Mr. Blankenship has served as mediator for hundreds of commercial disputes, assisting parties and their attorneys as they negotiate settlements to their disputes confidentially and efficiently, either  pre-litigation, in litigation or post-litigation.  He mediates complex, multi-party disputes throughout the southeast and midwest.  He is a frequent lecturer and writer in the field of mediation and is recognized by Best Lawyers in the field of ADR again for 2018.

Mr. Blankenship has been a commercial arbitrator for over three decades.  He was appointed to the American Arbitration Association panel of arbitrators in 1987 and has served as a sole arbitrator and/or as a member of three-arbitrator panels in hundreds of cases all over the country.  His experience includes both domestic and international cases, administered and non-administered.  Mr. Blankenship is the only Tennessee arbitrator to be elected as a fellow in the College of Commercial Arbitrators, in which he currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors.

Mr. Blankenship has structured many hybrid dispute resolution procedures and has served as Neutral in several cases in which Med-Arb has been employed.  When the parties to the dispute and/or their attorneys request, Mr. Blankenship will work with the parties to help them find their own negotiated settlement, serving as their mediator.  If the mediation is unsuccessful in settling the entire dispute, the process then moves to the  arbitration phase of the process in which Mr. Blankenship, as arbitrator, makes a final and binding Award.  Importantly, the entire process is developed collaboratively with the parties and their counsel, and the both the mediation and arbitration phase of the process can take many forms. One of Mr. Blankenship’s primary philosophies about the world of alternative dispute resolution is that, “One size does not fit all, and the process should be built to fit the specific dispute, not the reverse.”

Appointments by sitting judges to hear complex construction or commercial cases where the judge requires the expertise of a construction/commercial law expert to Report as to the judgment that should be rendered.

Mr. Blankenship also offers his experience and subject matter expertise as a consultant in the areas of case evaluation, mock arbitration research and as settlement counsel.