The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR Institute) has announced its Corporate Leadership prize for 2008, and it’s going to Microsoft and Brad Smith, Microsoft’s General Counsel.  The press release mentions Microsoft’s highly visible encounter with ADR in the context of the US v Microsoft antitrust litigation.

I don’t have enough familiarity with the Microsoft case or the internal workings at Microsoft legal to have an informed perspective on this award.  It’s possible that this is a well-deserved recognition of a long-standing commitment to creative problem-solving and alternatives to litigation.  And it’s possible that this is the equivalent of giving an ADR-promotion award to [insert name of your favorite capital defendant here] for their recently-demonstrated commitment to plea bargaining.

CPR has a long and often extremely positive history of recognizing–and more importantly influencing–corporate behavior with respect to dispute resolution.  I hope this award is a continuation of that history.

Michael Moffitt