2014 Christianson Award

HARRISBURG (May 27, 2014) — The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) Public Utility Law Section will present its Christianson Award to Herbert R. Nurick on May 30 during the Public Utility Bench Bar Conference at the Harrisburg Hilton.

The award is named in honor of Robert A. Christianson, a former chief administrative law judge for the Public Utility Commission, and recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the development, improvement and advancement of the profession of public utility law.

Nurick became the first mediation coordinator for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission in 1996. He was responsible for revising and expanding the mediation program to significantly increase the number of utility disputes handled by means of alternative dispute resolution. Since that time, the PUC program has served as a model for mediation efforts in other state agencies.

He was co-chair of the subcommittee of the PBA Government Lawyers Committee that worked on a draft of an Executive Order that led to the issuance by Gov. Mark S. Schweiker of Executive Order 2002-7, “Integrating Mediation into State Government.” He served on the Joint State Government Commission’s Advisory Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution.

From 1967 to 1996, Nurick was an associate and then partner in the Harrisburg law firm of McNees, Wallace & Nurick.

Nurick is a member of the American Bar Association, PBA, Dauphin County Bar Association and Pennsylvania Council of Mediators. Nurick is a past president of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, past co-chair of the PBA Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, past chair of the PBA Professionalism Committee and past chair of the Legislative Subcommittee of the PBA Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee. Nurick was instrumental in the development of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute and the Civil Dispute Resolution Program for the Dauphin County Bar Association.

He has served as a course planner for many continuing legal education courses for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, the educational arm of the PBA, and has been a frequent lecturer on mediation and related topics.

Active in the community, Nurick is a former member of the Penn State Alumni Association's Alumni Council and Executive Committee, a former member of the board of Beth El Temple, a founding member and first president of the Hershey Ronald McDonald House and a member of the first Board of Overseers for the Widener University School of Law, Harrisburg Campus.

In 2011, the PBA Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee presented its Sir Francis Bacon Award to Nurick. The award recognizes an individual who has made a significant impact in bringing mediation and other forms of dispute resolution to Pennsylvania.

Nurick holds an undergraduate degree from Penn State University, a juris doctor from the Dickinson School of Law and a certificate from Key Bridge Therapy and Mediation Center.

Founded in 1895, the Pennsylvania Bar Association strives to promote justice, professional excellence and respect for the law; improve public understanding of the legal system; facilitate access to legal services; and serve the 27,000 lawyers who are members of the association.