Honorable Robert Morrill
Curriculum Vitae
Experience
Present Mediator in private practice.
Senior Active Status, N.H. Superior Court.
1986-2008 Justice, New Hampshire Superior Court, presiding over thousands of jury and non-jury trials. Those cases covered every imaginable type of litigation: breach of contract, fraud and misrepresentation, intellectual property, partnership, employment, personal injury, real estate and land use, insurance coverage/bad faith, professional negligence, personal injury, construction, consumer fraud, landlord-tenant, note collection, fee disputes, defamation, civil rights, and embezzlement.
1974-1986 Private practice, associate and partner at Hall, Morse, Anderson, Miller and Spinella (formerly Hall, Morse, Gallagher and Anderson), representing insurance companies, individuals, businesses, partnerships and corporations in federal and state courts.
Education
1974 J.D. University of Pennsylvania Law School, President, Sharswood Law Club.
1971 B.A. (Honors) Victoria University, Wellington, NZ, Rotary Foundation Fellow.
1970 B.A. (cum laude) Harvard College.
Training
Mediating the Litigated Case, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University College of Law.
Mediator Skill-Building Training, Professor Lela P. Love, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and Professor Jeffrey Stulberg, Ohio State University School of Law.
Mediation Seminars, N.H. Superior Court.
Advanced Mediation Workshop, Professor Lela P. Love, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
Arbitration Fundamentals and Best Practices, American Arbitration Association.
Honors and Achievements
2004 Faculty, National Institute for Trial Advocacy, New England Regional.
2003 Justice William A. Grimes Award for Judicial Professionalism, N.H. Bar Association.
1999 Award of Judicial Excellence (one of four awarded nationally), National Conference of State Trial Judges, Annual Meeting of the ABA, Atlanta, Georgia.
1994 N.H. Trial Judge of the Year (first judge selected), NH Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates.
1984-2005 Instructor, Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Program.
Creator of the “Yankee Auction” A novel approach to resolving cases by allowing each party to confidentially respond “yes” or “no” to the neutral’s settlement proposal. Two affirmative answers and the case settles. If a party says “no,” the case does not settle, but that party never knows what the opponent’s response was.
Frequent lecturer, Continuing Legal Education programs.
Visiting presenter, Vera Institute of Justice, New York.