Judges ADR

The People of Judges ADR

Welcome. Thank you for thinking of Judges ADR, where resolution meets understanding. Our dedicated and skilled mediators are committed to fostering open communication and facilitating respectful resolutions. Get to know the people behind the expertise, guiding you through a journey of Experienced Excellence in Dispute Resolution.

Our Vision

To be the most trusted, respected, and preferred provider of dispute resolution services for workers’ compensation and employee retaliation protection cases.

Core Values

Integrity, Commitment, Respect. These beliefs define us and drive everything we do. Clients trust us to help them resolve complex, challenging, and frustrating legal disputes. We honor and repay their trust with a complete and unwavering commitment to always do what we promise and provide our service in the most respectful and considerate way possible.

Our Mission

To use exceptional judicial expertise to provide clients with productive dispute resolution services of an unrivalled quality.

Judge Tracy A. Daly (Ret)

Judge Daly’s extensive judicial talent, experience and training make him a uniquely skilled and successful mediator who possesses a level of expertise that sets him apart from typical mediators.

Over the course of his 32-year legal career, Judge Daly spent 18 years on the bench. His judicial positions included that of: a Marine Corps military judge for 6 years during which time he presided over more than 500 federal criminal cases; a Social Security Administration (SSA) judge for 4 years during which time he resolved more than 2,000 federal disability claims; and, a judge for Department of Labor, Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) where for more than 8 years he presided over more than 1,250 employment related cases arising under more than 80 different federal laws, Executive Orders, and federal regulations in more than 13 states.

Prior to his judicial appointments, Judge Daly was an extremely successful litigator in a number of different attorney positions. As a Special Assistant United States Attorney, he practiced extensively in U.S. District Court. He also represented the Department of Defense as a lead counsel before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Merit Systems Protection Board. Additionally, he worked for years as both a criminal prosecutor and a senior defense counsel. During the course of his litigation career, he appeared in federal court on more than 1,500 cases.

As both a retired military and OALJ judge, he is exceptionally qualified to offer uniquely experienced mediation services for cases pending in the OALJ judiciary. As an OALJ and SSA judge, he spent 12 years resolving the complex legal interplay between employment injury law and the extremely complicated nature of medical evidence that arises in worker’s compensation cases.

During his military judicial career, in 2004 and 2006, he served tours as the Marine Corps’ military judge in the Iraq combat theater.  These deployments required him to be stationed in, and travel extensively throughout, the combat theater. As a result, he interacted closely with civilian contractors who performed a myriad of demanding and dangerous jobs in support of the U.S. military armed forces. Civilian military contractors are the sole source of the Defense Base Act cases brought before the OALJ judiciary. Mediation parties will know that he possesses a dual level of experience and understanding of these cases that few – if any – other mediators can offer.

As a graduate of both the National Judicial College’s Civil Mediation and Advanced Civil Mediation training courses, Judge Daly knows the most effective mediation techniques and the key skills needed to help parties settle contested cases. His unique combination of judicial experience and mediation expertise makes Judge Daly an extraordinarily successful mediator. During his time as an OALJ Judge, he compiled an 81-percent settlement success rate for parties who used his mediation skills as part of the OALJ settlement judge program.

Judge Tracy Daly Headshot
  • Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA)
  • Defense Base Act (DBA)
  • Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA)
  • Non-Appropriated Fund Instrumentalities Act (NAFIA)
  • All Federal Whistleblower Employee Retaliation Protection Acts
  • Advanced Civil Mediation Certification, National Judicial College (2019)
  • Civil Mediation Certification, National Judicial College (2016)
  • Judicial Development General Jurisdiction Trial Skills Certification, National Judicial College (2006)
  • Certified Felony Trial Judge, Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary (2000)
  • Supreme Court of the United States (1997)
  • Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces (1994)
  • United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit (1994)
  • United States District Court, District of Nebraska (1991)
  • Supreme Court of the State of Nebraska (1991)
  • Nebraska State Bar Association (1991)

Master of Laws (Criminal Law), The Judge Advocate General’s School of the Army, Charlottesville, VA (2004)

Juris Doctor, Creighton University School of Law, Omaha, NE (1991)

Bachelor of Arts (Journalism), San Diego State University, San Diego, CA (1987)

  • Judicial panel presenter on “Annuities, Medicare Set-Asides and the Implications for Settlements Under the Act” at the Annual Longshore Conference presented by Loyola University New Orleans College of Law (2019)
  • Guest lecturer “Can you do that? In Court? Vocational Rehabilitation Expert Testimony in LHWCA Hearings” at the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals’ Annual Conference (2019)
  • Judicial panel presenter on “Effective Litigation Practice” at the 72nd Annual Workers’ Compensation Educational Conference sponsored by the Workers’ Compensation Institute and the Florida Workers’ Compensation Institute (2018)
  • Judicial lecturer on “Effective Case Docketing Management Process” at the Association of Administrative Law Judges’ Annual Seminar (2014)

Judge Timothy J. McGrath (Ret)

Judge McGrath recently completed a 41-year legal career, where he spent the last 12 years serving as a United States Administrative Law Judge with the U.S. Department of Labor in Boston. In that role, he served as a trial judge presiding over more than 2500 employment-related cases arising under dozens of federal laws, Executive Orders, and federal regulations. All cases were adversarial in nature and included claims under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, and its extensions including the Defense Base Act, whistleblower complaints involving alleged corporate fraud, nuclear, environmental, aviation, railway, and commercial trucking safety, black lung coal mining cases, and immigration labor cases.

Judge McGrath also served as an appellate judge on the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals, and as a National Judicial College certified mediator, successfully aided parties in resolving disputes through the Office of Administrative Law Judges Settlement Judge Program.

Prior to his judicial appointment, Judge McGrath served in a variety of litigation roles. He began his career as a U.S. Army judge advocate where he served as a criminal defense counsel and tort litigation attorney. After leaving active duty, he continued his military service in the Army Reserve where he held ever increasing positions of responsibility and leadership. He has extensive experience in military criminal and administrative litigation. He is retired with 22 years of active and reserve service.

Working as a senior attorney with the federal government, Judge McGrath had wide ranging litigation experience. While at the Air Force Legal Services Agency, he defended complex medical malpractice and other tort claims, negotiating high level settlements when appropriate, or litigating in U.S. District Court. He also has extensive labor and employment law litigation experience garnered while representing the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General before the Merit System Protection Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Judge McGrath is well known for his even-handed judicial temperament, and his ability to fully appreciate parties’ positions. His varied legal and judicial background, across a wide spectrum of the law, enables him to understand what parties want from litigation, and that perspective makes him a successful mediator.

Judge McGrath Headshot
  • Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA)
  • Defense Base Act (DBA)
  • All Federal Whistleblower Acts (STAA, SOX, AIR 21, FRSA, etc.)
  • Civil Mediation Certificate, National Judicial College (2015)
  • Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (1982)
  • District of Columbia Court of Appeals (1987)
  • United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit (1984)
  • United States Court of Federal Claims (1994)
  • United States Court of Military Appeals (1983)
  • United States Army Court of Military Review (1983)
  • United States Air Force Court of Military Review (1991)

Juris Doctor, Vermont Law School (1981)

Bachelor of Arts (Political Science), University of Vermont (1977)

U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (1994)

Certifications

Click on the badges to see our full certifications.