On November 9, Judge Thomas Agresti was recognized by the Mediation Council of Western Pennsylvania as its "2016 Conflict Resolution Day Award" recipient for his exceptional efforts over the last 3 years in "revitalizing" the Mediation Program currently in use in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of PA.  The Conflict Resolution Day Award is given annually by the MCWPA to the person who best exemplifies its goal of "continued use of alternative dispute resolution methods and techniques" in both federal and state courts.  

Under his direction, Judge Agresti caused the Bankruptcy Court's Mediation Program, designed to provide litigants with an expedited and low cost dispute resolution process, to re-focus its efforts concerning the use of its mediation process.  This "re-focus" caused, among other things, the Bankruptcy Court to increase its use of mediations by over 400% in the last 3 years when compared to the prior 13 years dating back to the time of the Program's original creation.  The MCWPA Award was given to Judge Agresti in light of this achievement. 

It's been a good year for Judge Agresti.  Earlier this year, he received the ECBA's Chancellor of the Bar award and was recently recognized in an article in the ACBA's Lawyer Journal for the notable success of the Bankruptcy Court's "Mortgage Loss Mitigation Program" created in 2012  by Judge Agresti and developed under his guidance.