Philip L. Bruner

Prior to joining JAMS on January 1, 2008, as a full-time arbitrator, mediator and dispute resolution neutral and as founding head of JAMS Global Engineering and Construction panel of neutrals,  he specialized for 40 years in litigating disputes arising out of the construction field.  From 1991 to 2007 he was a senior partner in and founding head of the Construction Law Group of the international law firm of Faegre and Benson with offices in Minneapolis, Denver, Boulder, Des Moines, London, Frankfurt and Shanghai.  Prior to joining Faegre and Benson, he was a senior partner of Hart and Bruner (later Hart, Bruner and O’Brien) from 1983 to 1990, and an associate and partner of Briggs and Morgan PC from 1967 to 1983. From 1964 to 1967 he served to Captain as a Judge Advocate in the United States Air Force, where he tried courts martials, provided the legal review of procurements and advice for resolution of contract disputes valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, and developed an expertise in construction and Federal contracting.  He has written and lectured extensively on construction related legal issues.

Full-time arbitrator, Mediator, DRB member, and neutral dispute resolver of construction, infrastructure, energy and related claims.  He heads the JAMS Global Engineering & Construction Panel of Neutrals, and serves on the panels of both JAMS and JAMS International. For ADR experience and representative cases, see bios at www.jamsadr.com under “neutrals”, www.jamsinternational.com under “panellists”, and www.philbruner.com.    He also is co-author with Patrick J. O’Connor Jr. of BRUNER & O’CONNOR ON CONSTRUCTION LAW (2002, updated annually), the 12 volume, 11,000 page legal treatise cited in over 500 WestLaw reported  judicial opinions of federal appellate and district courts, state supreme, appellate and trial courts, and U. S. commonwealth and territorial courts, as well as in countless administrative decisions, memoranda and published articles.  Professional activities also include:

• Founding Fellow,  (1989- ) and President (2006-2007) of
  The American of Construction Lawyers ; Chair, ACCL Princeton Symposium, (2006).
• Honorary Fellow, The Canadian College of Construction Lawyers.
• Fellow, International Academy of Construction Lawyers.
• Chartered Arbitrator and Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (London).
• Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators.
• Fellow, National Contract Management Association.
• Life Fellow, American Bar Foundation.
• Member, International Chamber of Commerce U.S. National Arbitration and ADR Committee.
• Overseas Member, Britain’s Society of Construction Arbitrators.
• Member, International Mediation Institute.
• Member, International Construction Law Association.
• Advisory Board Member, Institute of Transnational Arbitration.
• Advisory Board Member, International Construction Law Association.
• Member, London Court of International Arbitration.
• Member, National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals.
• Recipient, 2011 Norman Royce Prize awarded by Britain’s Society of Construction Arbitrators.
• Recipient, 2005 Cornerstone Award of the American Bar Association Forum of the Construction Industry presented for “exceptional service to the construction industry, to the public and to the legal profession.”
• Lecturer at over 400 professional conferences held in North and  South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
• Member, Panel of Construction Arbitrators, JAMS (2008- ), American Arbitration Association (1981-2007), CPR (1997-2007).
• Member, Panel of International Arbitrators, JAMS International (2011- ).
• Member, Panel of Arbitrators, Institute of Energy Law.
• Chair, Supreme Court of Minnesota Board of Continuing Legal Education (1994-1998).
• Chair, International Construction Division of the American Bar Association Forum Committee on Construction Law (1989-1991).
• Chair, American Bar Association Fidelity and Surety Law Committee (1994-1995).
• Regional Chair, American Bar Association Public Contract Law Section (1990-1996).
• Vice Chair, Inter-Pacific Bar Association International Construction Projects Committee (1994-1996).
• Chair, Construction Group Advisory Board, ThomsonReuters/WestGroup Construction Contract Law Report (1992-).
• Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of The American College of Construction Lawyers (2007-).
• Member, Editorial Advisory Board, The International Construction Law Review (2008- )
• Member, International, Inter-Pacific, American, Minnesota and Wisconsin Bar Associations
• Partner and Founding Group Head, Construction Law Group, Faegre & Benson LLP (1991-2007)

• Co-Author, BRUNER AND O’CONNOR ON CONSTRUCTION LAW (2002), and Supplements (2003-2023).
• Author, Construction Law: It’s Historical Origins and Its Twentieth Century Emergence as a Major Field of Modern American and International Legal Practice, 75:2 Ark. L. Rev. 207 (2022).
• Author, Joinder of Nonsignatories in International Arbitration, 38 Int’l Constr. L. Rev. 266 (July 2021).
• Author, Damage Recovery Measurement Issues Unique to Construction Disputes, 36 Int’l Constr. L. Rev. 320 (July 2019).
• Author,  Streamlining Construction Arbitration: Reducing the Peril of “Double Jeopardy” in Dual-Track Proceedings, 38 Construction Lawyer 7 (Fall 2018).
• Author, The Appeal of Appellate Arbitration,  35 Int’l Constr. L. Rev. 436 (Fall 2018).
• Author, Evaluative Mediation of Complex Construction Disputes, 22 Singapore Constr. Law 1 (Jan/Feb 2014).    
• Author, Mediating Public Sector Construction Disputes in the United States, 30 Int’l Constr. L. Rev 201 (April 2013).
• Author, Construction Mediation:  Pick a Mediator with Experience in Dealing with Construction Participants’ Differences in Outlook, 11 The Dispute Resolver 1 (Dec. 2012).
• Author, Why Arbitrate?, 1(8) Lewiatan Court of Arbitration E-Review 6 (2012).
• Author, Rapid Resolution ADR, 31 Construction Lawyer 6 (Spring 2011).
• Author, The “Initial Decision Maker”: The New Independent Dispute Resolver in American Private Building Contracts, 27 Int’l Constr. L. Rev. 375 (July 2010).
• Author, Global Engineering and Construction ADR: Meeting an Industry’s Demand for specialized Expertise, Innovation and Efficiency,(2009) CCCL J. 69, and 51 IPBA J. 11 (Sept. 2008).
• Author, The Historical Emergence of Construction Law, 34 WM. MITCHELL L. REV. 1 (2007).
• Author, Construction Law And The American College Of Construction Lawyers — A History, 1 J. ACCL 1 (Winter 2007).
• Co-author, Strategic “Generalship” of the Complex Construction Surety Case, in MANAGING AND LITIGATING THE COMPLEX SURETY CASE (P. Bruner and T. Haley eds. 2007).
• Co-Author, The Surety’s Performance Decision, Bond Default Manual (2005).
• Co-Author, Lender Liability in Construction Financing, Construction Briefings (2003).
• Author, Risk Allocation Under Concept of “Control” As Basis For Liability And Exculpation, 24 Construction Litigation Reporter 3 (2003).
• Co-Author, The Construction Review, Construction Briefings (1983-2007).
• Author, Disruption, Construction Briefings (2001).
• Author, Force Majeure and Unforeseen Ground Conditions in the New Millennium: Unifying Principles and “Tales of Iron Wars”, 17 Int’l Constr. L. Rev. 47 (2000).
• Author, Design-Build Viewed from the Surety’s Perspective, 20 Construction Lawyer 17 (July 2000).
• Co-Author, The Surety’s Response to the Obligee’s Declaration of Default and Termination, 17 Construction Lawyer 3 (January 1997).
• Author, Force Majeure Under International Law and International Construction Contract Model Forums, 12 Int’l Constr. L. Rev. 274 (1995).
• Author, Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards: The U.S. View of International Arbitration’s “Final Frontier,” 11 Int’l Constr. L. Rev. 128 (1994).
• Co-Author, Pricing Equipment Claims, Construction Briefings (1992).
• Author, Allocation of Risk in International Construction, Revisiting Murphy’s Law, the FIDIC Conditions, and the Doctrine of Force Majeure, 3 Int’l Constr. L. Rev. 259 (1986).
• Co-Author, Midwest Construction Law, Federal Publications, Inc. (1986).
• Author, Construction Claims Recovery Measures: Untying the Gordian Knot, XX The Forum 278 (1985).
• Co-Author, Acceleration, The Government Contractor Briefing Papers (1981).
• Author, The Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978—Revisiting the Cretan Minotaur, XV The Forum 778 (1980).
• Author, Mistakes in Bids, Construction Briefings (1978).
• Author, Inspection, Acceptance, and Warranties, Developments in Government Contract Law (ABA 1977, 78, 82, and 87).
• Author, Impossibility of Performance in the Law of Government Contracts, 9 Air Force JAG L. Rev. 6, 4 Yearbook of Procurement Articles (1967).
• Co-Author, Federal Publication’s Annual Construction Review (1983-2007)
• Chair of many national and international construction law conferences and presenter at over 400 lectures to professional and industry audiences in the North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.  He has spoken at international law conferences in Alnwick (England), Barcelona, Beijing, Calgary, Chicago, Cologne, Denver, Halifax, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, London, Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne (Australia), New Delhi, New York, Nice, Patiala (India), Princeton, Quebec City, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Stuttgart, Tokyo, Vancouver, Warsaw and Washington D.C.  He also developed and taught the first construction law courses offered by the University of Minnesota Law School and Mitchell-Hamline School of Law,  and was the opening lecturer of The Masters Institute in Construction Contracting (1992-2019).  Most recently he was the opening keynote speaker at the University of Arkansas Law School’s Symposium on Construction Law in the Legal Academy (2022); Keynote Speaker at the 11th International Congress of the Brazilian Institute of Construction Law, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2023);  Guest of Honour and speaker at the Adani Institute of Infrastructure International Conference on The Future of Dispute Resolution in Infrastructure Sector, India (virtual 2021); and the opening keynote speaker at the Society of Construction Law-India International Conference in New Delhi (2019).  He also is a lecturer on international construction arbitration for the University of Stuttgart’s Master’s Degree Program on Construction and the Law presented annually in Stuttgart, Germany (2017- ).

• State of Minnesota
• State of Wisconsin
• United States Supreme Court
• United States Court of Appeals, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and Federal Circuits
• United States Court of Federal Claims
• United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
• United States District Court, Minnesota, Eastern and Western Wisconsin, and North Dakota

• Adjunct Professor, University of Minnesota Law School (2003-2007).
• Adjunct Professor, William Mitchell College of Law (1970-1978, 2006-2008).
• Elected three term Board Member, Independent School District #832 (1979-1987).
• Founding President and Board Member, Mahtomedi Area Educational Foundation (1988-1991, 2002-2016, 2021-2023).
• Chair of the Supreme Court of Minnesota Board of Continuing Legal Education (1994-1998).
• Member and officer of many professional and community organizations over the years.
• Honored as One of Ten Outstanding Young Minnesotans by the Minnesota Jaycees (1975).
• Served to Captain as a Judge Advocate in the United States Air Force (1964-1967), awarded Air Force Commendation Medal (1967).