The AAA Administrative Review Council (Council) is an executive-level, administrative decision-making authority created to resolve certain administrative issues that arise in the AAA's large, complex domestic cases and to ensure that these cases receive the highest level of service delivery.

Decisions made by the Council settle critical administrative issues related to:

  • objections to arbitrators
  • locale determinations
  • whether the filing requirements contained in the AAA Rules have been met

The Council schedules weekly meetings to hear and decide on issues raised for review, and decisions are frequently rendered within one week of submission.  However, when a decision needs to be made even more quickly, the Council convenes on an emergency basis and has rendered decisions in less than 24 hours.

From 2013 through December 2021, the Council has reviewed 1,624 issues, broken down as:

  • 1,193 Arbitrator Challenges
  • 257 Locale Decisions
  • 174 Filing Requirements

The Council is composed of current and former high-level AAA executives who bring over 150 years of combined experience in ADR and AAA case administration to the decision-making process.  In conjunction with the Council Guidelines and Council Review Standards, the Council makes decisions after careful consideration of the parties' contentions, while upholding the integrity of the ADR process and reinforcing the parties' confidence in the process.

For detailed information about the Council and how it is used to resolve certain administrative issues that arise in large, complex domestic cases, review the Council Guidelines and Council Review Standards.