Strategies and Tips for Productive Negotiations
What to do and What not to do!

Panel Featuring:

Judge Eric Bruggink
U.S. Court of Federal Claims

Judge Nancy Firestone
U.S. Court of Federal Claims

Stephen D. Altman
Altman Dispute Resolution Services

Steve Gillingham
Assistant Director, National Courts Section, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Moderator:  Edward Passarelli
Deputy Chief, Natural Resources Section, Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Judge Bruggink was appointed Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims on April 15, 1986 and entered on duty April 21, 1986. He is a cum laude graduate of Auburn University, receiving a B.A. degree in sociology in 1971 and an M.A. degree in speech in 1972. Judge Bruggink received his J.D. in 1975 from the University of Alabama School of Law, where he was a Hugo Black Scholar and Note and Comments Editor of the Alabama Law Review.  Judge Bruggink was appointed Director, Office of Appeals Counsel of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board in November 1982, and served in that position until his appointment as Judge of the Court of Federal Claims. He formerly served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Frank H. McFadden of the Northern District of Alabama, and as an associate with the law firms of Steiner, Crum & Baker in Montgomery, Alabama, 1979-1982, and Hardwick, Hause & Segrest in Dothan, Alabama, 1976-1977. He was Assistant Director of the Alabama Law Institute from 1977 to 1979, during which time he established the Office of Energy and Environmental Law and served as its first director.

Judge Nancy Firestone was appointed Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims on October 22, 1998. She graduated from Washington University with a B.A. in 1973, and she received her J.D. in 1977 from the University of Missouri - Kansas City Law School.  Judge Firestone formerly was Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Justice Department from 1995 - 1998. She also served as a Judge on the Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Appeals Board from 1992-1995. Prior to that, Judge Firestone was the Associate Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 1989-1992. Before serving at the Environmental Protection Agency, Judge Firestone was an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice.  Judge Firestone is also an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Steve Altman is the principal of Altman Dispute Resolution Services.  He was formerly an Assistant Branch Director in the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, where he supervised litigation involving fraud against the United States. As Co-Chair of the ADR Committee, he helped develop the Division's ADR Policy and the Department's ADR courses. Since retiring from the Department of Justice he has mediated over 1500 matters. He teaches at the Georgetown Law Center and provides training for the DC Bar, US Court of Appeals, ABA, government agencies and law firms.  He is the 2013 recipient of the Georgetown Law Center's Charles Fahy Distinguished Adjunct Professor award, was selected as the outstanding mediator in the DC Superior Court Civil 1 docket.  He has been listed among the Washingtonian Magazine's “Top Lawyers on DC” in 2017 and 2018. Steve graduated from Duke University and the Syracuse College of Law.  He is President Emeritus of the DC Jewish Community Center, and past president of Northwest Neighbors Village.

Steve Gillingham is an Assistant Director in the DOJ Civil Division's National Courts Section in Washington, D.C., an office of approximately 100 attorneys who litigate before the United States Court of Federal Claims, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, and the United States Court of International Trade.  Steve is responsible for reviewing attorney work, leading trial teams, personally handling complex cases, and for various administrative and management matters.  His clients have included virtually every large agency of the United States Government, including the Supreme Court; his practice area extends to construction, supply, services, and shipbuilding contracts; government program regulations and agreements; regulatory takings; federal pay and employment; fraud; and various government pension and benefit programs.  Steve has served on the Board of Governors of the United States Court of Federal Claims Bar Association; is the Co-Vice Chair of the Government Contracts Committee of the Federal Circuit Bar Association; has lectured at the George Washington University, the Judge Advocate General’s School, and the Department of Justice's National Advocacy Center; and spoken before various agency and bar association groups.