
  • Harvard Negotiation Institute at Harvard Law School: Mediating Disputes 
  • ABA Advanced Mediation and Advocacy Skills Institute 
  • AAA Mediation Training 
New York International Arbitration Center
Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
Debevoise & Plimpton
New York City Bar Association
New York State Bar Association
Transnational Dispute Management (TDM.com)
Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center
Arbitration Technopolis (Co-Chair)
(November 2017)
 
New York State Bar Association, Dispute Resolution Section
New Bottles for Old Wine: Innovation in the Dispute Resolution World (Moderator)
(October 2017)
 
ICC New York Conference
A Duty to Protect and Secure: Safeguarding Confidential Information in a Digital World
(September 2017)
 
GAR Live NYC
Making International Arbitration Great Again
(September 2017)
 
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
LLM Program Capstone Retreat
Looking Forward: The Legal Profession
(May 2017)
 
 
Association of Corporate Counsel Europe
Corporate Counsel International Arbitration Group
Association Suisse de l'Arbitrage
CPR
Conference on International Arbitration: Choices for Corporate Counsel
Emergency Proceedings and Interim Awards
(London, March 2017)
 
Atlanta International Arbitration Center
Mediating International Commercial and Investment
Disputes (October 2016)
 
Fordham International Arbitration Conference
Arbitration Goes Digital (October 2016)
 
Debevoise, New York International Arbitration Center and Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb)
Red Flag Alert: Data Security in Arbitration (May 2016)
 
Center for Prevention and Resolution of Disputes (CPR)
Addressing the Reasons Parties and Counsel Avoid Using Dispute
Resolution (February 2016)
 
ICC and United States Council for International Business (USCIB)
Cost Decisions: An Effective Case Management Tool for Parties
and Tribunals (January 2016)
 
ICC
Effective Dispute Management for Better Business (corporate
counsel panel) (Paris, November 2015)
 
ABA Arbitration Webinar Series
The Award, Remedies and Post Award Process (Moderator, November 2015, February 2017)
 
31st Annual Joint Colloquium of the AAA/ICDR, ICC and ICSID
The Corporate World and International Dispute Resolution
(Moderator, November 2014)
 
ICC and University of Florence
International Commercial Arbitration Summer Seminar (program
faculty, July 2014)
 
Annual Americas Workshop of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration, Brazilian Arbitration Committee and the Arbitration and Mediation Center of the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce
Practice and Strategy in the Final Stages of Arbitration
(September 2013)
 
ICC International Court of Arbitration and Universita Degli Studi Firenze Arbitration Summer Seminar
Corporate Counsel Panel (July 2013)
 
Third Annual ICC Asia-Pacific Conference
Institutional Arbitration in the Asia-Pacific Region from
the Corporate Counsel Perspective (March 2012)
 
ABA Section of Dispute Resolution
Myth Busting: Arbitration Perceptions, Realities and
Ramifications (April 2012)
 
ABA Annual Meeting
Myth Busting Panel (August 2012)
 
Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA)
Corporate Counsel and Arbitrator Perspectives (moderator) Invitational Discussion Panel (moderator) (June 2012)
 
 
ABA Section of International Law
Has International Arbitration Lost Its Mojo? The Unvarnished
View from In House Counsel (October 2012)
 
 
LITIGATION AND CASE MANAGEMENT SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
 
New York County Lawyers Association
  • Panel on The Client's Perspective of Business Litigation (May 2012)
New York State Bar Association Corporate Counsel Institute
  • Panel on Litigation Management (October 2011)
Sandpiper Partners Leading Law Departments Summit
  • Panel on Techniques for Saving Money, Improving Efficiency and Adding Value (February 2011)
New York State Bar Association Commercial and Federal Litigation Section Annual Meeting
  • How Inside and Outside Litigation Counsel Can Add Value and Reduce Costs for Corporate Clients (January 2011)
Sandpiper Partners Leading Law Firms Conference
  • Resetting the Agenda with Corporate Clients (October 2011)
  • Panel on Making The Short List in 2011 and Staying on It (November 2010)
AmLaw Litigation Summit
  • Data Driven Triage for Painful Lawsuits: Insights for Corporate Legal Departments on Risk, Predictability and Cost Control (October 2010)
New York State Commercial Division Judges
  • In-House Counsel Panel (June 2010)
Conference of Chief Judges - Mid-Atlantic Conference on Business Courts
  • Qualifications and Training of Business Court Judges (October 2008)
Publications

Article: Stephanie Cohen and Mark Morril,

A Call to Cyberarms: The International Arbitrator's Duty to Avoid Digital Instrusion, 40 Fordham ILJ 980 (2017)

TASK FORCE ON NEW LAWYERS IN A CHANGING PROFESSION

Task Force Chair

Report of the Task Force: Developing Legal Careers and Delivering Justice in the 21st Century (New York City Bar 2013)

LEGAL BACKGROUND PAPER: Party Autonomy Reigns Supreme: Arbitration and Class Actions in the High Court October 2012 Term (Washington Legal Foundation 2013)

Compliance
Contact
MarkMorril
Independent Neutral
MorrilADR LLC
+1 212-202-6028
United States
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