Bruner is a mediator and arbitrator and is head of JAMS’ Global Engineering and Construction Group, which provides mediation, arbitration, and other dispute resolution services to the national and international construction industry. Prior to joining JAMS in 2008, he practiced law for 43 years in the construction law field, the last 17 of which were as a senior partner and founding head of the Construction Law Group in the international law firm of Faegre & Benson LLP. His areas of expertise include arbitration and mediation, construction law, surety/fidelity law, architect/engineer professional liability law, international construction law, and government contract law. Bruner has served as lead counsel in major litigated or arbitrated construction disputes venued in more than 30 states. He also has served as counselor, mediator, and arbitrator of major national and international disputes arising out of engineering and construction projects, such as a European headquarters in Switzerland, an amusement park at Disney World, a power plant in Pakistan, a hotel in Barbados, a power plant in New York, a justice center in Nevada, a commercial building in Nassau, an airplane hanger in Florida, and a convention center in Illinois.

Bruner is admitted to practice before Minnesota and Wisconsin state courts and the U.S. district courts for the District of Minnesota, the Eastern District of Wisconsin, the Western District of Wisconsin, and the District of North Dakota. He also is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the U.S. courts of appeals for the Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Federal Circuits. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Princeton in 1961, a juris doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1964, and a master of business administration degree from Syracuse University in 1967.

Bruner has authored or co-authored numerous articles for West publications, including “The Construction Review,” Construction Briefings (1983–present); “Lender Liability in Construction Financing,” Construction Briefings (2003); and “Risk Allocation Under Concept of ‘Control’ as Basis for Liability and Exculpation,” 24 Construction Litigation Reporter 3 (2003). He is a founding Fellow and past president (2006–2007) of the American College of Construction Lawyers. He also is a Life Fellow in the American Bar Foundation and a Fellow in the National Contract Management Association. He is a lecturer for the Masters Institute in Construction Contracting (1992–date) and chair of Thomson/West’s Construction Industry Advisory Board (1992–date). Bruner also taught construction law as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School (2003–2007) and William Mitchell College of Law (2006–2007).

He has presented more than 260 speeches in the United States, Europe, and Asia over the past 35 years. Recent engagements include the American Bar Association’s Conference on Complex Surety Cases (2007), the ACCL Princeton Symposium (2006), the Master’s Institute in Construction Contracting (2006), the Construction Manager’s Super Conference (2005), and the International Construction Super Conference in London, England, in 2004. Bruner is cited by the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers as one of the world’s most highly regarded construction lawyers. He is a recipient of the 2005 Cornerstone Award, the highest award of the American Bar Association’s Forum Committee on the Construction Industry, for “exceptional service to the construction industry, the public, and the legal profession.” He has been named as one of Minnesota’s Super Lawyers in polls of Minnesota lawyers conducted annually since 1998 by Law and Politics magazine, and is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in the World, and The Best Lawyers in America.