Mediation and arbitration can avoid costly and time-consuming litigation, which is often what matters most to all sides of a dispute. Walsh offers decades of experience in a range of techniques for resolving disputes in a quick and cost-efficient manner across a wide range of industries and meaningful areas of law. The Honorable Mark Falk, a former United States Chief Magistrate Judge for the District of New Jersey, and The Honorable Douglas E. Arpert, a former United States Magistrate Judge for the District of New Jersey, co-lead our efforts in this area, assisted as necessary by associates experienced in the field through their service as federal and state judicial law clerks prior to joining the firm.

Judge Falk has national stature in the field, as evidenced by his service as President of the Federal Magistrates Association prior to joining Walsh. He regularly serves as a mediator and as an arbitrator for all types of civil litigation. Judge Falk serves as a Special Master when appointed by the court, to hear discovery disputes and other matters referred to him and makes recommendations to the court to resolve pretrial issues and keep cases moving forward to resolution.

Judge Falk brings deep experience in resolving complex, challenging disputes, having conducted thousands of settlement conferences and mediations. Over twenty years on the bench he managed discovery in virtually every practice area, giving him a unique perspective on the decision process.

Judge Arpert has presided over thousands of significant and often complex and high-stake pretrial matters, and he facilitated settlements in hundreds of complex commercial disputes. His extensive experience, coupled with his perceptive, even-handed, and creative approach to resolving disputes will be an immense asset to the firm’s lawyers and clients.

Prior to taking the bench, he served as the Managing Partner of a mid-sized law firm in northern New Jersey, specializing in complex commercial litigation, products liability defense, and the defense of ERISA-based life, health and disability claims for Fortune 500 companies and major insurance carriers. Before private practice, Judge Arpert served as both a municipal public defender and then a municipal prosecutor.  As a result of these varied experiences and relationships both on and off the bench, Judge Arpert brings tremendous knowledge, insight, and a fresh perspective to resolving highly complex disputes.

Our areas of work include: