Robert Harris

Rob Harris spent over two decades as a commercial litigator, followed by senior in-house counsel roles for financial services companies, including a multinational hedge fund administrator servicing some of the industry’s largest and most complex investment funds and asset managers, where he served as General Counsel, Chief Administrative Officer and was part of the senior management team that took the company from startup to successful exit.

After living both sides of the corporate dynamic—as a senior executive with contractual rights, equity interests, and employment obligations, and as the lawyer responsible for managing those very issues for others—Rob brings an understanding of the commercial realities, relationship dynamics, and reputational concerns that drive these disputes.

Within the investment management and financial services industries, Rob regularly arbitrates and mediates disputes involving:
• Ownership transitions and business divorces involving private equity and hedge funds, asset managers and principals
• Employment and compensation disputes for senior executives and profit-sharing arrangements
• Non-compete and non-solicitation enforcement
• Breaches of fiduciary duties and usurpation of opportunities
• Complex carried interest and waterfall calculations
• Management succession and control issues
• Mergers, acquisitions, and joint venture disputes
• Fundraising, placement agents and capital markets

Having served as a neutral for many years, his ADR work encompasses other areas as well. To better determine whether his experience aligns with parties' specific needs, he includes on his website (www.positivelyneutral.com) a composite list of recent matters where he has been asked to serve as an arbitrator or mediator.

Organizational Involvement and Credentials:

·        American Arbitration Association—Commercial, Employment, Large Complex Cases and Mergers and Acquisitions and Joint Ventures

·        National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals

·        Inaugural member, Association of Commercial and Transactional ADR Professionals (ACT-ADR)—an organization of dispute resolution professionals with in-depth expertise in corporate, transactional, and financial matters

·        Recipient, Honorable Robert C. Zampano Award for Excellence in Mediation

·        Best Lawyers in America (Mediation)

·        Former Chair, Connecticut Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution Section

• University of Virginia (JD-1982)
• Haverford College (BA-1978)

• National Association of Distinguished Neutrals 
• American Arbitration Association (Commercial; Employment; Large, Complex Case; Merger, Acquisition and Joint Venture; Construction; and Franchise Panels)
• FINRA Mediation Panel
• American Bar Association (including Business Law and ADR Sections) 
• Connecticut Bar Association (including ADR, Business Law and Employment Law Sections)
• American Bar Foundation
• Connecticut Bar Foundation
• Association of Commercial and Transactional ADR Professionals (ACT-ADR)
• American Inns of Court (Raymond E. Baldwin Chapter)

Please call or email me for details.