Since joining JAMS in 2010, Kenneth M. Kramer has served as an arbitrator and mediator in numerous complicated financial services, securities, mergers and acquisition, antitrust and commercial contract disputes. Prior to joining JAMS, in nearly four decades in private practice at Shearman & Sterling and Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Mr. Kramer developed a reputation as a consummate securities, antitrust, mergers and acquisitions, construction and commercial litigation practitioner. From 1979 to 1982, he was a resident partner in Shearman & Sterling’s Paris office where his practice focused on international arbitration. Mr. Kramer is a strong and passionate advocate for alternative dispute resolution.

ADR Experience and Qualifications

• At JAMS, Mr. Kramer focuses on complex commercial disputes in the following practice areas:
  • Mergers and Acquisitions
  • International Investment
  • Real Estate
  • Banking
  • Financial service industry disputes
  • Securities class actions
  • Antitrust actions
  • Corporate governance cases
  • Contract cases
  • Construction
• At Shearman & Sterling, in addition to his litigation practice, he participated in the structuring and negotiation of many complicated corporate transactions and is experienced in handling the documentation for leveraged buyouts, bank credit agreements, asset purchases, mergers and acquisitions and debt and equity offerings and has provided disclosure advice on hundreds of public and private securities offerings
• Has substantial experience representing parties and eventually settling commercial disputes arbitrated under the Rules of the International Chamber of Commerce
• Headed Shearman & Sterling’s litigation group and served as a member of the firm’s Practice Management Committee
• Was a resident partner in Shearman & Sterling’s Paris office from 1979 to 1982, during which time he was a conseil juridique in the French Bar
• Fluent in French and competent in Spanish and Italian

Representative Matters

• Antitrust & Competition
• Cases involving claims of national and international price fixing
• Banking
• Dispute between a bank and a client involving identity theft
• Corporate Governance
• Disputes involving obligations to indemnify officers and directors; dispute concerning termination of CEO of accounting firm
• General Commercial
• Sole arbitrator in a dispute between non-U.S. internet platform and advertising supplier; chair of a tripartite arbitration panel concerning a dispute between the manufacturer and operators of large windmill farms; sole arbitrator in a dispute between automobile manufacturer and dealer concerning the termination of the dealership; member of a tripartite panel in a dispute between the founder of a company and the company concerning the right to incentive income; sole arbitrator of a dispute between a pharmaceutical company and an exclusive sales agent concerning the termination of contract; member of a tripartite panel in a dispute between the promoter/owner of a beauty pageant and the local partners in a non-US venue
• International & Cross Border
• Disputes concerning contracts for investment; a guaranty by a foreign bank of the obligations of a foreign manufacturer; and dissolution of cross border joint ventures; international arbitrations involving the construction of large scale infra hydrocarbon facilities
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Chaired a tripartite arbitration panel in a dispute over the amount of an earn out in an acquisition of a large private company by a listed public company; served as an arbitrator in a dispute concerning the amount of an earn out in an asset purchase agreement between a large public company and a private company; served as an arbitrator in a complex post-closing adjustment dispute between two public companies; served as a member of a tripartite arbitration panel in a dispute over tax indemnities arising from the acquisition of telecommunications businesses in Europe; served as a member of a tripartite arbitration panel in a dispute concerning payments due on the sale of a chain of hotels; sole arbitrator in a dispute between purchaser of import business and seller concerning indemnities; sole arbitrator in a dispute between M&A advisor and client concerning entitlement to fees on the sale of the business; sole arbitrator in a dispute between company and an investor concerning entitlement to contingent share grants
• Professional Liability
• Disputes concerning unpaid fees and claims of malpractice
• Real Property
• Disputes between commercial lessors and lessees; served on a tripartite arbitration panel in a dispute between an owner of multiple buildings under construction and the contractors
• Securities
• Cases involving derivatives including disputes involving ISDA documents; disputes between different classes of investors in collateral debt obligations; dispute between placement agent and promoter of insurance based derivatives; and class action securities fraud; dispute between bulge bracket bank and employee terminated for violating securities rules

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

• Completed Virtual ADR training conducted by the JAMS Institute, the training arm of JAMS
• Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
• Registered Mediator, United States Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York
• Recognized as a New York Superlawyer, 2006-2013
• Recognized as a leading antitrust lawyer by Chambers USA, America’s Leading Lawyers for Business
• Listed in Who’s Who in America and in Who’s Who in American Law
• Board member: International House (Board Secretary and member of Executive Committee), Sheltering Arms Children and Family Services (Chairman of the Board and President), Music for Life International (Chairman Emeritus), Healing Communities Network, Berkshire Opera Festival
• Past Board member: New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, The Legal Aid Society, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, General Theological Seminary (Chancellor), Brooklyn Heights Casino
• Frequent contributor to ADR publications and panelist at ADR meetings: JAMS' Expedited Rules: Returning Arbitration to Its Roots, CPR Alternatives, November 2010; Complex International Financial Disputes: Is Arbitration the Answer, in Contemporary Issues in International Arbitration and Mediation, The Fordham Papers (2013)

Background and Education

• Partner, Shearman & Sterling LLP, 1980-2009
  • Co-Chairman, Litigation Department
  • Member, Practice Management Committee
• Associate, Shearman & Sterling LLP, 1977-1980
• Associate, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, 1973-1976
• Law Clerk, Honorable Orrin G. Judd, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York, 1972-1973
• J.D., Albany Law School, Union University, NY, 1972 (Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review)
• A.B., Colgate University, NY, 1965
• Lieutenant, United States Naval Reserve, 1966-1969
• Languages: French (fluent), Spanish (competent), Italian (competent)