Myrna Barakat Friedman

Myrna Barakat Friedman is an independent commercial arbitrator, mediator and dispute prevention neutral with nearly 30 years of legal, cororate and business experience, combining a robust dispute resolution practice with firsthand experience with complex transactions, corporate decision-making and cross-border business relationships.

Myrna has served as a neutral on a wide range of commercial disputes involving contract interpretation, commercial transactions, mergers/acquisitions and post-M&A matters, minority shareholder rights, strategic business sales, private equity transactions, securities and financial structures, and fundraising. Industry experience includes real estate, construction and infrastructure, information technology, cybersecurity, crypto and online exchange platforms, insurance, telecommunications, transportation, healthcare, finance and banking, and professional services.

Myrna has served as Chair, Sole Arbitrator, Co-Arbitrator, Appellate Arbitrator and Mediator to cases involving domestic and cross-border commercial and financial matters under the AAA, ICC, CPR, JAMS and FINRA rules.

A former M&A, securities and financial institutions lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell, lead in-house M&A counsel and Corporate Development Managing Director at CIT Group, and founder of a strategic corporate advisory firm, Myrna brings a distinctive transactional and commercial perspective to sophisticated domestic and international disputes.

Myrna is the President and a Founding Member of the Association of Commercial and Transactional ADR Professionals – ACT-ADR.  She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a CEDR Accredited Mediator.  She is a graduate of McGill University’s Law School, where she earned degrees in both common law and civil law, and McGill University’s School of Management, concentrating in Economics and Finance.  She is trilingual- English, French and Arabic, and has a working knowledge of Spanish.

• McGill University, Faculty of Law, Montreal, Canada (Dual Qualification, Juris Doctor and Bachelor of Civil Law).
• McGill University, Faculty of Management (Economics and Finance).

• Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
• CEDR Accredited Mediator.
• New York State Part 146 Certified Mediator.

• President and a Founding Member of the Association of Commercial and Transactional ADR Professionals – ACT-ADR.
• Chair, ICC/USCIB Arbitration Committee - Mediation Subcommittee.
• Chair, New York City Bar, AI in Arbitration Subcommittee.
• Chair, New York City Bar, Mediation Privilege Subcommittee.
• Co-Chair, New York State Bar, Dispute Prevention Committee.
• Member, AAA-ICDR Financial Industry Advisory Committee.
• Member, NY International Arbitration Center, Program Committee.
• Member, Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center (Task Force on Tech Disputes, Tech Companies & International Arbitration, Corporate Counsel Task Force).
• Member, International Arbitration Club of New York.

Please call for details.

French