George A. Davidson Arbitrator

George A. Davidson serves as an arbitrator in international and domestic disputes. He has arbitrated disputes under ICDR, AAA and CPR rules and has been counsel in arbitrations under ICC and UNCITRAL rules. Many of his appointments have been in disputes involving allegations of financial fraud and several have involved hedge funds. He also serves as a judge in moot court arguments. He serves pro bono as a referee in lawyer disciplinary cases by appointment of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division, First Department.

Prior to concentrating on serving as an arbitrator, he had been engaged in litigation and arbitration of complex international and domestic disputes at Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP for more than 40 years, chairing the firm’s dispute resolution practice from 1994 to 2007.

ADR Experience and Training:

Experience as chair, party appointed arbitrator and sole arbitrator in complex ICDR, AAA, and CPR commercial cases, most involving eight figure claims. Subject matters include several claims by investors in hedge funds, disputes among principals of hedge funds, an international dispute over a sales agency agreement with a mining company, a claim under a long term energy contract, a claim involving valuation of petroleum businesses, a claim by a bankruptcy trustee against the bankrupt’s auditor, a contract claim by a health insurer against several hospitals, a claim by a franchiser against a franchisee, fraud claims by the buyer of a business, and a claim by a holder of death spiral debt against the issuer.

Following basic arbitration training from the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and basic mediation training from the Center for Public Resources (CPR), George Davidson has participated in numerous advanced international and domestic arbitration training sessions and conferences provided by such organizations as International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), AAA, London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), International Bar Association (IBA), International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), New York State Bar Association, International Arbitration Club of New York, and NYU Center for Transactional Litigation and Commercial Law.

Practice Experience:

In the course of more than forty years as counsel in domestic and cross-border disputes, George Davidson gained experience in a wide variety of areas. In particular, he has involvements of a decade or more in antitrust suits, securities, banking and bankruptcy fraud suits, cross-border bank fraud litigation, accountant’s liability cases, representation of trusts created in asbestos bankruptcies, and representation of charitable organizations and colleges and universities in numerous litigations of various kinds. These experiences have given him familiarly with such entities as banks, securities brokers, commodities traders, accounting firms, charitable organizations, trusts, and colleges and universities.

In addition to these areas of long involvement, George Davidson has had significant experience in a number of other areas, including all of the following: Art and Cultural Property, Constuction and Design, Discrimination, Distributorships, Employment, Insurance, Patents, Partnership Disputes and Product Liability.

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities:

Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers
Member, London Court of International Arbitration
Life Member, American Law Institute
Consultative Member, Restatement of the U.S. Law of International Commercial Arbitration
Consultative Member, Restatement of the Law of Corporate Governance
Consultative Member, Restatement of the Law Governing Lawyers
Consultative Member, Principles of the Law of Nonprofit Organizations
Member, International Arbitration Club of New York
Lectured on Dispute Resolution topics in France, Switzerland, India, South Africa, the U.S. and Mexico.
Board Member: William Nelson Cromwell Foundation (Chair 2005-14), American Friends of Dr. Johnson’s House
Past Board Member: Federal Defenders of New York (Chair 2005-13), The Legal Aid Society (President 1987-89), Greenwich House, Inc. (Chair 2004-10), New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Inc., Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., VIP Community Services, Practicing Attorneys for Law Students, Association of the Bar of the City of New York Fund, Inc.

Selected Publications:

“Subject Matter Jurisdiction under the Federal Arbitration Act: The Mysteries Solved”, 72 Dispute Resolution Journal no. 2 at pp. 1-18 (AAA 2017)
“Top Ten Mistakes Litigators Make in Commercial Arbitration” (Practical Law June 28, 2017)
“Why Projected Awards Could Make for Better Justice,” Global Arbitration Review (January 27, 2017)
“Rethinking Depositions in Commercial Arbitration,” New York Law Journal (September 27, 2010)
“Who Killed the Civil Trial” New York Law Journal Magazine, v.6, n.4, (September 2007)
“The Lawyer’s Perspective” in Steven Flanders, ed., Celebrating the Courthouse: A Guide for Architects, Their Clients and the Public (W.W. Norton 2006)
“Are You Vulnerable to U.S. Jurisdiction?,” International Commercial Litigation, December 1998/January 1999, pp. 36-42; February 1999, pp. 32-40
Chapter on Evidence, in Haig, Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts (West Group and ABA 3d ed. 2012 and prior editions) (with William R. Maguire) “Waiver of the Attorney-Client Privilege,” 64 Oregon L. Rev. 637 (1986) (with William H. Voth)
“Squeezes and Corners: A Structural Approach,” 40 The Business Lawyer 1283 (1985)

Background and Education:

Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
Senior Counsel, 2013–February 2024
Partner, 1974-2012
Associate, 1968-1974
Law Clerk, Hon. Paul R. Hays, United States Courts of Appeals for the Second Circuit 1967-68
J.D. magna cum laude, Columbia Law School 1967
o Recent Developments Editor, Columbia Law Review, 1966-67
A.B. Brown University, 1964