Judge Donn Kessler (ret.) served as an
appellate court judge in Arizona for more than 15 years, starting
as a Judge Pro Tempore, then appointed to the Arizona Court of
Appeals in 2003, and finally retiring in 2017. He graduated
from the University of Virginia and Yale Law School, then practiced
as a Deputy Attorney General in Hawaii and an Assistant Attorney
General in Virginia. He also practiced in a firm in Virginia
before moving to Arizona and becoming a shareholder with firms in
Arizona. In addition, Donn served as a staff attorney at the
Arizona Supreme Court. A member of the Inn since before his
appointment as an appellate court judge, the Inn in 2017 also
honored Donn with its second annual Inn-member TOPs award for his
community service in the spirit of the award -- that it Takes One
Person to Tackle One Problem to Transform Our Phoenix for the
Betterment of All -- specifically Donn's support of female law
clerks and attorneys, including many Inn members, for which the
Arizona Women Lawyers Association also honored Donn with its Sarah
Herring Sorin Award in 2015. For the past 3 years, Donn has
also served as an Adjunct Professor at ASU Law School, teaching
mindfulness to law students, another practice he has imparted to
many lawyers and judges over the years, a project which he has
continued to spearhead, first as a Vice President and now as a
member of the Board of Advisors of the newly formed Mindfulness in
Law Society. (Voted Emeritus status in 2018)
Judge Barry C. Schneider (ret.), a founding
member of the Inn, served on the Maricopa
County Superior Court for 21 years from 1986 to 2007. From
his first assignment in the civil department through his tenure as
civil presiding judge, he took an active leadership role in
establishing ADR as part of the legal culture in this
community. He was part of the initial pilot project where he
conducted hundreds of settlement conferences in all types of civil
cases. That pilot project led to the adoption, first of a
local rule, and then a statewide rule of civil procedure requiring
mandatory settlement conferences. He also provided early
leadership in the promotion and development of summary jury trials
in Maricopa County, leading to the adoption of the highly
successful short trial program in Maricopa County. Judge
Schneider published articles in the ABA journal "Litigation"
describing his experiences. While on the bench, Judge
Schneider served in the civil department (presiding on 2
occasions), the criminal department, and the family court
department (presiding once). Before his appointment to the bench he
was an associate at Langerman, Begam, Lewis, Leonard & Marks
and then a partner at Rosen & Schneider, Ltd. Judge
Schneider received his B.A. from Harpur College (now Binghamton
University) in 1964 and his J.D. from St. John's University School
of Law in 1968 where he was an editor on the law review. He
was admitted to practice in New York in 1968 and in Arizona in
1972. He is now the principal at Schneider Mediation, where
he offers his expertise as a mediator, arbitrator, special
discovery master, and consultant. (Emeritus status conferred
in 2009 - formally voted in 2019).