Shawn K. Aiken

Arbitrator • Special Master

Shawn K. Aiken

Arbitrator • Special Master

College of Commercial Arbitrators

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American College of Trial Lawyers

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Academy of Court-Appointed Neutrals

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National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals

After February 1, 2026, Shawn has dedicated his practice to arbitration. He no longer accepts mediation assignments.

Request a Date for Your Arbitration

To reserve your session, please click your preferred available date below. DeAnn Buchmeier (Shawn's case manager and assistant for over 32 years) will contact you. If you prefer, please contact DeAnn directly at 602-718-3340 or by email.

  • Fees and Rates

    Shawn Aiken's rates are as follows: (a) $795 per hour for private arbitrations; (b) $795 per hour for engagements as special master or judicial referee; and (c) $795 per hour for arbitrations administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA), New Era ADR, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), or the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR). Please see the rate sheet for more details.


  • Agreements and Procedures

    Private Arbitration (billing, filing, and pre-hearing conference). Most often, cases are administered by and under the rules of an administering organization (the AAA, ICDR, or CPR, for example). For arbitrations administered by Shawn Aiken, parties must sign the agreement for arbitration. We then schedule a pre-hearing conference call. Before and during that call, the parties describe the case and develop a schedule covering discovery (if any), pre-hearing motions (if any), and the final hearing, including virtual  hearing procedures. We bill the parties for their respective share of the estimated fee for the proceeding, which must be paid promptly after the first pre-hearing conference call. 


    Resources for Online Dispute Resolution. Please see a sample amendment to the agreement confirming use of Zoom for your mediation session. Please also see our Arbitration Resources page for protocols, forms of subpoenas, and orders related to online arbitration hearings.


    Online Case Management with Case Anywhere. Case Anywhere powers online management of Shawn's private arbitrations. With Case Anywhere,  parties securely submit and exchange case documents; access records, including transcripts; calendar events; and communicate through secure message boards. See our Case Anywhere page for more information about Case Anywhere.


    Billing and Case Management. DeAnn Buchmeier (602-718-3340) manages your matter, including intake, calendaring, invoicing, and support along the way.   


    Confidentiality. Since 1983, Shawn has been a member of the State Bar of Arizona. During 2020-2026 he shares office space with the law firm of Shields & Petitti, PLC. Since 2016, he has maintained his own online data, e-mail, conflicts, case management, billing, payment, and other office systems.

  • Disclosure of Contact or Conflict

    If any party or lawyer knows of any contact, disclosure, or conflict that might be relevant, please immediately call or email Shawn Aiken or his administrative assistant and case manager, DeAnn Buchmeier (602-718-3340).


    Shawn is affiliated with the following arbitration and mediation providers: International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), American Arbitration Association (AAA), and International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR). He serves on the advisory council of New Era ADR, Inc. (Chicago). 


    From 1990 to 2016, Shawn was a shareholder in Aiken Schenk, P.C. and of counsel to that firm from January 1, 2016 until the firm's closing on March 31, 2020. He does not have access to the Aiken Schenk firm's conflicts database or other client records. If you know of any connection between the Aiken Schenk firm and your matter, please notify Shawn or DeAnn.

  • Availability: Summer 2026

    From May - October, Shawn lives and works in Washington. During those months, he schedules virtual hearings or, if the matter requires in person work, he travels to Seattle and Phoenix. Please see the interactive calendar above or contact DeAnn Buchmeier (602-718-3340).


    Reserve your date. To reserve your date, please click your preferred available date (see calendar above). DeAnn Buchmeier (Shawn's case manager and assistant for over 30 years) will contact you. If you prefer, please call DeAnn at 602-718-3340 or email her at deann@shawnaiken.com.

Since 1992 or so, Shawn has arbitrated and mediated cases. On February 1, 2026, he retired from mediation and dedicated his practice to arbitration.

For over 20 years, he has served on the American Arbitration Association's Commercial and Large, Complex Case Panels.

During the past 35 years, Shawn has received over 300 arbitral appointments and authored more than 160 commercial arbitration awards concerning nearly every aspect of commercial law, including cases involving:

  • lenders, borrowers, and guarantors
  • commercial leaseholders and tenants
  • business partners, including closely-held shareholders, co-venturers, members of limited liability companies, and family members
  • residential and commercial construction projects
  • family, related entities, parent/subsidiary, and sister entities, often involving balance sheet, ability to pay, and other insolvency tests; and, veil-piercing, alter ego, and related remedies
  • claims for interference with business relationships (and expectancy)
  • claims for breach of fiduciary duty
  • unfair competition
  • fraud and misrepresentation
  • breach of and interference with contract
  • misappropriation of corporate opportunity
  • RICO
  • lost profits and
  • other commercial torts.

Shawn manages each case to achieve advantages over litigation, including tailor-made pre-hearing proceedings and final hearing procedures.

During the past three years, Shawn's most frequent arbitration work has been with cases involving:

  • valuation issues
  • business torts, especially lost profits claims
  • partnership, member, joint venture, and shareholder disputes (dissociation, dissolution, etc.)
  • cannabis industry disputes
  • Shawn Aiken's Economic Damages experience

    Shawn Aiken has an extensive background — in advocacy and arbitration — in disputes over economic damages, including:

    • damages models (e.g., but-for causation, lost profits, loss or destruction of business, and business-interruption losses);
    • business and asset valuation opinions and issues (e.g., application of discounts, definitions of value, and income analysis);
    • accounting principles and issues, including analyses of financial statements;
    • economic methods and statistical analyses (e.g., regressions and Monte Carlo methods); and
    • presentations of damages related to claims and defenses concerning loss causation, consequential losses, reliance damages, out-of-pocket costs, mitigation, future losses, and punitive damages.

  • More about Shawn Aiken's professional and personal background

    From 2017 to 2026, over 250 lawyers and law firms asked Shawn to mediate their clients' business disputes, especially those involving breach of contract, including partnership, shareholder, operating, joint-venture, buy-sell, and merger agreements; claims for dissolution and dissociation involving founders, shareholders, and partners in, for example, the cannabis, financial, legal, medical, publishing, real estate, and securities industries; and, claims arising out of purchase, lease, construction, operating, shareholder, licensing, and employment agreements. In February 2026, Shawn retired from mediating cases.


    Shawn has long experience in cases arising out of disputes in closely held entities, including valuation of stock, partnership, and membership interests; derivative actions; breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fiduciary duties;  theft of trade secrets and confidential information; and, employment disputes, frequently involving claims of unfair competition and breach of restrictive covenants.


    As a litigator, Shawn also played a lead role in high-profile, public-interest cases that included successful outcomes regarding same-sex marriage and local minimum wage rights.


    Since 1995, he mediated hundreds of cases in other areas, including the construction (commercial and residential), franchising, banking, and healthcare fields; insurance disputes, including coverage and claims of bad faith (first- and third-party); class and collective actions; disputes over attorney's fees; and, claims for legal and accounting malpractice.


    In 2009, Shawn became a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators.


    In 2015, he became a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.


    He has been named Best Lawyers® "Lawyer of the Year" (Phoenix) for mediation (2012, 2015) and arbitration (2019, 2021, and 2026). Over the past 16 years, Best Lawyers® has recognized Shawn for his work as arbitrator, commercial litigator, and mediator (2007 - 2026), including Tier 1 ranking in all 3 categories for 2024-26 (Phoenix Metro). And, every year since 2009, he has ranked among Super Lawyers' Top 50 Arizona lawyers.


    In addition to his mediation and arbitration work, Shawn is the sole member of Aiken Law Firm, PLLC (ALF) (2022) and co-founder of Aiken Farrell Kroloff LLC (AFK) (2023), an Arizona Alternative Business Structure law firm. The firm co-counsels with leading trial firms around the United States on mass tort matters. 


    After growing up in rural Minnesota, Shawn attended St. Olaf College, in Northfield, Minnesota, where he met Lynn, his wife of over 40 years, a Michigan native. He attended Arizona State University College of Law. Shawn and Lynn have two married children and four grandchildren.

Selected Honors and Awards

"Lawyer of the Year" (Phoenix), The Best Lawyers in America®: Mediation, 2012 and 2015; Arbitration, 2019, 2021, and 2026
The Best Lawyers in America® Metro Tier 1 Rankings (Arizona): Arbitration (2011-2025), Mediation (2011-2025)
Super Lawyers: “Top 50 Arizona,” 2009-2025; Selectee, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Business Litigation (2007-2025)
Phoenix Magazine "Top Lawyer" (Arbitration and Mediation), 2022, 2023
Million Dollar Advocates Forum (1986 -    )
"Az Business Leaders" (Law: ADR), AzBusiness Magazine, 2017-2020
"Top 100 Lawyers," AzBusiness Magazine, 2013-2019
Arizona Supreme Court Distinguished Service Award (Pro Bono Category), 2018

Bar and Court Admissions

Arizona, 1983
U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, 1983
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1983
Supreme Court of the United States, 2010

Education

J.D., Arizona State University, 1983
B.A., cum laude, St. Olaf College, 1980

Selected Writing

Brief of Amici Curiae, Changing Hands Bookstore, Inc. et al. in Support of Petitioners (August 2020)
Brief of Amici Curiae, Hon. Kate Gallego in Her Official Capacity as Mayor, City of Phoenix; Hon. Coral Evans in Her Official Capacity as Mayor, City of Flagstaff; and, Hon. Regina Romero in Her Official Capacity as Mayor, City of Tucson in Support of Petitioners (April 2020). In Arizonans for Second Chances v. Hobbs, four political action committees sued the Arizona Secretary of State seeking to allow ballot initiatives to meet Arizona's signature requirement through an online system similar to the method used to gather signatures for political candidates.
"Unfair Competition in Arizona," 2004

Selected Presentations: Arbitration

"Arbitration Agreements" (panelist), Arizona Judicial Conference, June 2022
Facilitator, ABA Arbitration Training Institute, March 2020
"ADR Talks: Creative Procedures in Arbitration," State Bar of Arizona Annual Convention, June 2019
“Buy-Sell Agreements: ‘Prenups’ for Business Owners” (panelist), State Bar of Arizona, October 2018
Arizona College of Trial Advocacy (faculty member), State Bar of Arizona, August 2017
“Arbitration Talks: Preparing for the Arbitration Hearing” (panelist), State Bar of Arizona Annual Convention, June 2017
“Best Practices in Commercial Arbitration” (webinar co-presenter), American Arbitration Association, April 2016
“Neutrals’ Roundtable: Motions and Award Modifications” (panelist), American Arbitration Association, Denver, 2015
"Conducting Research and Investigations: The Arbitrator’s Authority" (faculty), American Arbitration Association, 2014