HARRISBURG (May 22, 2008) - The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee will honor Philadelphia lawyer Cheryl Cutrona with its annual Sir Francis Bacon Dispute Resolution Award. Cutrona will accept the award during the association's annual meeting on June 4 in Hershey, Pa.
The Sir Francis Bacon Award 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."
Since 1991, Cutrona has served as executive director of the Good Shepherd Mediation Program. The program offers mediation, training and consulting services and helps community residents creatively search for meaningful and lasting solutions to their conflicts without resorting to crime or violence.
Cutrona established and manages a custody mediation program in cooperation with the Domestic Relations Division of Philadelphia Family Court, which uses mediators from the Good Shepherd program.
"If you ask anyone who is aware of what has happened in the mediation community and who the leaders are, Cheryl's name will be at or near the top of the list," said Philadelphia lawyer Edward Blumstein, who nominated Cutrona for the award.
In addition to her work at Good Shepherd, Cutrona mediates for the Pennsylvania Department of Education Office of Dispute Resolution, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Postal Service, among others.
Cutrona is the president of the Greater Delaware Valley Chapter for the Association for Conflict Resolution. She is a member of the Court Improvement Project Committee of the Philadelphia Family Court Dependency Unit, the board of directors for the Pennsylvania Council of Mediators and the editorial board of Conflict Resolution Quarterly.
Active in the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Cutrona currently serves on the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee and the Legal Services to the Public Committee. She also is a member of the American Bar Association's Alternative Dispute Resolution Section.
Cutrona is an adjunct instructor in law at Temple University Beasley School of Law and has lectured and written extensively about mediation.
Prior to joining Good Shepherd, Cutrona operated Eighteen East Consulting, which offered editorial and desktop publishing services. She also was editor-in-chief at Labor Relations Press in Fort Washington.
Cutrona received her undergraduate degree from Michigan State University, graduate degree from Wayne State University and law degree from Temple University Beasley School of Law.
Founded in 1895, the Pennsylvania Bar Association strives to promote justice, professional excellence and respect for the law; improve public understanding of the legal system; facilitate access to legal services; and serve the 29,000 lawyers who are members of the association.