Furman University

Trustees

William K. Slate II

William K. Slate, II

William K. Slate II is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Arbitration Association (AAA).  The AAA is the largest dispute resolution organization in the world; providing mediation, arbitration, elections and other dispute resolution services, as well as presenting education and training programs worldwide.  The Association publishes the leading scholarly journal in the field, The Dispute Resolution Journal.

 Mr. Slate holds an M.B.A. degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Richmond Law School where he was member of the Law Review, and a B.A. degree from Wake Forest University where he was a Poteat Scholar. 

 He was formerly President of the Justice Research Institute, an inter-disciplinary research and management consulting firm for courts and legal institutions which he founded.  He is the former Director of the Federal Courts Study Committee, a Congressionally mandated seminal study to identify problems facing federal courts in America, and reporting to the President, the Chief Justice of the United States, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.  He practiced and taught law, and has lectured widely on law, arbitration and mediation as a visiting professor at Seton Hall Law School, at Virginia Union University and at the Consortium of Law Schools in New York City, among other colleges and universities, and before numerous state and federal bar organizations. He was the first-ever consultant to the senior staff of the Supreme Court of the United States on strategic planning.  He has also been an executive in both the Third and Fourth Federal Circuits, overseeing judicial operations in eight states and the territory of the Virgin Islands.  

 Following is a representative listing of Mr. Slate’s professional activities:  He is the immediate past Chairman of the Board of Managers of Girard College, former Chairman of the Board of the American Management Association, and he is an elected member of the American Law Institute.  In 2005 Mr. Slate was elected to the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), a body of 42 internationally recognized arbitrators worldwide.  He is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Richmond.  He was a founder and board member of the Council for Court Excellence in Washington, D.C.; a member of the National Task Force to review the Federal Rulemaking Process, appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States; a member of the Carnegie Commission Task Force on Complex Issues of Science and Technology in Judicial and Regulatory Decisionmaking; he conceived and founded CAMCA (The Commercial Arbitration and Mediation Center for the Americas) for the resolution of private party commercial disputes under the NAFTA accords – the first such tri-national entity in the world involving institutions from Canada, Mexico and the United States. 

During the period 1994-2012 he authorized and oversaw the filing of nine amicus curiae briefs by the AAA, seven in the Supreme Court of the United States. 

 Mr. Slate has been a featured speaker at over 100 business, judicial, and legal conferences and colloquia worldwide including keynote and other presentations. He has been widely published in professional publications (73 articles and book chapters).  

 In 2001 he opened the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) in Dublin, Ireland.  In 2006 he expanded ICDR to Mexico City and Singapore, and in 2009 to Bahrain as a partner with BCDR (the Bahrain Chamber of Dispute Resolution). 

 He has been honored by numerous judicial and legal entities including the 3^rd and 4^th Federal Circuits, The Virginia State Bar, and the University of Richmond which presented him its Outstanding Alumni Award.  The Conselho Nacional das Instituicóes de Mediacão e Arbitragem in Brazil awarded him the Honra ao Mérito.

 Bill and his wife Debora together have 3 children, Eliza Hayes, a physician, Lauren René, a Ph.D. candidate, and James Holden, an undergraduate student.