Nancy Lesser Biography

Nancy Lesser

Nancy Lesser is the principal of Pax ADR LLC, a dispute resolution firm headquartered in Washington, D.C.  Ms. Lesser brings to her mediation and arbitration practice skills honed as a former partner with the distinguished law firm of Williams & Connolly, where she specialized in complex commercial and workplace disputes. Ms. Lesser works with Fortune 500 companies, federal and state agencies, small businesses, and individuals.  She also conducts independent fact-finding and internal investigations.  Her clients face critical and complex problems, ranging from:

• government and private contract claims
• insurance coverage disputes
• whistleblower claims, including False Claims Act and Sarbanes Oxley actions
• intellectual property claims, including patent, copyright, trademark and software licensing issues
• workplace disputes, such as discrimination and retaliation claims
• securities and consumer class actions and shareholder suits
• personal injury claims, including medical, legal and accounting malpractice actions

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Ms. Lesser has handled a wide variety of commercial arbitrations involving multi-million dollar claims. She has served as chair of a number of panels and has also served as sole arbitrator in other matters. Ms. Lesser has a broad range of arbitration experience, from contract and securities cases to intellectual property disputes, employment issues and insurance coverage claims. She has presided over a number of utility ratemaking cases; an audit of alleged overcharges by an electrical utility to a major municipality; accounting disputes regarding post-acquisition closing balance sheets; many breach of contract and breach of  fiduciary duty claims between joint venture partners; cases addressing breaches of contracts between suppliers and customers for services or goods; and data compensation proceedings under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. 

Ms. Lesser has been helping parties resolve seemingly intractable disputes for over fifteen years.  She has mediated hundreds of complex business disputes, in cases as diverse as an accounting dispute between the City of New Orleans and an electrical utility; a 20-year class action between federal workers and the United States; False Claims Act qui tam actions and Sarbanes Oxley whistleblower cases; a host of breach of contract suits; wrongful death and personal injury claims against the District of Columbia; trademark and patent disputes involving industries as diverse as lighting, food products, medical devices, sound systems and software.

• Chair of the Amtrak National Arbitration Panel, which hears disputes between Amtrak and the freight railroads nationwide.
• Panel member, Large Complex Case Arbitration and Mediation Panel, American Arbitration Association.
•  Panel of Distinguished Neutrals for the Commercial, Employment, and Banking, Accounting and Financial Services Panels of the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution.
• Member, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
• Member, National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals.
• FINRA Mediation panel.
• Mediation panels, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland.

Ms. Lesser is a member of the College of Commercial Arbitrators. She serves as the co-chair of the Ethical Guidance Committee of the Section of Dispute Resolution of the American Bar Association. She has served as mediation trainer for the U.S. Department of Justice, the International Trademark Association, and the International Law Institute. She speaks frequently on panels and to private groups.

Ms. Lesser is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, teaching seminars on alternative dispute resolution and negotiation.

Founder and Principal, PAX ADR LLC, Washington, DC 2001-present

Alternative dispute resolution firm providing arbitration and mediation, and internal investigation services to corporations, individuals, and government agencies.  Cases have involved complex commercial issues, such as government and private contract disputes, workplace disputes, False Claims Act and Sarbanes Oxley whistleblower claims, securities class actions and shareholder suits, insurance coverage issues, professional liability cases, and intellectual property claims.

Senior Counsel to the Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington, DC 2000-2001

Legal advisor to Secretary; spearheaded major Secretarial policy initiatives, including fair housing enforcement, predatory lending, subsidized housing, historic preservation and community development.

Partner, Williams & Connolly, Washington, DC 1990-2000 (associate, 1982-1990)

Nationwide trial and appellate practice focusing on complex cases in federal and state courts.  Cases handled included securities fraud class actions, corporate governance disputes, employment cases, intellectual property claims, and medical, legal and accounting malpractice claims.  Conducted internal investigations involving banking fraud and securities violations. Served on Executive Committee of the firm from 1996-2000; chair of firm’s Diversity Committee from 1994-1996.

Associate, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, New York, NY 1981-1982

Litigation associate

J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 1981, magna cum laude  
M.A., Urban and Environmental Planning, University of Virginia, 2000
B.A., City College of the City of New York, 1975, summa cum laude

PAX ADR LLC
1725 I Street, NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006

Phone: (202) 775-8100
Fax: (202) 318-0203

Email: info@paxadr.com
Web: http://www.paxadr.com/