ADR and Technology: Where It's
Going
Join the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section as we
virtually celebrate Conflict Resolution Day on Thursday, Oct. 16, from 4–6 p.m.
A panel of outstanding dispute resolution (DR) professionals will share their
knowledge of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and the use of technology and
how it is changing the DR process and the world. The panel will be preceded by a
short presentation on Conflict Resolution Day by the Dispute Resolution Section
Council and the reading of a proclamation issued by Gov. Maura Healey.
Afterward, Brad Honoroff will receive the 2025 Professor Frank E.A. Sander
Award in Dispute Resolution, honoring the memory and legacy of Frank Sander, a
luminary in the field of conflict resolution.
The event will also pay tribute to Maria Walsh, an accomplished ADR neutral
from JAMS who passed away in 2025, presented by Judge James Ryan (ret).
This webinar will be hosted using Zoom. Registration is required by
noon on Thursday, Oct. 16. An email from MassBar
Education with the Webinar ID and Password will be sent before the
program.
The 2025 Frank E.A. Sander Award Recipient – Brad
Honoroff
The career of attorney and mediator Brad Honoroff has
spanned over 50 years in the field of mediation. Honoroff has mediated over
4,000 cases, trained and mentored countless other mediators, helped design
dispute resolution programs for courts and public agencies, and co-founded and
served as a principal of The Mediation Group (TMG). TMG is a nonprofit
organization that has been dedicated to the advancement of DR across multiple
disciplines since 1985. Honoroff, along with his wife, Jane, and colleague David
Matz, had a vision to create a nonprofit organization that would bring together
top attorneys, retired judges, mental health professionals, researchers, and
experts in organizational development to provide cutting-edge DR services.
TMG is a pioneer in the DR field, and Honoroff and his colleagues provide
cross-disciplinary DR services nationwide. TMG was hired in the late 1980s to
design and implement a court-approved mediation program in the Massachusetts
Superior Court, a first of its kind.
As a mediator, Honoroff’s practice spans numerous areas of law, which is in
part reflective of his reputation as a mediator of choice for cases presenting
high levels of complexity. Honoroff has been honored with many awards and
recognitions over the years, including being named a Distinguished Fellow of the
International Academy of Mediators and the Massachusetts Chapter of the National
Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. He has been recognized by Best Lawyers three
times as the Boston Mediation “Lawyer of the Year” — once in 2014, again in
2017, and most recently in 2022. In 2016, Honoroff was awarded the Frank J.
Murray Inn of Court award as its Lawyer of the Year, the first mediator in the
inn’s history to be so honored.
Honoroff’s leadership in and dedication to DR have also come through teaching
and mentoring. Before transitioning full time to mediation, he was a tenured
professor at UMass Boston with the Graduate Program in Dispute Resolution. He
has also been a regular guest lecturer at Northeastern Law School. He received
his Juris Doctor degree from Harvard University in 1974 and is admitted to the
Massachusetts bar.
Through TMG’s Fellowship program, Honoroff has invested time and energy in
the development of the next generation of DR practitioners. Yearly, he has
brought TMG Fellows into his mediations and provided them with invaluable
mentoring and experience. Indeed, many of those former Fellows are now DR
professionals.