John H. Wilkinson

John Wilkinson is the recipient of the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award.

JOHN WILKINSON was for 25 years a trial attorney, litigator and partner at Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine, during which he represented clients in numerous arbitrations, mediations and trials of complex corporate disputes. For most of the same period, he was also in charge of Donovan Leisure’s public service (pro bono) program.

John is currently a full time arbitrator and mediator. He has been the mediator in hundreds of complex commercial cases, as well as numerous pro bono mediations as a member of the mediation panels of the United States District Court, Southern District of New York; the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York; and the New York Supreme Court, Commercial Division, New York County. In addition, he serves as a Special Master (mediation) in the New York Appellate Division, First Department.

John serves on the panels of neutrals of the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”), the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, the CPR Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (“CPR”) (national and international panels); the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre and the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration and Mediation.

Among John’s various activities are the following:

• He is a frequent speaker on arbitration and mediation to professional and bar organizations, corporate legal departments and law school classes, as well as to groups such as the legal department of the Navy.

• He has written numerous articles and chapters on dispute resolution and was editor and co-author of the ADR Practice Book (John Wiley & Sons), which (with Linda Singer) shared CPR’s award and honorarium for best dispute resolution book of the year.

• John served as Chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section (“Section”) (2013-14) and twice served as Chair of the Section’s Mediation Committee (2008-10, 2015-present) and once as Chair of the Section’s Arbitration Committee (2010-12). He also has been a member of the Section’s Executive Committee from 2008 to present.

• He served, along with Josh Stulberg, on a six person committee that revised the Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators.

• John is an AAA Master Mediator (one of nine in New York State).

• He is a Fellow and member of the board of the College of Commercial Arbitrators.

• He has been Vice-Chair of the ABA’s Arbitration Committee (2012-13).

• He has been a member of the board of the NY International Arbitration Center (2013-15).

John has been recognized in a number of well known publications, including:

• Best Lawyers in America, 2015.
• Super Lawyers, NY Times Magazine, 2015.
• New York Area’s Best Lawyers, NY Magazine, 2015.
• Marquis, Who’s Who in the World; Who’s Who in America, 2014.
• Wall Street Journal, Best Lawyers in New York City, Nov. 2015.
• American Registry, America’s Most Honored Professionals, 2015.
• American Lawyer, Top Lawyers, 2015.

John received his B.A. from Williams College and his LLB from Fordham Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review and received awards for the highest grades in eight courses.

John lives in New York with his wife of 50 years (Mia). They have two children, Heather and Carter.