After representing commercial clients as a partner at Goetz Fitzpatrick LLC for more than three decades, commercial litigator Neal Eiseman launched Eiseman ADR LLC to serve as a full-time neutral arbitrator and mediator. As an advocate, Neal provided legal counsel to a wide variety of corporate clients in the construction and real estate industries, including real estate developers, lenders, owners, construction managers, contractors, sureties, manufacturers and design professionals.

Neal serves on the Panel of Construction Arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”), including its Construction Arbitration Master Panel. He is a member of the Panel of Arbitrators for the International Centre for Dispute Resolution. He is also a member of both the AAA’s Construction Master Mediation Panel and the Panel of Mediators of the International Centre for Dispute Resolution.  Chambers USA ranks Neal as a Band 1 Construction Mediator in New York. Neal trains newly admitted arbitrators for the AAA and several times, he has taught an intensive five-day AAA mediator training program entitled “Essential Mediation Skills for the New Mediator.”

​Super Lawyers named Neal as one of the “Top 100 Lawyers” across-the-board for the New York Metropolitan Area in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022.   In 2017, Best Lawyers selected Neal as the “Lawyer of the Year” in New York City for “Litigation-Construction Law.”

Neal is a Fellow and, for 2022-23, President of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, an invitation-only fellowship of nationally and internationally recognized commercial arbitrators.  He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, as well as a Member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. 

As an Adjunct Professor at Cardozo School of Law, Neal teaches Construction Law. He served as an Adjunct Professor at New York University where, for over 25 years, he taught masters-level courses in construction, real estate law, negotiation, and dispute resolution. In 2015, Neal received NYU’s School of Professional Studies Award for Outstanding Service.

He is a regular guest speaker at events held by the American Bar Association (ABA), the AAA and the College of Commercial Arbitrators.  

In June 2022, Neal spoke at the ABA's Arbitration Institute in Chicago on “What Commercial Arbitrators Need to Know: Recent Decisions and Legislation Affecting the Practice of Arbitration.”  Last May, Neal moderated a College of Commercial Arbitrators Best Practice Webinar on “Convincing Your Arbitrators to Authorize the Discovery You Really Need in Your Commercial Arbitration.”  In April 2021, Neal moderated a panel discussion at the ABA’s Section on Dispute Resolution’s Spring Meeting addressing “Post-Pandemic Arbitration: Old School or New Age?”  Also in April 2021, on behalf of the American Arbitration Association, Neal taught new AAA arbitrators about “Arbitrator Fundamentals and Best Practices.”  In January 2020, Neal’s Sound Advice Podcast, “Selecting the Right Commercial Arbitrator” was posted on the ABA Section of Litigation’s website. In October 2020, Neal (i) participated as a panel member in an AAA/ICDR presentation addressing “How to Effectively Deal With the 3oo Change Order Dispute: Who Controls the Process?’; and (ii) discussed the legal issues involving  “Nonsignatories to Arbitration Agreements” at the College of Commercial Arbitrators annual meeting. In November 2020, he hosted an online session for the AAA entitled, “Best Practices Roundtable on Virtual Hearings.”  Neal spoke at the 2019 Construction SuperConference in Los Angeles on “What Counsel and Witnesses Do that Drive Arbitrators Nuts.”  Last May he spoke at the ABA Section of Litigation Conference in New York City on “A Delicate Balance: Arbitrating Your Client’s Complex Commercial Case Without Sacrificing Speed, Efficiency and Cost-Savings.”   Also in 2019, he spoke American Arbitration Association’s Annual Construction Conference in Miami on “Don’t Forget the Damages—You Can’t Win on Entitlement Alone.”  Also last April, Neal spoke at the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution’s Annual Conference in Minneapolis, MN on “How to Save the Parties From Themselves in Construction Arbitrations.”  In April 2018, Neal spoke at the annual ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Conference in Washington, D.C. on “Handling Multi-Claim Construction Disputes: Practical Tips.” In October 2018, he spoke on behalf of the American Arbitration Association in New York City on “Seeking Efficiency and Economy in Arbitration: The Attorney’s Role.”  Neal spoke at the 2017 Construction SuperConference on “Streamlining Your Arbitration: How to Avoid Reliving that Construction Project Brick by Brick,” in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

In the not too distant past, Neal (i) appeared before more than 200 New York City School Construction Authority project managers and spoke about dispute resolution; (ii) spoke as part of a national AAA webinar on “The Overuse of Discovery in Arbitration Proceedings”; (iii) lectured about project delay and scheduling at the ABA’s New York Regional Program entitled “The Fundamentals of Construction Law”; (iv) participated on a panel of experts on “New York’s Prompt Payment Act: An Underutilized Tool for Getting your Client Paid” at New York County Lawyers Association; (v) spoke before the New York County Lawyers Association on “The Use of ADR in Construction Cases: What the Industry Forms Say about ADR”; and (vi) lectured at the ABA’s Annual Litigation Conference about “Best Practices to Maximize the Benefits of Your Next Arbitration.” He also recorded a Sound Advice segment for the ABA’s national website.

Prior to launching Eiseman ADR LLC, in a decision that received national coverage, Neal represented a number of unpaid telecommunications companies who sued Wells Fargo Bank in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York for the diversion of monies funded by certain public entities to pay for the subcontractors’ work.  The lawsuit, certified as a class action, was tried before Judge Leonard D. Wexler who issued a decision awarding the subcontractors 100% of their claims totaling, including interest, $2.7 million.   In the recent past, Neal obtained a $1 million-plus arbitration award, which included attorney’s fees, against the sponsor of a Manhattan condominium project on behalf of various unit owners who claimed the fair market value of their apartments had been reduced by virtue of the sponsor’s actions. He also obtained a unanimous reversal of an adverse decision of a New York federal trial court when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that a “Residential Exclusion” rider in a comprehensive general liability insurance policy does not permit a contractor’s insurance company to disclaim coverage because the project in question involves the construction of a residential condominium project.

Neal writes extensively about construction and commercial issues for various legal publications. From 2016-2019, Neal was the author of The Overview on New York Construction Law for Thomson Reuters Practical Law. Neal is a co-author of the “Claims and Disputes” chapter of the ABA’s 2017 A201 Deskbook. He is also a co-author of the chapters on “Construction” and “Arbitrator Fees and Expenses” in the College of Commercial Arbitrators’ Guide to Best Practices in Commercial Arbitration (4th ed., 2017).

On April 13, 2018, Neal wrote a column for the New York Law Journal entitled Third-Party Funding of Lawsuits Permeates Legal Landscape. It examined some of the practical and ethical questions surrounding third-party financing of legal claims, including the potential for bias, discovery and influence on trial and arbitration counsel. On June 19, 2018, Crain’s New York Business published Neal’s article on the effect that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision could have on workers claims for unpaid wages. In 2015, his opinion piece on how proposed legislation in New York undermines the arbitration of business disputes appeared in the New York Law Journal. In 2015, the Harvard Negotiation Law Review published his article, Stiffing the Arbitrators: The Problem of Nonpayment in Commercial Arbitration. In 2013, Neal co-authored an article entitled “A Tale of Two Lawyers: How Arbitrators and Advocates Can Avoid the Dangerous Convergence of Arbitration and Litigation” for Cardozo Law Schools Journal of Conflict Resolution.

A member of the American and New York and New Jersey State Bar associations, the New York County Lawyers Association and ABA Sections in Construction and Litigation, Neal is a past Chair of the Arbitration Subcommittee of the ABA’s Section of Litigation. 

Chambers USA has referred to Neal as “very intelligent” and “a breath of fresh air,” praising him for his ability to “bring to the table a pragmatic approach.” Chambers also noted that Neal “is a highly regarded mediator” and “is the consummate professional, understanding the details and getting to the bottom of things very quickly.”

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The George Washington University (BA, Journalism, Political Science-1978); St. John's University (JD-1981).

• ABA, Mediation Advocacy: Advanced Techniques and New Developments, 2008 
• AAA Arbitration Awards: Safeguarding, Deciding & Writing Awards (ACE001), 2007 
• AAA Arbitrator Ethics & Disclosure (ACE003), 2006 
• ABA, ADR & Construction Committee CLE Seminar, 2005 
• AAA Chairing an Arbitration Panel: Managing Procedures, Process & Dynamics (ACE005), 2005
• AAA Dealing With Delay Tactics in Arbitration (ACE004), 2005 
• Negotiation Strategy Institute, Cutting Edge Negotiation Strategy for Lawyers, 2002 
• AAA Arbitrator Update, 2004 
• AAA Construction Industry Arbitrator II Training, 2001 
• AAA Construction Industry Arbitrator Training, 2000

• President, for 2022-23, of the College of Commercial Arbitrators (Board Member 2016-2019; Executive Committee 2017-2018)
• Best Lawyer, 2011 to present 
• Super Lawyer, 2007 to present 
• Chair, ABA's Committee on Arbitration, 2009 to present
• Member of the New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate/Construction Management Advisory Board
• Member, American Arbitration Association's Arbitrator National Advisory Committee
• Arbitrator, American Arbitration Association
• Mediator, American Arbitration Association Master Panel
• International “Who’s Who Legal” Leading Practitioner in Construction 
• 2015 Recipient of New York University School of Professional Studies' "Award For Outstanding Service." 

$500 an hour.