Tierney, David C.

Tom Koernke graduated from Michigan State University in 1970. He was elected President of his Senior Class. Tom graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1974 and thereafter served as law clerk to Judge Anthony J. Celebrezze of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In 1976, upon completion of his clerkship, Tom moved to Grand Rapids to accept employment as a litigator with the Warner, Norcross & Judd law firm. In 1980, Tom and co-author Robert Timmons wrote Comparative Negligence in Michigan, a treatise published by Michigan's Institute for Continuing Legal Education and the University of Michigan Press. Since 1980, Tom has lectured at numerous legal seminars on a variety of litigation and trial practice topics. Tom specializes in corporate and business litigation matters. Tom represents continuing clients, referred clients and new clients. He also regularly serves as local counsel for out-of-state parties in federal and state courts.

Tom has been selected by the American Arbitration Association to serve on its National Panel of Neutrals for Large and Complex Cases. Tom also serves on the AAA's Michigan panels for Construction and Commercial disputes. In 2000, Tom was selected to serve as one of the arbitrators who heard 31 days of testimony and resolved a dispute involving $10 million in cost overrun claims in connection with construction of a new wing at a major nationally known hospital.

In 1996, Tom was selected by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan to serve as one of a small group of experienced litigators who were trained and served as facilitative mediators in the Court's newly established voluntary facilitative mediation program. The program was successful and has become a permanent part of the Court's alternative dispute resolution procedure. Tom has been selected by the parties to mediate more than twenty cases and has been recertified as a facilitative mediator by the Court each year since the program's inception. Tom's alternative dispute resolution practice includes representing parties or serving as a mediator or arbitrator in a wide range of mediation or arbitration settings.