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Larry Bridgesmith

Adjunct Professor of Law
Inaugural Executive Director, Institute for Conflict Management, Lipscomb University

Larry Bridgesmith brings more than 30 years of experience in dispute resolution and innovative workplace strategies to clients, students and business entities. Professor Bridgesmith integrates practical, legal and academic best practices into dispute resolution and legal innovation in service to his client relationships. He has served as chair of Tennessee's Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission, which works with the Tennessee Supreme Court. He was the founding executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management at Lipscomb University. He is also president of Creative Collaborations and practices law in Nashville. In 2016, he co-founded LegalAlignment, which provides technology tools and legal project management training to assist lawyers in managing the delivery of legal services more efficiently with greater transparency and price predictability. DASH, its primary legal technology platform, was chosen as a finalist in the 2021 British Legal Technology Awards program in the Innovative Legal Services category. Bridgesmith was recognized by his peers with the Grayfred Grey Mediation Public Service Award in 2012. The Tennessee State Bar and the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services have awarded him the Presidential Award and the Justice Janice Holder Award, respectively, for assisting in the implementation of legal technology in Tennessee.

Research Interests

Organizational development and the impact of system theory on conflict competence within organizations and legal delivery systems


Representative Publications

  •  NFT Student Incentive System, NFT-SIS, July 2021 (with Adel Elmessiry and Magad Elmessiry)
  • "ODR and the Justice System," Chapter 5 in  Online Dispute Resolution: Theory and Practice (June 2021)
  • "Legal Project Management Collaboration Tools," chapter in Next Stage Legal Project Management: Future Proof Your Matter Management, Globe Business and Law (March 2021)
  • "The Digital Transformation of Law: Are We Prepared for Artifically Intelligent Legal Practice?" Akron Law Journal (March 2021) (with Adel Elmessiry)
  • "World Justice Forum VI: Insights and Takeaways, " 6 International Journal of Online Dispute Resolution 3 (2019) (with Jeffrey Aresty)
  • "The Summer of Union Discontent," 39:1 Journal of Health Law Journal 117 (2006)
  • "Representing the Title VII Plaintiff," 26 Wayne State Law Review 1413 (1980)