Selected Publications

Arbitration

Books

  1. Co-editor, College of Commercial Arbitrators, Guide to Best Practices in Commercial Arbitration (5th ed. forthcoming spring 2025)
  2. With Mark Travis, Chapter 25, “Reforming Judicial Review to Permit Bargained-For and Fast-Track Judicial Review,” in The Federal Arbitration Act: Successes, Failures, and a Roadmap for Reform (Richard Bales and Jill Gross, eds. 2025)
  3. The Reasoned Arbitration Award in The United States: Its Purposes, Preparation, Problems, and Preservation (Juris Publications, Oct 2022)
  4. Co-author, Chapter 12, Awards and Substantive Interlocutory Arbitral Decisions, in College of Commercial Arbitrators, Guide To Best Practices in Commercial Arbitration (4th ed. 2017)

Presentations and Articles

 2025:

  1. With Gary Benton, “The Right Balance: When Do Arbitrators Need to be Proactive, When Should They Leave Things to the Parties?,” Jan. 23, 2025 CPR webinar
  2. “Best Practices for Drafting Reasoned Arbitration Awards: A Conversation with John Burritt McArthur,” June 9, 2025 (CCA podcast)
  3. “Restoring Party-Choice of Judicial Review and Smoothing Challenges with Fast-Track Review,” presented at June 5, 2025 Conference on FAA at Washington College of Law, American University, Washington, D.C.

2024: 

  1. “Awards, Reasons, and Remedies: More Difficult than They Seem?,” presented at ITA-IEL-ICC 12th Joint Conference on International Energy Arbitration, Houston, TX (Jan. 18-19, 2024)
  2. “The Importance of a Well-Drafted Arbitration Award: What You Need to Know as an Arbitrator and Advocate,” Phone Interview by Jeff Zaino, Senior Vice President, American Arbitration Association, for podcast to Business Law Section, American Bar Association (June 26, 2024)
  3. Unsettled Issues in Modern Domestic Arbitration, and a Few Tips,” presented at Louisiana State Bar Arbitration-Mediation Program, New Orleans, LA (Dec. 12, 2024)

2023:

  1. “More on Why You Should Consider Serving as a FINRA Arbitrator,” 41 Alternatives 1 (Vol. 1) (January 2023)
  2. “The Rule of Law and Reasoned Awards in Arbitration,” presented by Zoom on CCA Webinar (Mar. 15, 2023)
  3. “Why Courts Vacate Awards – And How to Prevent It,” Presented at AAA/ICDR 2023 Panel Conference, Rancho Mirage, CA (Mar. 24-25, 2023)
  4. “Is There More to Drafting a Reasoned Award than You Think?,” presented at CIARB North American Branch Meeting, Santa Fe, N.M. (Apr. 15, 2023)
  5. “Savvy Arbitration Advocacy: Making Arbitration Work for You,” with Lawrence Mills, Zoom presentation for California Lawyers’ Association (Apr. 26, 2023)
  6. “Reasoned Awards and the Rule of Law,” presented to LA ADR Study Group (Apr. 26, 2023)
  7. “Your Right to a Reasoned Award and Its Significance,” Presenter and Moderator (with Dana Welch and Gary McGowan), at ABA, Section of Dispute Resolution, Las Vegas, NV (May 11, 2023)
  8. “Two Views of Arbitrators Injecting their Own Views into an Arbitration,” presentation to LA ADR Study Group (Oct. 24, 2023)
  9. “Is there More to Drafting a Reasoned Award than You Think?,” presented for at AAA roundtable for Louisiana/Mississippi (Nov. 22, 2023), AAA roundtable for Texas (Houston) (Dec. 6, 2023)

2022:

  1. “Ten Reasons for Serving as a FINRA Arbitrator, Part 1 of 2,” 40 Alternatives 171 (vol. 11)(Dec. 2022)

2021:

  1. “Delivering a Quality Award: Problems Posed by Reasons,” presented by Zoom for Denver Interstate Group (Feb. 19, 2021)
  2. “What Every Lawyer Needs to Know about Arbitration: A Conversation with Experts, Part I,” Panelist, with Moderator and Panelists Cedric Chao, Natalie Anderson, and Eric Tuchmann, presented by Zoom in Litigation Counsel of America Webinar (Mar. 18, 2021)
  3. “Drafting a Truly Reasoned Award, and the Vacatur Risk of Conclusory ‘Reasoned’ Awards,” presented to LA ADR Study Group (Sept. 28, 2021)

2020:

  1. With Allison Snyder, “How to Protect Your Right to a Reasoned Construction Award, When That is What You Want,” 16 Construction L.J. 7 (Summer 2020)
  2. “Tribunals, Providers, and Courts Must Help Protect Reasoned Awards,” 38 Alternatives 56 (Apr. 2020)
  3. “Parties Usually Benefit Most from Reasoned Awards, Not Standard Awards,” 38 Alternatives 44 (Mar. 2020)
  4. “Parties, Beware: Current Practices and Judicial Standards Threaten Your Right to Truly Reasoned Awards,” 38 Alternatives 19 (Feb. 2020)

2019:

  1. With Allison Snyder, “The Second Circuit Needs to Break Precedent to Protect Reasoned Arbitration Awards,” 12 N.Y.S. Disp. Resol. Lawyer 16 (2019)
  2. “The Arbitration Award: Delivering a Quality Decision,” with Allison Snyder, presented at AAA/ICDR 2019 Panel Conference, Nashville, Tenn. (Mar. 8-9, 2019)
  3. “The Reasoned Arbitration Award: Traps, Trends, Tricks, and Tribulations,” with Richard Chernick, presented at JAMS San Francisco office, CA (May 7, 2019)
  4. “Traps, Trends, Tricks, and Tribulations of Award Writing Part 2: The Law’s Boundaries, and Avoiding Vacatur,” with Richard Chernick, presented at JAMS San Francisco office, CA (July 9, 2019)
  5. “Practicum – Writing a Clear and Effective Award – Plenary Session,” Moderator, with Professors Cheryl Berg and Lucinda Sikes, CCA Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA (Oct. 3-5, 2019)
  6. “The Unexpected Challenges of Writing Reasoned Awards,” presented at JAMS Boston office, MA (Dec. 3, 2019)

2018:

  1. “Real-World Questions about Awards and Arbitrator Decisionmaking: A Modest Problem Set,” presented at AAA Roundtable, San Francisco, CA (June 6, 2018)
  2. “Ten Practices to Embrace, Ten to Shun, When Writing Awards” and “Award and PostAward Issues” [moderator, with Karen Evans and Francisco Rodriguez], both presented at ABA Arbitrator Training Institute, Miami, FL (May 17-18, 2018)
  3. “Putting Arbitration in Your Trial Toolbox: How to Stop Worrying About the Panel Hearing and Learn to Love It Instead,” presented at Litigation Counsel of America Renaissance Symposium XIII, San Francisco, CA (April 20, 2018)

2017:

  1. “The Tom Brady Award and the Merit of Reasoned Awards,” 8 Harvard J. of Sports and Entertainment Law, no. 2 (2017)
  2. “Reasoned Awards: Why the Fuss? Why the Confusion?” presented at AAA Roundtable, San Francisco, CA (Feb. 8, 2017)

2015:

  1. “Arbitrator Use and Misuse of Experts,” presented at AAA Roundtable, San Francisco, CA. (Nov. 11, 2015)
  2. With Glen Ashworth, Dick Watt, “Arbitration: The Underused Alternative for Oil and Gas Disputes,” Texas Lawyer (June 17, 2015), reproduced at jamsadr.com/publications/2015/arbitration-the-underused-alternative-for-oil-and-gas-disputes.

Oil, Gas, and Other Energy

Books

  1. Oil and Gas Implied Covenants for the Twenty-First Century: The Next Step in Evolution (Juris Publications 2014).


Selected Publications and Presentations: 

2024:

  1. “Awards, Reasons, and Remedies: More Difficult than They Seem?,” presented at ITA-IEL-ICC 12th Joint Conference on International Energy Arbitration, Houston, TX (Jan. 18-19, 2024).

2018:

  1. “Mineral Implied Covenants: Why Royalty Owners Still Should Care About Them,” presented at presented at National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) Annual Convention, Denver, CO (October 19, 2018)

2017:

  1. “How the Texas Supreme Court Lost its Position as a Leading Oil and Gas Royalty Court: A Tale of 18 Cases,” 49 Texas. Tech. L. Rev. 1 (2017)

2016:

  1. “Implied Covenants in Texas and in the More United States,” presented at Houston Bar, Oil, Gas and Mineral Law Section, Houston, Texas (May 26, 2016);
  2. “Implied Covenants in Texas and Out: Has the Texas Supreme Court Abandoned a Mainstream Approach?” presented at Texas State Bar, Oil and Gas Disputes 2016, Houston Texas (Jan. 28, 2016).

2015:

  1. “American Oil and Gas Implied Covenants and their Functions: ‘As Much A Part of the Contract – Is As Effectually One of Its Terms – As If Had Been Plainly Expressed,’” 2015 Rocky Mountain Min. Law Found. ¶ 29.01 (2015);
  2. “Mineral Royalties, Deductions, and Fawcett v. OPIK: Continuity and Change in the Revised But-Still-Standing Kansas Marketable-Product Rule,” 64 University of Kansas L. Rev. 63 (2015);
  3. With Glen Ashworth, Dick Watt, “Arbitration: The Underused Alternative for Oil and Gas Disputes,” Texas Lawyer (June 17, 2015), reproduced at https://www.jamsadr.com/publications/2015/arbitration-the-underused-alternative-for-oil-and-gas-disputes.
  4. “Preserving Public Natural Resources: Value and Sustainability in A World of High Costs and Budget Shortfalls,” 10 Texas J. Oil, Gas & Energy Law 265 (2015);
  5. “Clarifying Oklahoma’s Marketable-Product Royalty Rule,” 86 Oklahoma Bar J. 370 (2015).

2014:

  1. “Mineral Implied Covenants: Why Royalty Owners Should Care About Them,” presented at National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) Annual Convention, Santa Fe, N. M. (October 2014);
  2. “Stewarding Public Oil, Gas, and Hard Minerals: The Express and Implied Development Rights that Protect Public Resources,” 9 Texas J. Oil, Gas & Energy Laws 215.

2010:

  1. “The private oilfield lease: The implied covenants that have fostered oil and gas development in the U.S.,” Newsletter of the International Bar Association, Legal Practice Division (Oct. 2010).

2005:

  1. “The Restatement (First) of the Oilfield Operator’s Fiduciary Duty,” 45 Nat. Res. J. 587 (2005);
  2. “A Minority of One? The Reasons to Reject the Texas Supreme Court’s Recent Abandonment of the Duty to Market in Market-Value Leases,” 37 Texas Tech. L.Rev. 271 (2005).

2003:

  1. “Judging Made Too Easy: The Judicial Exaggeration of Exculpatory and Liability-Limiting Clauses in the Oilfield’s Operator Fiduciary Duty Cases,” 56 S.M.U. L. Rev. 925 (2003).

2002:

  1. “The Precedent Trap and the Irrational Persistence of the Vela Rule,” 39 Houston Law Review 979 (2002).

2001:

  1. “The Mutual Benefit Implied Covenant for Oil and Gas Royalty Owners,” 41 Nat. Res. J. 795 (2001).
  2. With Jeff Leitzinger and Roger Ridlehoover, “Balance Needed in Operating Agreements as Industry’s Center of Gravity Shifts to State Oil Firms,” Oil & Gas Journal 74 (Oct. 23, 2000), reprinted in 2001-1 Natural Resources Digest (Natural Resources Team, IRS))(July 2001).

1998:

  1. “Cost Responsibility or Regulatory Indulgence for Electricity’s Stranded Costs?,” 47 American Law Review 775 (1998).
  2. “Avoiding the Mistakes of FERC and California's Full Stranded-Cost Recovery in Electricity,” 11 Electricity J. 57 (1998).
  3. “A New Equilibrium in Deregulated Energy,” 12 Natural Resources & Energy Journal 295 (Viewpoint Spring 1998)
  4. “The Irreconcilable Differences Between FERC's Natural Gas and Electricity Stranded-Cost Treatments,” 46 Buffalo L. Rev. 71 (1998).

1997:

  1. “Coming of Age: Initiating the Oilfield into Performance Disclosure,” 50 SMU L. Rev. 663 (1997).
  2. “Antitrust in the New [De]Regulated Natural Gas Industry,” 18 Energy L.J. 1 (1997).

1996: 

  1. 1. “Oilfield Class Actions,” Natural Resources & Energy Law Journal 38 (Viewpoint, Fall 1996)(ABA Section Magazine).
  2. “The Class Action Tool in Oilfield Litigation,” 45 Kansas Law Review 1 (1996).
  3. “A Twelve-Step Program for Copas to Strengthen Oil and Gas Accounting Protections,” 49 S.M.U. L. Rev. 1447 (1996).

1992:

  1. The Take-or-Pay Crisis: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Cure for Immorality in the Marketplace, 22 New Mexico Law Review 353 (1992).

Eric Wiechmann

“I recently served with John in a significant arbitration involving multiple claims and counterclaims and a mass of related contracts. His ability to define the salient issues (both factual and legal), to break down the parties’ positions, and to explain the basis for the award were as good as I have witnessed in 30 years as an arbitrator. His friendly, professional demeanor fostered a smooth-running hearing. And, no surprise given his expertise on reasoned awards, he made essential contributions to the award. He will be an effective, neutral, and influential arbitrator in any dispute.”

Eric Wiechmann
Arbitrator, Wiechmann ADR
New Canaan, CT