Albert Bates, Jr. is vice chair of Duane Morris' Construction Group. Mr. Bates focuses his practice on construction litigation and domestic and international arbitration matters. He has extensive litigation and arbitration experience. He has represented multinational corporations, domestic and international owners, EPC contractors, general contractors, subcontractors, engineers, equipment manufacturers, and lending institutions on a wide variety of construction projects, including power plants, chemical plants, pharmaceutical projects, steel mills, coke and by-product recovery plants, other industrial and manufacturing facilities, mass transit and highway projects, airports, mixed-used facilities, and sports and entertainment venues. In addition to representing clients on various federal and state courts, Mr. Bates has represented clients in arbitrations under the rules of the AAA, ICDR, JAMS, ICC, and CPR.
Mr. Bates also regularly serves as an arbitrator and mediator. He is a Fellow in the College of Commercial Arbitrators, a Certified Mediator by the International Mediation Institute, and a Charter Member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. He serves as a neutral for the American Arbitration Association, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, and the CPR Institute, and on a non-administered basis. Mr. Bates has served as a neutral on more than 125 occasions, including matters in which the amounts in controversy exceeded $100 million.
Mr. Bates serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Arbitration Association. He also served as the immediate past Chairman of the National Construction Dispute Resolution Committee, a group of representatives from more than thirty prominent constructions industry professional organizations that advise and consult with the American Arbitration Association on conflict management and dispute resolution practices, processes and procedures for the construction industry.
Mr. Bates is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Arbitration, Mediation, Construction Law and Litigation-Construction. He also has been recognized as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer by Philadelphia Magazine in the field of construction litigation. Mr. Bates was selected as Best Lawyers' 2010 Pittsburgh Construction Lawyer of the Year.
Mr. Bates is a 1987 graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Law, where he was an associate editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, a 1987 graduate of Vanderbilt University, Owen Graduate School of Management (M.B.A., Finance), and a 1983 graduate of Washington & Jefferson College (B.A., Economics and Political Science, cum laude).