HARRISBURG (June 1, 2006) — The Pennsylvania Bar Association Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee will honor Philadelphia lawyer Edward Blumstein with its annual Sir Francis Bacon Dispute Resolution Award. The award, which will be presented during the association’s annual meeting June 8 in Hershey, recognizes an individual who has made a significant impact in bringing mediation and other forms of dispute resolution to the commonwealth.
Sir Francis Bacon (1516-1626) was a Renaissance writer and served British monarchs in a legal capacity as knight, attorney general and solicitor. He authored the essay “Of Negotiating,” which featured the frequently-quoted line: “It is generally better to deal by speech than by letter, and by the mediation of a third than by a man’s self.”
Blumstein has been involved in mediation in Pennsylvania since the early 1980s. He helped to draft the first Standards of Practice for Family Mediators promulgated by the American Bar Association in 1986. In 1990, he assisted in establishing the custody-mediation program in Philadelphia Family Court, and he is credited with pioneering the effort to create the country’s first law school program to train third-year students to mediate custody cases in family court. In 1994, the Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law accepted Blumstein’s proposal, and, with the cooperation of the Philadelphia Family Court, the program is still active today.
“It seems as if Ed has served on almost every committee, been active in almost every movement and been in the middle of almost every important discussion involving Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) since he received his mediation training in 1982,” James A. Rosenstein said in his nomination of Blumstein. “Thanks to dedicated people like him, the field of ADR has grown and continues to grow.”
Blumstein is a member of the ADR committees of the Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Bar associations. He serves as a mediator for the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s lawyer-dispute panel and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Blumstein also serves as an arbitrator for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas and the American Arbitration Association. He is an accomplished author and lecturer on ADR practices.
Blumstein is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law.