NYSDRA honors ADR pioneers and launches $1.5 million legacy fund at 2026 conference

The New York State Dispute Resolution Association marked its 2026 annual conference in Albany and online by honoring leaders who shaped community mediation in New York, celebrating 30 years of key program work and launching a campaign for a permanent endowment. The event also spotlighted how the field is adapting to AI, polarization and the next generation of dispute resolution practitioners.

Why it matters: - NYSDRA used its annual conference to connect the field’s past, present and future in one setting. - The event highlighted the long-term role of community dispute resolution in New York’s access-to-justice network. - The launch of a permanent endowment signals a push to protect funding for community-based dispute resolution beyond the current moment.

What happened: - NYSDRA held its 2026 Annual Conference, “Rooted in Peace: One Tree, Many Branches,” on Oct. 8-9 virtually and at The Desmond Hotel in Albany. - The conference brought together dispute resolution professionals, community mediators, court leaders, educators, attorneys, volunteers and emerging practitioners from New York and beyond. - More than 20 sessions covered artificial intelligence, ethics, polarization, practitioner well-being, emerging generations in ADR and community-based peacebuilding. - Day Two centered on recognition of leaders who helped build community dispute resolution in New York.

The details: - NYSDRA honored Andrew Thomas, founding president of NYSDRA’s board and co-founder of Rochester’s Center for Dispute Settlement, New York’s first community mediation center. - NYSDRA also honored Tom Christian, founding state director of New York’s Community Dispute Resolution Centers Program in the early 1980s. - Mark Collins was recognized for more than 30 years advancing alternative dispute resolution within the New York State Unified Court System. - John McCullough, one of the network’s longest-serving executive directors, was among the honorees. - Mark Kleiman, founding executive director of Community Mediation Services in Queens and recipient of the 2011 Lawrence H. Cooke Peace Innovator Award, also attended. - Lisa M. Courtney, director of the Division of Alternative Dispute Resolution for the New York State Unified Court System, spoke about the evolution of dispute resolution within the courts and the development of ADR as its own division. - The luncheon marked 30 years of NYSDRA’s administration of the Lemon Law Arbitration Program. - Melvin Goldberg of the New York State Attorney General’s Office shared reflections on the program’s history and its longstanding partnership with NYSDRA. - The 30th anniversary of the Andrew Thomas PeaceBuilder Award was also celebrated. - Andrew Thomas presented the 2026 award to the Maryland Judiciary’s Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office, known as MACRO. - Lou Gieszl, assistant state court administrator for programs for the Maryland Judiciary, accepted the award on MACRO’s behalf, while the team joined virtually from Maryland. - The award featured a plaque depicting the Haudenosaunee Tree of Peace. - The first Andrew Thomas PeaceBuilder Award went in 1996 to Tekaronianeken Jake Swamp, sub-chief of the Wolf Clan of the Mohawk Nation. - NYSDRA publicly launched the Lawrence H. Cooke Dispute Resolution Legacy Fund during the luncheon. - The campaign aims to build a $1.5 million permanent endowment over three years for community-based dispute resolution across New York State. - The fund is named for former New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Lawrence H. Cooke, whose vision helped lay the foundation for the state’s Community Dispute Resolution Center Program. - The Honorable Lawrence K. Marks, former chief administrative judge of the New York State Unified Court System and campaign chair for the Legacy Fund, addressed attendees by video. - NYSDRA also unveiled a Founding Donor Tree to recognize early supporters of the fund. - Each named leaf on the tree represents a founding donor. - Keynotes came from Susan Guthrie, founder of Guthrie Consulting & Media, on the human side of dispute resolution in the age of artificial intelligence. - Bill Doherty, co-founder of Braver Angels, addressed polarization and ways to engage constructively across differences. - The conference ended with an interactive gathering and reception that extended conversations among attendees.

Between the lines: - The conference’s repeated tree imagery tied together legacy, growth and continuity across the event’s honors and fundraising push. - The legacy fund launch suggests NYSDRA is trying to convert anniversary momentum into durable financial support for local dispute resolution services. - The selection of AI and polarization as keynote themes shows the field is being framed around both technological change and social division.

What's next: - NYSDRA will continue building the Lawrence H. Cooke Dispute Resolution Legacy Fund toward its three-year, $1.5 million goal. - The organization will use the fund to support community dispute resolution across New York State in the years ahead. - NYSDRA will keep supporting the statewide network of Community Dispute Resolution Centers through education, professional development and collaborative resources.

The bottom line: - NYSDRA’s 2026 conference paired recognition of the field’s founders with a forward-looking fundraising effort aimed at sustaining community dispute resolution for the next generation.