Stradley Ronon partner Ben Picker receives the "Law
Firm Award for Excellence in Alternative Dispute Resolution"
from Kathleen A. Bryan, CEO of the CPR Institute.

The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR Institute) has presented the organization’s inaugural “Law Firm Award for Excellence in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)” to Philadelphia-headquartered Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP.

The CPR Institute – a membership-based, nonprofit alliance of global corporations, law firms, scholars and public institutions – recognized Stradley Ronon for its leadership and dedication to the principles of conflict management and resolution.

“For their commitment to principled and creative conflict-management and resolution, the CPR Institute is proud to honor Stradley Ronon,” said Kathleen A. Bryan, CEO of the CPR Institute. “They have set a successful benchmark for addressing resolution, prevention and management of major disputes in multiple practice areas.”

“By fully embracing our approach to conflict management, we know we have added value to our clients,” said Bennett G. Picker, chair of Stradley Ronon’s ADR practice group for the past decade, who accepted the award on behalf of the firm. “If our example can help promote enhanced law-firm commitments to ADR, we also will have the satisfaction of knowing that we have added value to our profession.”

The award review committee – comprised of corporate counsel from General Electric, DuPont, Abbott Labs, Northrop Grumman, Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft, as well as faculty from the University of Missouri at Columbia Law School and Pepperdine University’s School of Law – agreed that Stradley Ronon demonstrated a firmwide commitment and a culture promoting the principles of conflict resolution.

Focusing on criteria including processes, techniques, systems, commitment and scholarship which address the resolution, prevention or creative management of major disputes, the committee acknowledged Stradley Ronon for having:

• instituted expansive, firmwide training in ADR;

• established an ADR practice group which has partnered with clients to deliver educational programs in ADR and disseminated scholarly information on ADR to the general public through lectures and publications;

• developed ADR practice tools, conflict-management systems and innovative approaches to solutions that better enable clients to achieve their business goals;

• actively participated in shaping many of the cutting-edge developments that have helped define the developing field of mediation and ADR; and

• linked their ADR programs to successful pro-bono community activities.

“While many law firms ‘talk the talk,’ when it comes to ADR, Stradley Ronon is the one firm in America that truly ‘walks the walk,’” said Bruce Whitney, chief litigation counsel for Air Products, in support of Stradley Ronon’s nomination.

“Stradley Ronon deserves this award because of the manner in which they have institutionalized ADR within their law firm, and their innovative ADR strategies and techniques,” said Phil Armstrong, senior counsel of Georgia-Pacific (Litigation & ADR).

In addition, honorable mention was awarded to the London-based law firms of Herbert Smith and Eversheds for their outstanding achievement in ADR and their commitment to the principles of conflict management and resolution. The awards were presented on Oct. 25 at the CPR fall meeting in Boston.


From left (top row): Stradley Attorneys,
Kevin Casey, Frances Gauthier and Lee Rosengard;
From left (bottom row): Stradley Attorney,
Ben Picker and CPR Institute CEO, Kathleen Bryan

About Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young – www.stradley.com

Counseling clients since 1926, Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young’s more than 190 attorneys serve publicly and privately held corporations, nonprofit organizations, small businesses, entrepreneurs and individuals. Stradley Ronon is the only Eastern Pennsylvania member of Meritas – the world’s largest affiliation of independent commercial law firms.

About CPR – www.cpradr.org

CPR Institute provides thought leadership and innovation as the global resource for conflict management and resolution of complex business-related disputes. The Institute’s membership is comprised of general counsel and senior lawyers of Fortune 1,000 organizations, partners in the top law firms around the world, as well as leading judges, government officials, neutrals, and academics. The Institute’s proprietary panel of esteemed arbitrators and mediators has provided resolutions in thousands of cases, with billions of dollars at issue, worldwide.