Professional/Civic Activities

    • Arbitrator, Mediator and Dispute Resolver; Director, JAMS Global Engineering and Construction Group Panel of Neutrals (2008- ), and Member, JAMS national and international Panels of Neutrals (2008-  ).
    • Founding Fellow (1989-) and President (2006-2007), The American College of Construction Lawyers; Chair, ACCL Princeton Symposium (2007).
    • Honorary Fellow, The Canadian College of Construction Lawyers.
    • Fellow, International Academy of Construction Lawyers.
    • Certified Mediator, International Mediation Institute (The Hague).
    • Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators.
    • Chartered Arbitrator and Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (London).
    • Arbitrator Member, Britain’s Society of Construction Arbitrators (London).
    • Arbitrator Member, London Court of International Arbitration (London).
    • Board Member, International Construction Law Association.
    • Member, International Chamber of Commerce U. S. National Arbitration and ADR Committee.
    • Member, Advisory Board of the Institute of Transnational Arbitration.
    • Member, National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals.
    • Life Fellow, The American Bar Foundation.
    • Former member, AAA construction arbitration panel (1980-2007) and CPR construction arbitration panel.
    • Recipient, 2011 Norman Royce Prize presented by Britain’s Society of Construction Arbitrators for excellence of authorship in the field of construction dispute resolution.
    • Recipient, 2005 Cornerstone Award presented by American Bar Association Forum on Construction Law for “exceptional service to the construction industry, the public and the legal profession”.
    • Recognized in 2011 by the Construction Lawyer, journal of the ABA Forum on the Construction Law, as ” a giant of our field”.
    • Honored by the Marquis Who’s Who Publications Board with its 2018 Albert Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.
    • Co-Author with Patrick J. O’Connor Jr. of Bruner And O’Connor on Construction Law (2002, supplemented annually), the 12 volume, 11,000 page American legal treatise cited by U.S. courts in over 500 Westlaw reported judicial opinions.
    • Chair, Supreme Court of Minnesota Board of Continuing Legal Education (1994-1998).
    • Chair, American Bar Association Tort and Insurance Practice Section Fidelity and Surety Law Committee (1994-1995).
    • Chair, American Bar Association Forum on Construction Law International Construction Division (1989-1991).
    • Vice-Chair, Inter-Pacific Bar Association International Construction Projects Committee (1994-1996).
    • Chair, Construction Group Advisory Board, ThomsonReuters/WestGroup’ Construction Contract Law Report.
    • Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of The American College of Construction Lawyers.
    • Member, Editorial Advisory Board, The International Construction Law Review.
    • Member, American Bar Association, International Bar Association, Inter-Pacific Bar Association, Minnesota Bar Association and Wisconsin Bar Association.
    • Faculty Member, The Masters Institute In Construction Contracting (1992-2020).
    • Adjunct Professor, University of Minnesota Law School (2003-2007).
    • Adjunct Professor, William Mitchell College of Law (1970-1976, 2006-2008).
    • Master’s Degree Program Lecturer, University of Stuttgart (2017-2023).
    • Trustee (1989-1995, 2002-2016, 2022-2023) and President (1989-1992, 2002-2007, 2022-2023), Mahtomedi Area Educational Foundation.
    • Three-term publicly elected school board member, Minnesota Independent School District No. 832 (1978-1987).
    • Senior Partner and Founding Head, Construction Law Group, Faegre & Benson LLP (1991-2007); Founding Partner, Hart and Bruner (later Hart, Bruner & O’Brien) (1983-1990); Partner and Associate, Briggs and Morgan (1967-1983).
    • Selected as one of Ten Outstanding Young Minnesotans by the Minnesota Jaycees in recognition of “professional achievement, community involvement and service to humanity” (1975).
    • Served on active duty to rank of Captain as a Judge Advocate in the United States Air Force (1964-1967); awarded Air Force Commendation Medal (1967).
    • Graduate of Princeton University (AB History), University of Michigan Law School (JD), and Syracuse University Graduate School of Business (MBA).