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ABOUT JOHN SHERRILL
As a litigator between 1972 and 2014, I tried over 100 cases to verdict, including jury trials, bench trials, and arbitrations, in many different courts and forums around the country, and I believe I have been recognized as a competent and effective advocate by my peers in the bar and by my clients that I have represented over the years. However, I realized early in my career that the overcrowded court systems with the incumbent delays and expense of litigation were normally not the most effective way to resolve commercial disputes, and I determined that there were more effective alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, including arbitration and mediation, through which the commercial dispute resolution process could be enhanced and made more effective.
Therefore, in the 1980s I became trained and certified as a mediator on the mediation panels for Resolution Resources, Inc. and the American Arbitration Association, and as an arbitrator, on the Commercial, Construction, Real Estate, and Olympic Panels of the American Arbitration Association. Also, as a proponent of alternative dispute resolution, I have become an advocate for improving the efficiency of both the mediation and arbitration processes so that they can serve as a viable alternative to litigation and as a cost-effective and time-saving alternative form of dispute resolution.
Through my studies of ADR processes, I have come to believe that effective dispute resolution must be viewed as a continuum that should begin with negotiation, the least confrontational process, and continue through mediation and other voluntary procedures, only proceeding to litigation, or, preferably, arbitration, if the dispute cannot be amicably resolved by the parties themselves (at which point the parties lose control of the outcome). Consistent with the principal of "party control," I think arbitration is preferable for most commercial disputes because the flexibility of arbitration allows the parties and their counsel to have meaningful input into the structure and efficient design of the process. That is, the most efficient DR process is one in which the parties and counsel cooperate to the maximum extent possible to participate in the design and implementation of the resolution process for their dispute, and I endeavor to encourage and, in fact, insist upon such a cooperative process in the cases in which I act as a neutral.
Admission & Courts:
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits; U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia; All Georgia State Courts
Affiliations:
American Bar Association (Litigation and Dispute Resolution Sections-Chair DR Section CLE Committee 2007 - 2013; Member, Governing Council of Section 2009-2013); Atlanta International Arbitration Society (ATLAS) (Board of Directors 2011 - 2014); Georgia Bar Association (Litigation and DR Sections-Chair DR Section, 2010; Executive Committee 2009 - 2014); Atlanta Bar Association (Litigation and ADR Sections); Lawyers Club of Atlanta; Georgia Academy of Mediators and Arbitrators; Georgia Arbitrators Forum (Fellow and Founding Member; President 2010); American Arbitration Association (Arbitrator and Mediator; AAA International Board of Directors 2013 - present); CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution (Arbitrator and Mediator); American College of Civil Trial Mediators (Fellow; Board of Directors 2012 - 2014); College of Commercial Arbitrators (Fellow; Co-Chair Committee on Coordination of Dispute Resolution Processes, 2013-2014)
Publications:
“Creating Effective Alternative Dispute Resolution Processes for Business Disputes,” Georgia Business Law Institute (October 2013); “Ethics for Lawyers Representing Clients in Mediations,” American Journal of Mediation (Volume 6, 2012); “Ethical Considerations in Arbitration,” Georgia Bar Journal (December 2011); “Cooperative Negotiation, Mediation and Arbitration: Creating a Sequential and More Efficient Dispute Resolution Process,” GA ICLE Publication (December 2011); “Effectively Conducting the Evidentiary Arbitration Hearing,” Florida Bar Construction Law Institute, (April 2011), and Georgia Bar DR Section Newsletter (October 2010); “Ethics for Georgia Lawyers Representing Clients in Mediations,” Georgia Bar Journal (October 2009); “Achieving Efficiency and Fairness in Arbitration,” American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section (April 2008); “ADR for Trial Lawyers,” Georgia Bar Association Publication for Younger Lawyers (2007); “Effectively Resolving Business Disputes Through Arbitration,” Inside the Minds, Aspatore Books (2007); “Using Arbitration and Mediation to Resolve Real Estate Disputes,” Commercial Real Estate Investors Magazine (Spring 2006)
Presentations:
“The Mystical Art of Mediation Ethics,” American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section Spring Conference, Miami, FL (April 2014); “Getting the Arbitration Process Parties Want,” presented to several law firms through the College of Commercial Arbitrators in 2014; “Best Practices in Commercial Arbitration,” joint Panel from American Arbitration Association, College of Commercial Arbitration and JAMs, March 2014“Effectively Managing a Complex Commercial Arbitration,” Georgia ICLE Arbitration Institute (August 2013); “Arbitration Ethics and Social Media,” Georgia ICLE 19th Annual Georgia Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute (December 2012); “Ethics Issues in Arbitration,” American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section Spring Conference, Washington, DC (April 2012); “Alternative Arbitration Avenues: Traditional, Collaborative, Cooperative and MED-ARB,” GA ICLE Annual Georgia Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute Conference (December 2011); “Dealing with Challenging and recurring Problems in Complex Commercial Arbitrations,” American Arbitration Association (December 2011); “Arbitration Ethics,” GA ICLE Arbitration Institute (August 2011); “Protocols for Best Practices in Commercial Arbitration,” American Bar Association Mid-Year Meeting (February 2011) and Atlanta Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section (May 2011); “Conducting the Evidentiary Arbitration Hearing,” Florida Construction Law Institute (October 2010); “Making Disclosures, Preventing Disclosure Problems and Establishing a Conflicts Database,” American Arbitration Association University Training, Orlando, FL (August 2010) “Ethics and Professionalism in Mediation and Arbitration,” American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section Spring Conference, Washington, DC (April 2008), New York, NY (April 2009), Denver, CO (April 2010); “Ethics and Other Sources of Professional Embarrassment and Anxiety for Mediators and Counsel in Mediation,” Annual Georgia Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute (December 2010)“Achieving Fairness and Efficiency in Complex Arbitration,” American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section Spring Conference, Seattle, WA (April 2007); “USOC Olympic Arbitration Procedures,” American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section, Atlanta, GA (April 2006)
Professional Recognitions:
Recognized as a Leading Lawyer for General Commercial Litigation in Georgia in the 2008-2014 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business; Selected in the Commercial Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution practice area in the 2009-2014 editions of The Best Lawyers in America and Georgia’s Best Lawyers; Selected by “Who’s Who Legal” for the international “Who’s Who of Commercial Mediation,” 2012-2014; Recognized by Georgia Trend’s “Legal Elite” since 2009; Named as a Georgia Super Lawyer since 2006 (Top 1% 2010-2014). Nominated for the Ben F. Johnson Jr. Public Service Award, 2014.
