Profile
Todd A. Higgins, Esq.
Professional arbitrator and mediator with over twenty-three years of experience representing defendants and plaintiffs in sophisticated legal disputes across diverse industries, including disputes related to real estate development, financial services, and capital markets, as well as fraudulent inducement, valuation, and improper dilution claims in private equity transactions; disputes related to corporate governance, executive compensation and business dissolution, including fraud, fiduciary duty, accounting and shareholder derivative claims; disputes related to breach of contract claims in connection with manufacturing, supply and distribution agreements, including cross-border commercial disputes under the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG); disputes related to monopolization and unfair trade practice claims in the technology and entertainment sectors; and disputes involving trademark infringement, cyber-squatting, right of privacy and copyright violations. Significant additional experience managing disputes in specialized sectors such as medical equipment and biotechnology, luxury and consumer goods, hospitality and spirits, commercial real estate, and charitable and educational organizations. Experienced in proceedings under various legal frameworks, including the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), as well as various well-established arbitration forums.
As Managing Partner of a boutique corporate law firm for over twenty years, counseled hundreds of businesses, corporate boards, senior executives, entrepreneurs, and individual investors, from belt-strapping start-up and early stage growth to public market exit, while managing and resolving many of the firm's most difficult commercial litigation matters, guiding cases through trial and judgment in state and federal courts across the country and navigating conflict resolution through alternative dispute resolution. Successfully guided parties in resolving disputes through mediation and negotiation and represented claimants and respondents in high-stakes arbitration cases, from case initiation through award and post- arbitration proceedings. Earlier in legal career, gained significant experience handling antitrust, unfair competition, securities fraud, and other complex commercial disputes, as well as appellate matters, including numerous cases pending before various federal courts of appeal and the United States Supreme Court, and taught undergraduate Constitutional Law as an adjunct professor for top-ranked public university.
Also oversaw legal matters for two publicly traded Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, guiding strategy from initial public offering through dissolution, one in the consumer business sector and one in the hospitality and restaurant sector. Also served as General Counsel for an early stage hockey analytics company and Interim Chief Operating Officer for systems integration and interface technology business. Prior to legal career also served as Assistant Vice President overseeing banking, investment, and insurance relationship while holding Series 63, Series 7, Series 4 and Series 24 securities licenses.
Appointed to the Commercial Division Mediator Roster in New York County, serving as court-appointed mediator on several complex commercial division matters, including successfully resolving matters as part of the mediation process.
Alternative Dispute Resolution Training includes: Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Introduction to ADR Training and Assessment, 2022; NYSBA Commercial Mediation Training, and Advanced Commercial Mediation Training, 2022; Introduction to Identity in Mediation Workshop, 2023; Arbitration Fundamentals and Best Practices for New AAA Arbitrators, 2024.
Dispute Resolution Associations
- Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Associate Member
- American Bar Association- Section of Dispute Resolution
- New York State Bar Association- Dispute Resolution Section
- New York County Lawyers Association- Committee on ADR
- New York State Dispute Resolution Association
Credentials
Education & Honors
- J.D., Fordham University School of Law, 2001
- B.S., Political Science, Queens College, City University of New York
- Fordham Law Prize (First in Class)
- Order of the Coif
- Fordham Law Review
- GCGNY's Henry Wimpfheimer Award
Admissions
- State of New York
- State of Connecticut
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- U.S. District Court- Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court- Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court-District of Connecticut