Arbitration at Cardozo: Courses, Clinics, and Competitions

This winter, Professor Joseph L. Choe will join Cardozo to teach a new course on International Commercial Arbitration Advocacy during the winter session at Cardozo. In this course, students will explore an overview of the key legal and strategic issues of international arbitration, the advocacy techniques and principles in ADR, and receive practical training in oral and written advocacy in simulated arbitration cases and mock hearings. Professor Choe is an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in international commercial and investor-state disputes. He serves on various international and national law and arbitration committees and is also an Editor for the Kluwer Arbitration Blog focusing on East and Central Asia. 

During the spring semester, Cardozo students can take a course taught by leading practitioners in International Investment Arbitration, Professors Katie Gonzalez and Santiago Gatica. Professor Gonzalez is an associate attorney at Cleary Gottlieb, focusing on international litigation and arbitration, particularly in Latin America. Professor Gatica is a senior associate at Freshfields, focusing on international commercial and investment arbitration, particularly in Latin America. Professors Gonzales and Gatica are assisted by teaching fellow Alejandro Martinez Sanchez LL.M. ’23. 

Students also engage with leaders in international commercial arbitration practice through externships in connection with the Dispute Resolution Field Clinic with externships at the American Arbitration Association – International Center for Dispute Resolution, the New York International Arbitration Center (NYIAC) and the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution. Professor Rekha Rangachari, executive director at NYIAC, teaches a course on International Commercial Arbitration at the law school. 

J.D. students that are competitively selected to join the Dispute Resolution Honor Competition Society are eligible to participate in the Willem C. Vis International Arbitration Moot. The “Vis Team” is coached by Professor Stephen Wah ’17 who is an associate at Blank Rome LLP. In 2025, the Cardozo’s and two of the team members received honorable mentions as individual oralists. advanced to the top 64 and two of the team members received honorable mentions as individual oralists. 

Cardozo students also have the opportunity to participate in arbitration practice, through the Securities Arbitration Clinic directed by Professor Elizabeth Goldman. Under faculty supervision, students serve as advocates in the Securities Arbitration clinic for small retail customers in arbitrations before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the National Futures Association (NFA) as well as in reparations proceedings before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and before federal and state tribunals. 

The law school also offers courses in domestic arbitration, the law of settlement which are both taught by Professor Brian Farkas, who is a partner in the Complex Litigation Group at Arent Fox LLP. His writing on arbitration and mediation has appeared in numerous publications, including the N.Y.U. Journal of Law & Business, Lewis & Clark Law Review, Cardozo Law Review, Harvard Negotiation Law Review, and Northeastern Law Journal. In 2024, he was voted Best Adjunct Professor by Cardozo students.