The National Academy of Arbitrators (NAA) was founded in 1947 as a not-for-profit honorary and professional organization of arbitrators in the United States and Canada. Members are chosen by involved parties to hear and decide thousands of labor and employment arbitration cases each year in private industry, the public sector, and non-profits in both countries. Admission standards are rigorous in keeping with the goal of establishing and fostering the highest standards of integrity and competence.
The Academy’s purposes are educational and fraternal. As a friend of the court, the Academy has participated in appellate litigation in both the United States and Canada where major issues affecting the institution of arbitration are involved. It also works cooperatively with sister organizations such as government agencies, professional organizations, institutions, and learned societies in the field of labor-management and employment relations.
The Academy’s Annual Meetings are open to all who wish to attend and feature speakers who are labor-management and employment relations practitioners, arbitrators, judges, government officials, and law school and university professors. Papers presented at the Annual Meeting are published by Bloomberg BNA in The Proceedings, which are available free of charge and in a searchable format.
The Academy also functions through its geographic regions, of which the Southwest / Rockies Region is one. The Southwest / Rockies Region covers Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Since 1977, the Southwest / Rockies Region has sponsored a labor-management conference for labor and employment practitioners. The conference is held each year in the spring in either Houston or Dallas, Texas.