AN APPOINTMENT
AN APPOINTMENT
Mediator, arbitrator, and consultant with decades of experience resolving complex commercial and construction disputes.
Jud Perkins is a mediator and arbitrator for construction and commercial disputes, and his dispute resolution work grew out of a 35-year career managing large development and venue projects.
He founded Perkins Group, LLC, a Salem, Connecticut practice offering construction mediation and arbitration across Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and the New York City area.
Jud reports a resolution rate above 85% across more than 500 mediated cases and 15+ years as a mediator.
Cases
Years as Mediator
Resolution Rate
Before he worked as a neutral, Jud spent his career on the management side of major construction, sports, and hospitality organizations.
His roles included senior positions with the Walt Disney Company, Madison Square Garden, the National Basketball Association, and Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino.
His development work covered five landmark projects. He led three of them and served on the senior team for the other two.
| Project | Project Value | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Mohegan Sun Casino expansion | $925 million | Development lead |
| Madison Square Garden renovation | $200 million | Development lead |
| Enterprise Center, St. Louis | $135 million | Development lead |
| Walt Disney World EPCOT Center | $1.2 billion | Senior team member |
| Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom | $400 million | Senior team member |
Jud's path to dispute resolution runs through the negotiating table, not the courtroom. On his projects, owners, architects, engineers, contractors, and lenders regularly negotiated competing priorities, often with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.
Many construction and commercial claims start in exactly those negotiations, as budget, schedule, or scope breakdowns.
That background gives him a practical reference point when he weighs a claim against how construction actually works, alongside what the contract says. Three examples:
"Mediation is the first and best opportunity to resolve disputes in the Dispute Resolution Process."
A project executive can read a construction schedule and assess whether a claimed delay actually pushed back completion.
A background in project finance gives a basis for separating legitimate cost growth from inflated line items.
Knowing how projects get built makes it possible to recognize settlement terms a crew can actually carry out.
His construction dispute experience spans claims from $50,000 to $1.2 million.
Jud serves as a neutral with seven courts and ADR institutions, acting as mediator, arbitrator, or both depending on the forum. Together these cover commercial, construction, securities, and consumer caseloads.
| Institution | Neutral Role |
|---|---|
| American Arbitration Association (AAA) | Arbitrator and mediator |
| ADR Center of Connecticut | Arbitrator and mediator |
| Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) | Arbitrator |
| National Center for Dispute Settlement | Arbitrator |
| Center for Mediation and Collaboration – Rhode Island | Mediator |
| New York City Courts | Virtual mediator |
| Rhode Island District Courts | Mediator |
His work with the American Arbitration Association covers both commercial and construction matters, including complex commercial arbitration involving claims above $500,000.
Through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, he sits in the securities industry’s arbitration forum, which hears disputes among investors, brokerage firms, and their employees.
Jud’s practice covers five areas of dispute resolution, split between mediation and arbitration across the construction, commercial, and consumer sectors.
Jud decides binding construction arbitration cases between owners, architects, engineers, contractors, and subcontractors, including disputes over schedule and cost impacts and responsibility for non-performance.
Parties that need a final, enforceable decision get an arbitrator who has managed the same contract structures and project finances that drive these claims.
Jud mediates construction disputes over payment, change orders, delays, defective work, and closeout. The same area covers real estate development disputes tied to site conditions, redesigns, municipal approvals, and lender requirements.
His construction dispute experience ranges from $50,000 to $1.2 million in claim value, and parties keep full control over whether and how the matter settles.
Jud’s commercial mediation work covers breach of contract, partnership disputes, business dissolutions, landlord-tenant conflicts, and unpaid obligations, including multi-party matters.
Mediation lets businesses resolve these disputes privately while preserving working relationships that litigation would likely damage.
Jud arbitrates high-value business disputes involving claims above $500,000 and multiple parties, serving through the AAA and the ADR Center of Connecticut. His FINRA appointment extends this arbitration work to securities disputes between investors and brokerage firms.
Jud hears consumer arbitration matters under the AAA Consumer Rules. Each case ends in a binding award reached through a confidential process that protects both individuals and businesses.
"Mediation is the first and best opportunity to resolve disputes in the Dispute Resolution Process."
— Jud Perkins
Jud’s education combines graduate business training with formal mediation certification:
Education
Ohio State University
B.S., Industrial Management
University of Southern California
MBA’s, Finance & Business Administration
Quinnipiac University
40-Hour Mediation Certificate Program
His memberships and appointments:
Board Member, Center for Mediation and Collaboration – Rhode Island
Board Member, Connecticut Mediation Association
AAA Panelist
FINRA Arbitrator
The Connecticut Mediation Association lists him in its mediator directory for design, engineering, and construction disputes.
His continuing education, mostly through the AAA, covers:
Jud practices in Salem, Connecticut. He conducts in-person proceedings in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and the New York City area, and virtual proceedings nationwide.
Jud treats mediation and arbitration as separate roles. In any given dispute he serves as one or the other, never both, so that information shared confidentially in mediation cannot influence an arbitration award.
As a mediator, he regards the first session as the best opportunity to end a dispute before costs escalate.
He works to move parties away from a win-or-lose contest, and toward terms each side can accept. His mediated cases span Rhode Island District Courts, New York City Courts, the AAA, and the ADR Center of Connecticut.
As an arbitrator, he brings subject-matter expertise to the decision. Parties who cannot settle go before a decision-maker who understands the contracts, schedules, and financial structures behind the claim.
Get in Touch
Jud takes new matters directly through Perkins Group, LLC and replies to inquiries within one business day. He hears cases in person in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and the New York City area, and virtually anywhere in the country.
(860) 204-9168
(860) 984-5418
judperk@comcast.net
Parties stuck in a construction or commercial dispute can contact Perkins Group to discuss whether Jud is the right neutral for the matter.
