Y-ADR

CPR’s Young Leaders in Alternative Dispute Resolution (Y-ADR) program educates the next generation of leaders on the full spectrum of dispute prevention and resolution mechanisms and offers unique networking and professional development benefits to participants.

Through periodic seminars and other initiatives, participants are introduced to CPR and gain an insider’s view into how CPR’s community of corporate counsel, law firm counsel, and other experts in the field are using dispute prevention and resolution techniques to manage conflict to enable purpose.

Y-ADR is open to the conflict prevention and resolution community-- attorneys, professionals, academics and students -- 45 years old and younger, or those with less than 8 years of professional experience in international or domestic ADR practice or other areas of conflict prevention and resolution.

Y-ADR is at the heart of the CPR Institute’s mission to broaden the pool of practitioners in the ADR world and to create a global culture for dispute prevention and resolution.

Y-ADR participates in many CPR events throughout the year.

In addition to developing their own Y-ADR flagship programs for young professionals, the Y-ADR Steering Committee also collaborates with CPR Institute's committees and industry alliances, CPR Dispute Resolution Services Distinguished Panel of Neutrals, and CPR's International Advisory Boards seated in Europe, Canada, and Brazil to develop and present cutting edge programming.

Some recent examples of Y-ADR activities:

• Y-ADR Speed Mentoring - DC Edition! hosted by Foley Hoag's office in Washington, DC on April 22, 2026
• Paris Arbitration Week 2026 | Speed Networking with In-House Counsel: Preventing Disputes, One Conversation at a Time, in collaboration with CPR's European Advisory Board, hosted by Orrick in Paris on March 24, 2026 
• Speed Mentoring - New York Edition, hosted by Orrick's NYC office in November 2025. 

• London International Disputes Week 2025 | Old Dog, New Tricks: How ISDS Must Innovate To Resolve The Disputes Of The Future, hosted by Three Crown's London office, in collaboration with Queen Mary University of London in June 2025. 
• Speed Mentoring - London edition event with 11 mentors from in-house, law firm, and international arbitration backgrounds, hosted by Orrick's London office in May 2025.
• Speed Mentoring (Virtual) with professional development presentations in March 2025.
• Developed and hosted with CPR DRS a three-part ADR Skills Training Series, featuring Energy Disputes, Insurance Disputes, and Employment Disputes, Fall of 2024

• New York Arbitration Week 2024 | New York Is Supportive of Arbitration at Every Stage of the Proceeding, hosted by Freshfields in November 2024.

• Developed and hosted a quarterly Africa Arbitration webinar series, presented in June and September of 2024.

• Developed a 2-part webinar series focused on AI in ADR webinar series, in May and June of 2024 (CPR members can view the recordings for Part 1 and Part 2.)

• Helped to organize CPR’s International Mediation Competition in April 2024
• Developed and participated in programs for the CPR Annual Meeting in March 2024
• Developed and hosted a fun and unique Speed Mentoring event in February 2024 to support young practitioners
• Developed and launched a new flagship event for CPR in December 2023: the African Arbitration Day-New York conference with arbitration moot
• Hosted the December 2023 Global Conference and organized the panel "Early Mediation of Disputes: When, Why and How?"
• Participated in a young practitioners panel for New York Arbitration Week in November 2023.
• Developed and moderated a 3-part Mediation Skills Advocacy Training Series in the Fall of 2023
• Publish the Y-ADR Spotlight Series as well as a quarterly Y-ADR Newsletter
• Served as moderators and panelists for the "Arbitration Advocacy Skills Training Program" in Spring 2022
• Attended and participated as panelists in the 2022 and 2023 CPR Annual Meetings
• Presented on "The Role of Artificial Intelligence in International Arbitration" to the CPR Arbitration Committee
• Held a year in review event devoted to the topic "The Future of Work in Dispute Resolution" in December 2021
• Conducted the "Y-ADR Interview Series: Career Advice From An Insider's View" interviews in 2021 and 2022. The 25 video-recorded interviews were held with general counsel, law firm counsel and ombuds around the world in a variety of industries.
• Held a roundtable discuss with the Metropolitan Black Bar Association's Alternative Dispute Resolution Section in May 2021, "Yes You Can! Pathways to a Career in Conflict Prevention & Resolution" featuring an all-star panel of conflict prevention and resolution professionals who shared their personal - and varied - paths to where they are today.

Stay in touch with Y-ADR! Join the Y-ADR group on LinkedIn:

Connect with the Y-ADR group on LinkedIn

And sign up to receive e-mail notifications about Y-ADR events and other CPR that are often of interest to Y-ADR.

Sign up for Y-ADR notifications

You can view some of Y-ADR's recent newsletters here:

Amplifying CPR's Young Leaders in Alternative Dispute Resolution (Y-ADR)

• Winter 2026 Newsletter
• Fall 2025 Newsletter
• Summer 2025 Newsletter
• Spring 2025 Newsletter
• Winter 2025 Newsletter
• Fall 2024 Newsletter
• Summer 2024 Newsletter
• Spring 2024 Newsletter 
• Winter 2024 Newsletter
• Fall 2023 Newsletter

Click here to subscribe to receive future editions of the Y-ADR Newsletter!

The Y-ADR Steering Committee is the leadership group for Y-ADR.

The Y-ADR Steering Committee is a global group of young CPR members from in-house, law firms, and neutrals practices - who serve on staggered three-year terms.

The Steering Committee is led by Co-Chairs Erin Klewin of Danone and Adam Weiss of Linklaters.

View the current Y-ADR Steering Committee members

Applications to join the Y-ADR Steering Committee.

The Y-ADR Steering Committee term year runs September through June of each year and members serve for three year terms. Applications to join the Y-ADR Steering Committee can be made once per year when the application period opens, typically open to applicants each spring and closing on June 30. 

Steering Committee members must be an attorney or other professional 45 years old or younger or with less than 8 years of professional experience in international or domestic ADR practice or other areas of conflict prevention and resolution. CPR may consider applications from candidates who are not current CPR members but if selected, such applicants will be requested to join as members. 

*While students are eligible to be members of Y-ADR, they are not yet eligible to serve on the Steering Committee.

Applications for the Class of 2026-2029 closed on June 30, 2026. Please check back next Spring!

Learn more about applying for the Y-ADR Steering Committee

For more information about Y-ADR, Y-ADR Steering Committee, or to sponsor an event, please contact Knar Nahikian.