Duff McKee is a native of Idaho, born in Kellogg and spending some of his early years in Lewiston. He was raised in Spokane, Washington. He returned to Idaho to finish his college education, receiving his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Idaho.

He began his practice of law in Boise in 1964. In 1985, after 21 years of private practice, he was appointed to the state district court bench. He has served as a state court trial judge from 1985 to the present time. In 2000, Judge McKee moved to senior status from the active bench to enable him to expand his ADR practice. He continues service as a senior judge for about 20% of his professional time; the remaining 80% of his professional time is now devoted to private ADR assignments, with the majority being mediation of civil cases.

Judge McKee is a prolific author and lecturer. He is the author of the book "Mediation Mechanisms" (Ridenbaugh Press, 2017) available through the publisher or from Amazon.com. He has written numerous articles on the law and legal history for various professional and historical publications. He has been a frequent lecturer on CLE subjects.

His ADR work started shortly after he took the bench when he began conducting judicial settlement conferences -- first on his own cases and then on cases for other judges throughout southern Idaho. His reputation in this field spread quickly and requests for ADR assignments grew. Judge McKee has accomplished over 2500 ADR assignments from 1985 through 2018.  He was awarded a  Professionalism of the Year award by the Idaho State Bar in 2011. He holds an AV rating from Martindale Hubbell, and has been listed in Mountain States Super Lawyers in the ADR specialty every year since 2008

• University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, 1959 – 1961 (B.S., Business, 1961) Undergraduate degree is in accounting; passed entirety of CPA examination in 1961.
• University of Idaho College of Law, Moscow, Idaho (J.D. 1964). (Wm Borah Award for academic excellence; Intercollegiate Moot Court Team; Idaho Law Review.)\
• ADR Training: Advanced Mediation Training, University of Idaho Northwest Institute for Dispute Resolution, May 1998, May 2005, May 2007.  Basic Mediation Training, University of Idaho Northwest Institute for Dispute Resolution, May 1997. Arbitrator II (advanced) Training, American Arbitration Association, San Francisco, November 2002. Arbitrator I (basic) Training, American Arbitration Association, Los Angeles, November

Idaho District Judges Association; Idaho State Bar Association (Sections on Alternative Dispute Resolution and Litigation); American Bar Association (Sections on Dispute Resolution, Judiciary and Litigation); Association for Conflict Resolution; American Inns of Court (Founding member of Boise Chapter, 1990; Bencher and Counselor of the Inn, 1990 – 2000; Bencher Emeritus, 2000 to present)

For hearings or conferences within 100 miles of Boise -- $300 per hour, no minimum and no charge for travel or commuting time For hearings or conferences over 100 miles from Boise -- $300 per hour with a $3,000 minimum per hearing or conference day or part day out of Boise.