Grande Lum, director of the Martin Daniel Gould Center for Conflict Resolution, was the winner of the 2025 D’Alemberte/Raven Award, the highest honor given by the American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section. The award honors “an individual or an organization that has contributed significantly to the dispute resolution field.” In his April 25 acceptance speech, Lum discussed the enduring power of dialogue and dispute resolution: “Our dispute resolution expertise powers us, and we must use these superpowers — as mediators, lawyers, teachers and community problem solvers — to bring to the table the interests of those who are vulnerable, as well as, ‘to form a more perfect union, establish justice, and insure domestic tranquility.’”

Here is the full text of Lum’s remarks:

“Thank you to this Section which has been such a wonderful home for me. Thank you to the selection committee, Thank you to fellow travelers in this field, for your dedication to the cause of dialogue, problem-solving, and justice. To be frank, I was shocked to learn that I was to receive this award. Without a word to me, previous award winner, the incomparable Nancy Rogers nominated me.  When I was contacted by our chair Susan, I thought I was being ‘voluntold’ to join another section task force, but lucky for me, no.

This is the annual conference I attend the most and I look forward going to the most.  Here is where I love catching up with longtime colleagues and friends and meeting new ones — whether it’s in the beautiful Windy City or a casino that I cannot find my hotel room or a door that leads to fresh air. So to be recognized by my peers, who I admire so much, is an impossible dream come true. Even though winning this lifetime achievement award must mean I am getting really old! Shout out to my fellow young award winners Amy and Melissa.

Lifelong dreams begin by definition when you are young. I was blessed to have parents who nurtured in me a belief I could journey to the stars if I focused and worked hard enough. My parents, Hampson and Evangeline Lum, who would prefer I not share their ages with you, skipped vacations and did not buy a television for years, not because they were against the mainstream media, but because TVs were uber-expensive in the 1950s and 60s. They did so to save money to create better lives for their children. They believed in the power of education, including Catholic nuns, mandatory piano lessons and Chinese school all of which I appreciated … much later.

The best thing about winning this award was sharing the news with my parents, and seeing their faces beam with pride. Their sacrifices, and their unwavering support mean the world to me.

I do want to acknowledge my negotiation and conflict management mentor, my wife Nan, who is not present, as she had a planned meditation, not mediation, retreat. Given current times, I urged her to go, as each of us needs to find serenity when we can.

I also want to acknowledge my profound debt to the pioneers and mentors who paved the way—Roger Fisher, Frank Sander, Nancy Rogers, Irma Tyler-Wood, Bruce Patton, Jan Martinez, and many others in this room and beyond. We all now walk the path laid down by visionaries who have understood that our justice system must be more than adversarial or arbitrary.  That such a system must be a vehicle for giving power back to the people rather than just for the institutions’ benefit. Our generation has an obligation to protect and build as we face high conflict at every turn.

As I stand here this morning, I am keenly aware that our nation is in crisis. The development of mediation was part of a larger movement about amplifying voices to ensure that people had a say in their own futures. But today, these hard-fought gains are being blown up. The degradation of the rule of law. The fraying of civil discourse. The shuttering of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and the US Institute of Peace. The elimination of the DOJ’s Community Relations Service, CRS —an agency dear to my heart, that I was privileged to lead, is all heartbreaking.

But I refuse to stand here and deliver a eulogy. Because I know who is in this room. I know the talent, the creativity, the resilience, and the courage that you all bring to your work. Now is not the time for retreat. Now is the time for action. Big shout out to our Northwestern colleagues Alyson Carrel and Lynn Cohn for standing up to unconstitutional demands. I was proud to join fifty of my Stanford Law School fellow faculty in a letter denouncing the current attacks on the rule of law. In that letter my colleague Pam Karlan is quoted “for a lawyer, courage is a muscle. You develop courage by exercising it. Sitting on the fence is not practice for standing up.” Along with a few allies, I am now working on a lawsuit to block the shutting down of CRS.

Now you might ask, why is a mediator saying this when mediators are usually debating neutrality versus impartiality versus omnipartiality. Well, it is because we must stand up now for fairness over favoritism, caring over chaos, abundance over scarcity, all of these values at the heart of dispute resolution, that make our constitutional democracy strong, and benefit society as a whole.

President Lyndon Johnson praised CRS mediators as “worth their weight in gold.” That is the worth of every one of you in this room. We have the tools and the knowledge to make a difference. And make no mistake—we are needed now more than ever. And I am moved by Bryan Stephenson’s insistence that we do the hard work to “get proximate to the people who are suffering”. Our dispute resolution expertise powers us, and we must use these superpowers — as mediators, lawyers, teachers and community problem solvers — to bring to the table the interests of those who are vulnerable, as well as, ‘to form a more perfect union, establish justice, and insure domestic tranquility”.  And we are strong enough to engage in thoughtful conversation, and to listen with our full attention, especially with those whom we disagree, to model the kind of constructive dialogue we know is required.

So I accept this year’s D’Alemberte Raven Award not just as recognition of past accomplishments but as a call to action. Let us rededicate ourselves to the work. Let us meet this moment with the urgency, the energy, and the hope that first drew us to this work. Let us make sure that the movement that began decades ago, continues, to serve our children and grandchildren.

In conclusion, thank you for this honor. Thank you for this community. And thank you fellow travelers, for all the work you do to shine light on a shared path in a world too often divided by darkness. Let’s get to work! Thank you.”