Thomas J. Stipanowich is William H. Webster Chair in Dispute Resolution and Professor of Law at Pepperdine University, as well as Professor of Law at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution (ranked number one among academic dispute resolution programs in thirteen of the last fifteen years by U.S. News & World Report), where he teaches courses in negotiation theory and practice, mediation, arbitration practice and advocacy, international commercial arbitration and international dispute resolution. He has also taught contracts, commercial law, remedies, Anglo-American legal history and property. He is a leading scholar, speaker and trainer on conflict resolution topics as well as an experienced arbitrator and mediator.

Professor Stipanowich has considerable experience as a commercial and construction arbitrator, mediator, facilitator and special master, with emphasis on large and complex cases in the U.S. and internationally. He has received appointments through the American Arbitration Association (AAA), JAMS, the International Center for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), and the CPR Institute. He has trained arbitrators or mediators for the AAA, CPR, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Straus Institute. He is also on the arbitration panel of the Beijing Arbitration Commission and played a major role in the development of their mediation program. He is on the Advisory Board of the New York International Arbitration Center and on the Academic Council of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA).