Helena Tavares Erickson

Helena Tavares Erickson oversees the CPR Institute, the membership and programming side of CPR. In addition, Ms. Erickson serves as CPR’s Corporate Secretary and is the liaison to the Arbitration and various Rules Revision Committees, and oversees CPR's Awards and Training Programs. Ms. Erickson began her career at CPR convening a number of CPR based committees charged with designing industry or practice-focused ADR protocols, rules and other products and was in charge of the CPR Brazil Initiative for many years. Under her direction, CPR released a new generation of books on conflict resolution topics. Ms. Erickson served as co-editor of Patent Mediation (2004), as editor of Drafting Dispute Resolution Clauses (2006), and as author of Drafting Dispute Resolution Clauses 2008 Supplement.

Prior to joining CPR in 2004, Ms. Erickson practiced for over seventeen years with the litigation and arbitration groups of Dewey Ballantine and White & Case, including three years in White & Case’s Paris office, where she was admitted to the Paris bar. She has served as an advocate in arbitration proceedings under ICC, ICDR, and UNCITRAL Rules, among others. She is a member of the bars of New York and Connecticut, is a member of the New York International Arbitration Club, and has been trained as a mediator. Ms. Erickson is a native speaker of Portuguese and proficient in French and Spanish.

Ms. Erickson is the author of several book chapters and articles, including: Chapter 47 in International Commercial Arbitration: 21st Century Perspectives ( Naon and Mason, eds ., 2010, rev. 2020), "The Top Ten Questions People Ask About Ad Hoc, Non-Administered or Self Administered Arbitration," The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel (August 2008), "Business Arbitration Can and Should Be Improved in the United States," Dispute Resolution Mag., Vol. 14, No. 3 (ABA, Spring/Summer 2008)(with Kathy A. Bryan), "Looking Back and Ahead: The Panama Convention After 30 Years," 23 Alternatives 184 (2005), "Litigation vs. Arbitration in the Americas: Advantages and Disadvantages from a New York Perspective," 15 Int’l L. Practicum 3 (Spring 2002) and "The United States Perspective on Traveling with the Attorney-Client Privilege: Checked or Carryon Baggage?", 7 Int’l L. Practicum 3 (Spring 1994). She has regularly lectured on topics relating to international arbitration, litigation and ethics. She is a 2006 recipient of the NYSBA ADR Committee’s award for contributions to the field of ADR and a 2017 NLJ ADR Champion.