Steven Comen, a partner in the firm’s Litigation Department, has represented clients in complex business disputes in state and federal courts, arbitration proceedings and before administrative agencies throughout the United States and abroad. Mr. Comen has also focused on the different advocacy expertise required for effective representation of clients to maximize the opportunities in mediations and other types of non-binding alternative dispute resolution proceedings, both formal and informal in the United States and abroad.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Mr. Comen has participated in a videotaped training program prepared by Harvard Law School demonstrating the role of outside counsel as the mediation advocate. This videotape is disseminated by the American Bar Association and used by it and other organizations in their mediation and advocacy training programs. Mr. Comen has been accredited as a mediator by a number of organizations, including the Centre for Dispute Resolution (CEDR) in London and is also a member of the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution Panel of Distinguished Neutrals.
MEDIA
As a member of the CPR Arbitration Commission, Mr. Comen participated in the preparation of Commercial Arbitration at Its Best, Successful Strategies for Business Users, a book published by the American Bar Association and the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution. At conferences of international arbitrators and mediators, Mr. Comen has spoken on “Mediation as an Adjunct to Arbitration,” based on a chapter of this book on which he particularly focused his efforts. He has also spoken on various arbitration, mediation and other alternative dispute resolution topics at seminars sponsored by the American Bar Association, American Arbitration Association, Corporate Legal Institute, New England Corporate Counsel Association, Engineering News Record, Associated General Contractors and Continuing Legal Education of New England. Most recently, Mr. Comen was a leader of the Arbitration Advocates Task Force for the National Summit on Business to Business Arbitration being presented by the College of Commercial Arbitrators in Washington, D.C.
In recent years, the theme of Mr. Comen’s presentations is how outside counsel and in-house counsel can obtain the greatest benefits for their clients by the effective use of mediation for managing dispute resolution. The latest seminars at which he spoke on this topic were an Annual Meeting of the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution, and an Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association program “Mediating the Bet the Business, High Stakes, Large Complex Case.” The CPR Institute acknowledged Mr. Comen as a member of a select group of “CPR Heroes” for extraordinary contributions made to the accomplishments of CPR.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Mr. Comen was a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge W. Arthur Garrity of the District of Massachusetts.
BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS
Mr. Comen is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, and before the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.