Robert E. Bartkus

Bob has more than 40 years of experience in multiparty business and international arbitration and litigation, primarily in New Jersey and New York. He handles matters at all levels of the state and federal judiciary, and has numerous reported cases. Bar Memberships: New York, New Jersey and California (inactive); US Supreme Court, Second Circuit, Third Circuit, District of N.J., Districts in N.Y. and California. US Navy (1968-1973)(LT).

His clients have included major U.S. financial institutions; foreign governments and trading companies; and Fortune 100 consumer goods, industrial, insurance/reinsurance, insurance brokerage, medical/dental device, pharmaceutical and chemical companies. He also has represented partnerships and closely held businesses. His leading roles in billion-dollar, front-page litigation have included trial counsel in the Southern District of New York Iranian Assets Litigation, up through the U.S. Supreme Court, and one of only two known nullifications of a long-term supply contract on the basis of “frustration of purpose.”

In his alternative dispute resolution practice, Bob has served as sole arbitrator and panel member/chair in a wide range of American Arbitration Association and International Centre for Dispute Resolution matters, most recently including computer/IT, closely held businesses, and insurance/reinsurance disputes. He also has been a sole arbitrator in construction, consumer and securities matters, including at the NASD. He serves as a U.S. District Court arbitrator and mediator, including in Superstorm Sandy cases.

Bob was selected in 2012-2015 and 2005-2010 for business litigation, and in 2016-2019 for dispute resolution, on the New Jersey Super Lawyers© list, lawyers who with a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. From Martindale-Hubbell, Bob has an AV Preeminent™ rating of 5 out of 5 as determined by peers who have ranked him at the highest level of professional excellence. In addition, he has been listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in American Law. In 2016, Bob was elected a fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators. The college, made up of nationally and internationally recognized arbitrators, promotes high standards of conduct, develops best practices, and provides peer training and professional development in the field of complex arbitration.

• Swarthmore College (BA, Honors-1968)
• Stanford University (JD-1976); Co-Articles Editor, Stanford Law Review; post-graduate teaching assistant

• Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators (admitted April 2016);
• Member, Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center
• member, NY International Arbitration Center;
• American Bar Association (Litigation Section; ADR Section; Intellectual Property Section);
• New Jersey State Bar Association (Federal Practice Committee, Past Chair; International Law Section, Past Vice Chair);
• US District Court Historical Society (Vice President)
• New York State Bar Association (ADR Section; Commercial and Federal Practice Section);
• California State Bar Association; New Jersey Law Journal (Board of Editors);
• John C. Lifland Intellectual Property Inn of Court (Master);
• Marie Garibaldi ADR Inn of Court (Master);
• New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education (Arbitration and Federal Procedure Lecturer);
• Association of the Federal Bar of the State of New Jersey;
• U.S. District Court Historical Society (Vice President);
• Alumni Faculty, Stanford Law School Trial Advocacy; 
• House of the Good Shepherd (Member, Board of Trustees);
• St. John Baptist Convent (Member, Board of Trustees).

Author: numerous articles on arbitration and federal practice issues. Co-editor and author, NJ Federal Civil Procedure (NJLJ Books); Co-author (with Hon. William Dreier), NJ Arbitration Handbook (NJLJ Books). 

$500 per hour

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