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, 2024 Alan E. Peterson Award presented by the University of Minnesota for Distinguished Service in Government Contracting.
    • 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).