Introducing the JAMS Diversity Fellowship Program and its Inaugural Class of Fellows
Reprinted from JAMS Blog
April 19, 2021
Building a diverse pipeline of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) professionals is crucial not just for JAMS, but for the entire industry. If dispute resolution panels do not reflect the communities in which they serve, the trust of the ADR process as a whole can suffer. So can creativity and innovation. Diverse teams, numerous studies confirm, perform more effectively than more homogenous ones.
That’s why we have established the JAMS Diversity Fellowship Program, which is designed to provide training, mentorship, sponsorship and networking opportunities to up-and-coming diverse ADR professionals. At the core of the program are JAMS panelists, who will serve as mentors for the Fellows, and sponsors, who will facilitate shadowing and co-mediation opportunities.
The program, expected to last between 12 and 18 months, is designed to accommodate the schedules and needs of Fellows, and is open to lawyers, industry professionals, ADR practitioners and academics who may be interested in building a dispute resolution practice.
We launched this pilot program in New York and we are excited to introduce the first Fellowship recipients:
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Rachel Gupta
Ms. Gupta is the principal and founder of Gupta Dispute Resolutions, where she provides ADR services to corporations of all sizes. Ms. Gupta serves on mediator rosters for three court-annexed ADR programs: the New York Commercial Division, Bronx County Supreme Court and Kings County Supreme Court.
Before becoming a mediator and arbitrator in 2020, Ms. Gupta served as senior counsel and chief compliance officer of Amaiya Management, a privately owned investment management firm. She also served as first vice president and assistant general counsel and litigation consultant at Ambac Assurance Corporation.
In addition to serving as in-house counsel, Ms. Gupta has worked on complex commercial litigation as a lawyer in the New York offices of DLA Piper and Seward & Kissel. She graduated from the George Washington University and Fordham University School of Law.
“My goal is to build a practice utilizing my experience as a complex commercial attorney and focus this expertise on business and personal disputes involving intricate legal or financial structures,” says Ms. Gupta.