Featuring Governor Bill Richardson
We were delighted to feature Bill Richardson at the 6th Annual Bruce E. Meyerson Lecture on Dispute Resolution on March 14, 2023. Richardson is a master negotiator at home and abroad. He's spearheaded international conflict resolution efforts and negotiated the release of political prisoners and hostages from places like North Korea, Cuba and Iraq. His public service in federal and state government spans more than three decades. Join us to learn from an exceptional lifetime of dispute resolution experience and real-world expertise.
Guest Lecturer
Governor Bill Richardson
For more than 30 years, Bill Richardson has led a distinguished public-service career as a U.S. Congressman (1982-1996), U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations (1997-1998), U.S. Secretary of Energy under President Bill Clinton (1998-2000), and Governor of New Mexico (2003-2011).
In 2008, he sought the Democratic nomination for President, dropping out after Iowa and New Hampshire. As a diplomat and Special Envoy, Richardson has received four Nobel Peace Prize nominations, and has successfully won the release of hostages and American servicemen in North Korea, Cuba, Iraq and the Sudan.
Richardson has served as a Special Envoy to the Organization of American States (OAS) and as a Special Fellow on Latin America at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. Richardson also sits on several nonprofit boards, including the World Resources Institute (WRI), and Refugees International.
About the lecture
This lecture series is the result of a gift to the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University from retired Judge Bruce E. Meyerson and his wife Mary Ellen Simonson, a graduate of ASU Law. The purpose of the lecture series is to bring to ASU Law leading practitioners and scholars in the field of dispute resolution.
Judge Meyerson moved to Arizona with his family in 1958 and, after receiving his undergraduate degree from Arizona State University, he graduated law school from the Georgetown University Law Center where he was an Editor of the Law Journal. Upon his return to Arizona, he represented the United Farm Workers of America, then led by Cesar Chavez. In 1974, with the help of many local attorneys, he founded and became the first Executive Director of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, which continues its successful public interest work today. For his distinguished and landmark work there, Judge Meyerson was honored by the Arizona Consumers Council, the Arizona Civil Liberties Union, the Arizona Community Action Association, and the journalism society, Sigma Delta Chi.
In 1982 Judge Meyerson became the youngest appointee to the Arizona Court of Appeals, where he served with distinction for almost five years. During his tenure he wrote numerous decisions that remain good law today, including an important decision establishing the procedure for the determination of attorney’s fee awards in contract cases. After leaving the bench, Judge Meyerson became the General Counsel of Arizona State University and later joined two prestigious Phoenix law firms, before focusing his practice on dispute resolution.
Judge Meyerson is a nationally acclaimed practitioner and instructor in the field of dispute resolution. He has resolved nearly 3000 mediations over his career and has been the Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution and the Chair of the Arizona Bar’s Section of Dispute Resolution. He also has served as an arbitrator in over 250 cases. For over 30 years, Judge Meyerson has served as an Adjunct Professor at the College of Law, teaching courses in arbitration and mediation.
Judge Meyerson’s wife, Mary Ellen Simonson, is a partner in the Phoenix law firm, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie. They have two children, Julia and Meghan, and son-in-law Peter Keane, and grandchildren Greer and William.
