E. Patrick McDermott
Education
- The George Washington University , PhD, Human Resource Management , 1998
- New York University School of Law, LLM, Taxation , 1988
- Rutgers Newark School of Law, JD, 1984
- Cornell University , MS, Collective Bargaining , 1980
- Cornell University , BS, Industrial and Labor Relations, 1978
- Essex Community College , Other, 1976
Areas of Expertise
- Labor - Management Arbitration
- Labor and Employment Law and Litigation
- Chinese Industrial Relations
Bio
Dr. E. Patrick McDermott is a Professor of Management and Legal Studies at the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business and Chair of the Management Department. Professor McDermott is a two-time Fulbright Scholar - Shanghai, China in 2007-2008 (ECUPL) and Bucharest, Romania (University of Bucharest) in 2018 - 2019. He served as the first Director of Research and Evaluation at the Center for Conflict Resolution at Salisbury University. For Academic Year 2024-2025 he is a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Negotiation and Law at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
He recently won The Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution at the University of Missouri School of Law and the National Academy of Arbitrators (NAA) annual writing competition for the best article relating to labor and employment dispute resolution. His article, “The Repeat Play Effect: Much Ado About Nothing” was selected by a committee comprised of NAA and Missouri Law faculty members. The competition includes a prize of $3,000 prize for the best-published article by an author in academia or professional practice.
He has written a book and numerous law review and peer-reviewed journal articles on the use of ADR to resolve workplace conflict, employment law, and industrial relations. His current research focuses on the use of AI and other technology to assist workplace dispute resolution. Prior scholarship includes the Chinese industrial relations model and China's conversion of state-owned enterprises to private entities. He is a recognized expert in dispute resolution program evaluation where he served as the principal investigator for the evaluation of the EEOC mediation program for over twenty years and also evaluated the TSA Integrated Conflict Management program. He is the Principal Investigator for two recent studies of the EEOC's use of Online Dispute Resolution ("ODR"). Dr. McDermott's current research interest focuses on the use of technology in dispute resolution, including AI in negotiation and mediation. In 2024, he spoke on the use of AI in dispute resolution at the ABA Dispute Resolution Section Annual Meeting, and the first NYC "Triad" conference including the Labor and Employment Relations, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and the International Labor and Employment Relations Association. He was a guest speaker at the EEOC "EXCEL" conference in New Orleans in August 2024.
Dr. McDermott is an Arbitrator and sits on the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service ("FMCS") American Arbitration Association ("AAA") Labor-Management Panels and numerous state and local panels. Before becoming a neutral, he was a labor attorney and employment law litigator where he spent half of his career representing management and the latter half representing employees. He has extensive collective bargaining experience and has litigated labor and employment law cases in state and federal courts; administrative agencies, and before FINRA.