Keynote Luncheon Speaker
Michael Wheeler
Harvard Business School
Boston, MA

Michael Wheeler is the MBA Class of 1952 Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School where teaches both Negotiation and The Moral Leader, as well as various executive courses. As a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, he taught Mediation & Consensus Building.  Wheeler’s current research focuses on negotiation dynamics, dispute resolution, and ethics. He is editor of the Negotiation Journal.

Wheeler is the author of ten books, including the forthcoming, The Practical Art of Improvising Agreement.  He is also author or co-author of What’s Fair? Ethics for Negotiators (with Carrie Menkel-Meadow), and Business Fundamentals in Negotiation, as well as numerous scholarly articles.  Wheeler taught at MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning from 1981 to 1993.  Prior to that he was a Professor at New England Law. He has also been a Visiting Professor at the University of Colorado and the Politecnico di Torino, Italy.

He holds degrees from Amherst College, Boston University, and Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1969. He has been a panelist for the American Arbitration Association, and has served as a mediator or arbitrator in a variety of business and regulatory disputes.

Lisa Arrowood
Arrowood Peters LLP
Boston, MA

Lisa is a founding partner of Arrowood Peters LLP whose practice concentrates on business litigation, employment disputes, medical malpractice, personal injury and legal malpractice.  Previously, she had been one of the founding partners at Todd & Weld LLP.  She started her career at Hale and Dorr and departed as a Junior Partner in 1992.  She is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and immediate past Chair of the ACTL Massachusetts State Committee. She currently holds a three year appointment as the First Circuit Representative to the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary. She is also a member of the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers. Additionally, Lisa is a member of the Executive Committee of the Boston Bar Association and the incoming Secretary of the BBA.

Lisa has had some of the top ten jury verdicts for plaintiffs in Lawyers Weekly as well as one of the top ten defense verdicts.  She has tried cases in federal and state courts in Massachusetts and in other states throughout the country. She is a graduate cum laude of Harvard Law School and magna cum laude and with Honors from Brown University.  She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Jamison J. Barr
VP & General Counsel
Jenzabar, Inc.
Boston, MA

Jamison J. Barr is currently Vice President & General Counsel of Jenzabar, Inc., a leading provider of software and services to higher education.  Prior to joining Jenzabar in June of 2001 as Corporate Counsel, Mr. Barr focused his practice on assisting emerging companies with matters relating to intellectual property, employment, and business litigation.  Since 2011, he has been a co-chair of the licensing committee of the Boston Patent Law Association.  He also serves as pro bono counsel to non-profit organizations focused on changing the world.  Mr. Barr serves on the ACC Docket Advisory Board of the ACC Docket, the journal of the Association of Corporate Counsel.  Mr. Barr is a frequent speaker and panel member at various programs and seminars relating to legal department management, litigation management, and intellectual property. 

Simeon H. Baum
Resolve Mediation Services, Inc.
New York, NY

Simeon H. Baum, President of Resolve Mediation Services, Inc., www.mediators.com, was the first Chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section. Mr. Baum has mediated more than 900 disputes, including the Studio of Daniel Libeskind-Silverstein Properties dispute over architectural fees relating to the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site and Trump’s $1billion lawsuit over the West Side Hudson River development. He was selected for New York Magazine’s 2005-2011 “Best Lawyers” and “New York Super Lawyers” listings for ADR and Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year” for ADR in New York for 2011. He teaches Negotiation Theory & Skills at Benjamin N Cardozo School of Law and is a frequent speaker and trainer on ADR. For more than a decade he has trained mediators for the Commercial Division of various counties of the NY Supreme Court, and more recently through the NYSBA’s Dispute Resolution Section.

Matthew L. Caras
Leaders LLC
Portlan, ME

Matthew L. Caras is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution, the ADR Section of the Maine State Bar Association, and the Board of Governors of the Maine Association of Mediators.  Mr. Caras received his formal mediation training at Harvard Law School (PON) and Northwestern University.

Mr. Caras is also a founder and the current managing partner of Leaders LLC, which provides merger and acquisition advisory services to businesses in a variety of industries throughout the United States and globally.  Formerly, he practiced law with Verrill Dana LLP, where he was a partner, Chair of the Firm’s Bankruptcy Department, and Member of the Firm’s Executive Committee.

A.B., cum laude, Bowdoin College (1978)
J.D., with honors, University of Connecticut School of Law (1984)
Executive Education, MIT Sloan School of Management (2006)

Philip S. Cottone
Mediator/Arbitrator
Philadelphia, PA

Mr. Cottone is a lawyer by background and a dispute resolution professional. He is a member of the mediation panel and the commercial, real estate and construction arbitration panels of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), and the arbitration and mediation panels of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and The Counselors of Real Estate (CRE). He is been certified by the International Mediation Institute at the Hague.

Mr. Cottone has been an arbitrator since 1976 when he was first qualified by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD, now the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority).  He has been mediating for almost twenty years both privately and for ADR organizations. In the early nineties he was a neutral in a med-arb process for the Claims Administrator in SEC v Prudential. In the mid-nineties he chaired the Sub-committee of the NASD National Arbitration Committee that developed the mediation rules and procedures for the securities industry. He subsequently chaired the renamed National Arbitration and Mediation Committee for three of the five years he was a member, from 1993-1997.

He co-authored and taught a one day course, Mediation in Right of Way, for the International Right of Way Association; was the speaker and course book author on mediation for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute full day course, Prosecuting & Defending Claims Against Broker Dealers;; and was principal editor of the CRE ADR Rules and Procedures. He has also served as a trainer for mediation students of the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators (NJAPM) and Temple and Fordham Law Schools, has been a panelist on mediation for the Practicing Law Institute (PLI - NY) annual full day course on Arbitration, and is on the faculty of the ABA Arbitration Institute.

Mr. Cottone is a 1961 graduate of Columbia College, Columbia University, where he received the Burdette Kinne Award for Humanities. He is a 1966 graduate of the New York University School of Law, where he received the Administrative Law Prize. He is a retired member of the New York Bar.

Roger M. Deitz
Roger M. Deitz Esq. Dispute Resolution
New York, NY

Mr. Deitz has successfully resolved over one thousand mediations of complex and multi-party disputes, including securities, commodities, contracts, indemnities, ERISA, professional liability, insurance, sales of businesses, post closing issues, construction, international, class actions and other business matters. In addition, he has served as chair or panel member in over seventy-five arbitrations. Mr. Deitz has served as Chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of The Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He is a fellow of the American College of Civil Trial Mediators and Distinguished Neutral of the CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution. Mr. Deitz is a member of the CPR Banking and Financial Services, Employment Disputes, and Insurance panels of mediators and arbitrators. The American Bar Association, American Arbitration Association, Securities and Exchange Commission International Institute for Securities Market Development, Securities Industry Association, and the Practicing Law Institute have published Mr. Deitz’s articles. Mr. Deitz is a former Senior Trial Counsel of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Visiting Associate Professor of Law at the State University of New York - Buffalo Law School where he taught securities regulation and aviation law.

N. Nancy Ghabai
SVP, Associate Counsel
LPL Financial LLC
Boston, MA

N. Nancy Ghabai is the Senior Vice President and Associate Counsel for LPL Financial. She’s a former Associate at Berman DeValerio Pease Tabacco Burt & Pucillo as well as Stradley Ronan.  Ms. Ghabai is a graduate of the University of Vermont (BA) and Suffolk University Law School (JD).

David H. Gibbs
Bowditch & Dewey
Boston, MA

David Gibbs is a partner at Bowditch & Dewey and a Practitioner in Residence at Suffolk University Law School.  He has a national practice in negotiation and dispute resolution. Since 1990, he has served as a mediator and arbitrator on more than 250 cases and has designed, implemented and defended dispute resolution programs for businesses, non-profits, trade associations and courts.  He has worked extensively with closely held, family and professional services businesses to deal with planning, consensus building and resolving conflicts.

As a trial lawyer he has tried over 75 matters in federal and state courts, arbitration proceedings and before administrative agencies.  As a business lawyer, Mr. Gibbs advises owners, boards and senior management of for-profit and non-profit organizations on leadership, succession, governance, compensation, and investor relations. He has advised emerging and middle market businesses as they move through the business cycle from formation, to obtaining capital, managing growth and formulating winning exit strategies.

Mr. Gibbs established and directs the Investor Advocacy Clinic at Suffolk Law School which represents small investors and has taught courses in negotiation, mediation and intellectual property litigation.

Dwight Golann
Suffolk University Law School
Boston, MA

Dwight Golann is Professor of Law at Suffolk University in Boston and an active mediator of legal disputes. He has led seminars on mediation and mediation advocacy for courts, the ABA, the European Union, the Peoples’ Republic of China, and major law firms. Professor Golann is the author of Mediating Legal Disputes (ABA 2009) and a DVD, The Skills of a Legal Mediator, as well as the forthcoming ABA book and video, How to Borrow a Mediator’s Powers. He is listed among Best Lawyers in America and received the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Civil Mediators.

Emily Gould
Empatia Resolutions
Montpelier, VT

Emily Gould offers dispute resolution services, including mediation, coaching and training through her company Empatia Resolutions.  A former criminal prosecutor and general counsel, Emily has an exclusively ADR practice in which she mediates a wide spectrum of disputes including those that arise in families, between neighbors, in non-profits, schools and in the workplace.  In addition to civil litigation, Emily mediates environmental, civil rights, special education, divorce, probate and agricultural matters.

As chair of the Dispute Resolution Section of the Vermont Bar Association, Emily has assisted in the creation of several mediation programs in the state of Vermont including the Vermont Environmental Court program and Worker’s Compensation program and was instrumental in the passage of the Vermont Mediation Act. 

Emily served for three years as a chair of the Spirituality Section of The Association for Conflict Resolution.  She offers workshops and webinars in applications of mindfulness and empathy to law, mediation and negotiation. She is a professional coach with Mobius Executive Leadership and coaches attorneys and mediators worldwide in developing new initiatives in practice as well as personal development. Emily welcomes questions about her coaching practice at EmpatiaResolutions.com.

Colleen A. Hankins
Vice President & Associate General Counsel
FMR LLC
Boston, MA

Colleen Hankins is vice president and associate general counsel for Fidelity Investments, one of the nation’s largest financial services companies.  Ms. Hankins’ current areas of responsibility include litigation, arbitration,  and regulatory matters.  In addition, she provides legal advice throughout the firm on issues related to new products, services, policies, and procedures.  Prior to joining Fidelity in 2000, Ms. Hankins was in private practice with the law firm of Bingham McCutchen, where she represented clients in a broad array of securities litigation matters.   Ms. Hankins received her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and history from the University of Rochester in 1994 and her Juris Doctorate from Boston College Law School, Magna Cum Laude, in 1998.

Cliff Hendler
ADR Chambers
Toronto, ON

Cliff Hendler is a commercial mediator with ADR Chambers. From 1990 through 2010, he was the founder and president of DRS Dispute Resolution Services LP. He has substantial experience in mediation and mediation advocacy training, and has been an international guest lecturer/speaker at many universities, organizations and public forums. He co-managed the development of a mediation advocacy program for the American Bar Association National Institute, which has since been taught to more than *750* lawyers and mediators throughout North America. Cliff has established many of the benchmarks for dispute resolution in Canada. He has been retained on more than 2,500 cases since 1989 and is regarded as a true mediator who is able to facilitate the most difficult and hotly debated cases. He is known as one of North America’s foremost mediators in insurance litigation, legal and medical malpractice, defamation, sexual assault/abuse and workplace and community based conflicts. His cases have included very high profile and delicate litigation matters that have been successfully resolved away from the public eye.

Cliff has also been appointed as both judge and mediator through the International Chamber of Commerce and the American Bar Association for national and international law school mediation competitions. In 2008, Cliff co-found the Canadian National Mediation Advocacy Competition and in 2010, the subsequent International Mediation Advocacy Competition both of which were designed to encourage law schools throughout the world to teach enhanced skills for students who will be representing clients in mediation. Cliff is a Founder, Past President and Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators, past Chair of the American Bar Association, Dispute Resolution Section's Mediation Section, and past co-chair of the ABA National Institute on Advanced Mediation and Advocacy Skills Training.

David A. Hoffman
Boston Law Collaborative LLC
Boston, MA

David A. Hoffman is an attorney, mediator, arbitrator, and founding member of Boston Law Collaborative, LLC.  He teaches Mediation at Harvard Law School, where he is the John H. Watson Jr. Lecturer on Law.  He is past chair of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, and currently co-chairs the Section’s Collaborative Law Committee.  As mediator and arbitrator, he has handled over 1,000 cases involving business, family, employment, and other disputes.  In November 2004, David was chosen as one of the "Top 100 Lawyers" in Massachusetts in Boston Magazine's SuperLawyers Directory and has been consistently named a Massachusetts SuperLawyer since the listing began.  David is also listed in the book “The Best Lawyers in America” in the categories of Mediation, Arbitration, Collaborative Law, and Family Law Mediation.  David is the co-author (with David Matz) of “Massachusetts Alternative Dispute Resolution” and co-editor (with Daniel Bowling) of “Bringing Peace into the Room: How the Personal Qualities of the Mediator Impact the Process of Conflict Resolution.”  David is a graduate of Princeton University (A.B. 1970, summa cum laude), Cornell University (M.A. 1974, American Studies), and Harvard Law School (J.D. 1984, magna cum laude), where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Margaret Huff
Margaret Huff Mediation
Nashville, TN

Margaret M. (“Marnie”) Huff is an independent ADR professional in Nashville TN. A graduate of Smith College and Vanderbilt University School of Law, Ms. Huff serves on the Council of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, chairs the Section’s Membership Committee, and serves as a Section liaison to the ABA Ethics 20/20 Commission. She is past chair of the Tennessee Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section. 

Ms. Huff’s experience includes trial and appellate litigation in state and federal courts, and bankruptcy reorganizations.  Her website is at www.MargaretHuffMediation.com.  

Joan Stearns Johnsen
JSJ Mediations
Boston, MA

Joan Stearns Johnsen has been a mediator since 1995 and an arbitrator since 1986. Disputes for which Ms. Johnsen has served as mediator include those in the areas of securities and commodity futures, employment, franchisee/franchisor, business/partnership, insurance, and tax. She also has served as an arbitrator on over one hundred panels. She was formerly Associate General Counsel of the Commodity Exchange, Inc., and Smith Barney, both in New York, and a former Enforcement Attorney for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington, D.C.  She recently was a Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor at Albany Law School.  Ms Johnsen is a graduate of Northwestern University and Case Western Reserve University School of Law. She can be reached at JSJohnsen@JSJmediations.com.

Lela P. Love
Cardozo School of Law
New York, NY

Lela Porter Love is Professor of Law and Director of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She started one of the first law school mediation clinics in the U.S.; regularly conducts mediation and arbitration training programs, teaching both nationally and internationally; and has an active practice as a neutral, ranging from community disputes to complex litigated matters.  She has written widely on the topic of dispute resolution, including three law school textbooks, and mediated a simulated product liability dispute for COURT TV.  She co-authored, with Joseph Stulberg, The Middle Voice: Mediating Conflict Successfully and has recently co-edited a book on Stories Mediators Tell.

She is a past chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution.  She received her B.A. from Harvard University, M.Ed. from Virginia Commonwealth University, and J.D. from Georgetown University Law School.

Richard Lutringer
Offices of Richard Lutringer, Esq.
New York, NY

With 30 years of  experience as a commercial and corporate lawyer and extensive training and experience as a mediator, Richard Lutringer now devotes most of his practice to the mediation of business disputes. Many disputes mediated by Mr. Lutringer involve claims of  less than $500,000, although a number have exceeded  $50 million, and include disputes among members of family owned businesses as well as domestic and international industrial, investment and financial companies. Some complex mediations have been in the context of probate disputes among second generation business owners / family members. 

Although most mediations last no more than one or two sessions, complex multiparty disputes may require numerous separate and joint sessions over several months. 

Mr Lutringer participates annually as a judge/mediator at the ICC Mediation Advocacy Competition. He has also mentored mediators and law students for the ABA, NYCBA, NYSBA and NY area law schools.

Among other articles, Mr. Lutringer authored "Mediating Business Divorce Disputes"(NY Dispute Resolution Lawyer, Fall 2009) and was the principal author of "Resolving Disputes Among Small Business Owners" (NYSBA, DR Section, White Paper 1/11). In April 2012, he co-presented  "Resolving Disputes among Owners of Closely-Held and Family Businesses" at the Manhattan Campus of St. John's University Law School.

Harry N. Mazadoorian
Quinnipiac University School of Law
Hamden, CT

For more than 25 years, Harry N. Mazadoorian has helped bring order and common purpose to the legal system as a pioneer and national expert in alternative dispute resolution.

As the distinguished senior fellow in the Quinnipiac School of Law’s Center for Dispute Resolution, he coaches and advises students preparing for the American Bar Association Representation in Mediation competition and chairs both the ADR Advisory Committee and the Quinnipiac/ Connecticut Bar Foundation ADR Symposium planning committee.

His many books and articles have become references in dispute resolution training. He is a regular columnist on ADR for the Connecticut Law Tribune and serves as a counselor to corporations and government agencies in connection with arbitration and mediation services.

He graduated magna cum laude from Yale, where he also earned his LLB in 1963. He entered private practice in 1964, where he gained extensive experience in general corporate and real estate law. Joining the CIGNA Corporation in 1976, he was the first attorney in an American corporation dedicated exclusively to ADR activities. He also served at the corporate level as chief insurance counsel and vice president for government relations.

He served as a member of the Council of the ABA’s Section on Dispute Resolution and was the first chair of both its mediation and corporate ADR committees. He is the charter founder and director of the American Corporate Counsel Association. In recognition of his broad expertise, he was among the first appointed by the Connecticut chief justice to serve as a Superior Court attorney trial referee. In 2010, he received the Connecticut Bar Foundation's Distinguished Service Award.

Duncan Ross MacKay
Deputy General Counsel
Northeast Utilities Serv. Co.
Berlin, CT

Duncan MacKay is the Deputy General Counsel for Northeast Utilities (NYSE: NU), a Fortune 500 and Standard & Poor’s 500 energy company based in Connecticut and Massachusetts.  NU operates New England’s largest energy delivery system and is committed to safety, reliability, environmental leadership and stewardship, and expanding energy options for its more than 3.5 million electric and natural gas customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.  Duncan is responsible for the team of lawyers who counsel and represent NU with respect to labor and employment matters, state and federal regulatory matters, and litigation matters and dispute resolution.  He has been active in the development and implementation of pro-active approaches to managing disputes involving NU and its various subsidiaries, including the implementation of standard ADR clauses in commercial contracts, early case evaluation, and consideration of ADR options in the early stages of disputes or litigation.  Duncan’s responsibilities include managing the company’s relationship with certain of its outside law firms. 

Duncan is a member of the executive committee of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (“CPR”) and chairs the CPR Committee on Energy, Oil & Gas, which several years ago developed the first of its kind national energy panel of neutrals.  Duncan also served on the Connecticut Commission on Civil Court Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR).

Duncan attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he received his B.A. in Legal Studies.  He attended Suffolk University Law School in Boston, where he received his J.D., cum laude, served on the Law Review, and after graduation served as a member of the adjunct faculty.

Hon. Bruce E. Meyerson (Ret.)
Bruce Meyerson PLLC
Phoenix, AZ

Bruce E. Meyerson is a mediator, arbitrator, and trainer in Phoenix, Arizona.  He is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center (1972) where he was an Editor of the Law Journal.  Mr. Meyerson began his practice as the Executive Director of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest.  He served on the Arizona Court of Appeals for five years and has been General Counsel of Arizona State University.  From 1990 through 2000, Mr. Meyerson practiced commercial and employment litigation with Meyer, Hendricks, Victor, Osborn & Maledon, and Steptoe & Johnson.  He has served as the Chair of the State Bar of Arizona Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution and served as the Chair of the Arizona Supreme Court ADR Advisory Committee for seven years.  He is a member of the Commercial and Employment Panels of the American Arbitration Association and arbitration panels of the National Arbitration Forum.  He has been selected by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to be one of a small number of neutrals hired to mediate EEOC charges in the Southwest.  He is a Past Chair of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, the world's largest association of professionals engaged in dispute resolution.  He is an adjunct professor at the Arizona State University College of Law teaching courses in all aspects of dispute resolution.  He has served as a mediator in over 3000 cases, and as an arbitrator in over 200 commercial, employment, healthcare, construction, insurance and real estate disputes. He is a board member of the National Institute for Civil Discourse.

Harry S. Miller
Burns & Levinson LLP
Boston, MA

Mr. Miller focuses his practice on tax matters, including corporate and partnership tax matters, international taxation, nonprofit organizations, estate planning, and also stockbroker/customer disputes, investment fraud, securities arbitration and litigation. Prior to joining Burns & Levinson LLP in January 2006, Mr. Miller was a partner with the firm Perkins Smith & Cohen LLP.

Mr. Miller’s extensive tax experience includes international tax, trusts and estates, tax planning for corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, and nonprofit organizations, tax planning for mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, hedge funds, joint ventures, tax planning for real estate development, estate planning and tax-oriented investment strategies. He also teaches Gift and Estate Taxation and International Estate Planning in the LL.M Graduate Tax Program at Boston University School of Law.

Mr. Miller also represents investors and individuals nation-wide who believe they have been defrauded by their stockbroker or investment advisor. Mr. Miller is the author of www.securitieslaw.com, a web site designed to address issues related to securities fraud and investor protection.

A frequent writer and speaker, Mr. Miller has written many articles on innovative tax and estate planning techniques, including Internationally Defective Irrevocable Trusts, and Keep the Cash - Save the Tax: New Estate Planning Strategy for Installment Sales to "Defective" Trusts. He has also authored many publications and articles on matters pertaining to securities fraud and investor/broker disputes and arbitration including: Elements of a Claim Involving Misrepresentation; Punitive Damages in Securities Arbitration After Mastrobuono; The New NASD Discovery Guide: You Better Get Your Mucklucks Out of the Cornstarch; Beware: Bear Options Bite and the chapter on discovery published in the PLI book Securities Arbitration. He has participated as an instructor for the National Association of Securities Dealers regional and national arbitrator training programs, and has also been a frequent speaker and panelist at various securities, tax and estate planning programs.

Maureen Mulligan
Ruberto, Israel & Weiner, P.C.
Boston, MA

Maureen Mulligan is a shareholder of Ruberto, Israel & Weiner whose practice focuses on complex commercial litigation and general business disputes in the areas of corporate and professional liability, banking and finance, insurance, technology and trademark issues. She currently chairs the firm's Privacy and Data Security Group. Maureen was recently elected to serve on the Boston Bar Association Council. She is a past co-chair of the BBA Litigation Section and of the section's Professional Liability Committee.  For four years she has been chair of the ABA's Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section's (TIPS) Corporate Governance Institute, which sponsors a yearly two-day conference in NEW  York on the topic, and is completing her final year on the TIPS Council.  Maureen has recently been recognized by the Women's Business Journal as one of the area's top ten women lawyers. She currently serves on the Concord Academy Board of Trustees.

Jody L. Newman
Collora LLP
Boston, MA

In employment cases, Jody has represented executives, managers, licensed professionals, and both union and non-union workers in various crafts and trades. She has also represented companies and institutions as employers, so she understands the strategies and tactics associated with each perspective, and utilizes that to her advantage in any employment-related legal proceeding. Her clients have come from many different industries, including the health care, pharmaceuticals, financial services, hospitality, national defense, and government service sectors of commerce.

Jody concentrates her practice on representing clients involved in employment disputes, most often representing plaintiffs. She represents employers, and has conducted sensitive investigations of high risk employment claims, as well as conducting employment law compliance audits designed to prevent liabilities. She has represented individuals and companies in a wide variety of disputes, including employment-related contract, tort and discrimination cases.  Jody has extensive experience in civil litigation before state and federal courts and government agency forums. She has conducted jury and non-jury trials, and is also skilled in various forms of alternative dispute resolution, including mediation and collaborative law.

Much of her work has involved matters relating to gender bias, sexual harassment, and discrimination based on age, disability, sexual orientation, race or national origin including retaliation. She is very experienced in negotiating separation and severance agreements.

John Phillips
Husch Blackwell Sanders LLP
Kansas City, MO 

John R. Phillips has been Managing Partner of Husch Blackwell, LLP, a Midwest law firm with which he has practiced in the areas of alternative dispute resolution, labor and employment, commercial litigation and healthcare for over 39 years.

He is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, and College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, as well as a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators, and has been chair of the Missouri Bar Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution, a member of the Missouri Supreme Court Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution, has served as Special Master for the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri in Klein et al. v. Kansas City of Missouri Firefighters (sexual harassment class action), and for the District of Kansas in Williams v. Sprint (age collective action).

He is a member of the Large Complex Litigation Panel; Commercial Panel; and the Employment Arbitration and Mediation Panels of the American Arbitration Association, CPR, and the US-China Mediation Panel of CPR/CCIPT, and has been an arbitrator in the Merrill Lynch class action and the Dalkon Shield cases.

He currently is Chair of the Section Council of the ABA Dispute Resolution Section. He was a member of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri Federal Advisory Committee that drafted and implemented the innovative court annexed Early Assessment Program in 1992, is a member of the Missouri Supreme Court's Commission on Alternative Dispute Resolution, and has been a frequent speaker on numerous ADR training programs, was co-author and director of the ABA video “Mediation Madness” and the ABA Advanced Arbitration Training Institute video “Advanced Arbitration: 20/20.” Additionally, he has been on the faculty of both the ABA Dispute Resolution Arbitration Institute and the Mediation Institute. He has been in Best Lawyers in America since 1994 and Chambers USA since 2003.

Geetha Ravindra
Dispute Resolution Services
Univ. of Richmond School of Law
William and Mary Law School
Richmond, VA

Geetha Ravindra is an attorney with over 18 years of experience in mediation and large group facilitation. Ms. Ravindra managed the Dalkon Shield Arbitration Program from 1992-1996. From 1996-2007, Ms. Ravindra served as Director of the Department of Dispute Resolution Services at the Supreme Court of Virginia and was responsible for the development and oversight of court-connected mediation. Ms. Ravindra started her own private mediation and training practice in 2007 and is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Richmond School of Law and William and Mary Law School teaching Mediation and the Role of the Lawyer in Mediation. She provides mediation services in domestic relations, truancy, and foster care cases for the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court in Richmond; workplace and EEOC mediation for the Navy, Department of Energy, World Bank, and Veterans Affairs Administration; and conflict resolution training for NASA and other state agencies. Ms. Ravindra is Past President of the Virginia Mediation Network. She is a member of the ABA Dispute Resolution Council, Budget Officer for the Dispute Resolution Section, and past Co-Chair of the ABA Dispute Resolution Section’s Mediation Committee. She is Vice Chair of the Virginia State Bar Fee Dispute Resolution Committee and Secretary of the Joint Virginia Bar Association –Virginia State Bar Committee on ADR.

Carmin C. Reiss
Resolutions, LLC
Boston, MA

Carmin C. Reiss is a principal of Resolutions, LLC and was formerly a Senior Mediator with JAMS/Endispute . Since 1990, she has had an active mediation practice focusing on environmental, construction, commercial, insurance, employment, professional liability, and personal injury disputes, often in the form of large, complex, multi-party controversies. Ms. Reiss serves as a member of the Middlesex Multi-door Courthouse panel of mediators. She has also served on the FDIC mediation roster, and as an approved mediator for EPA matters, including large superfund cases. Prior to joining JAMS/Endispute, Ms. Reiss was a trial lawyer at Bingham & Dana and a member of that firm's Environmental Practice Group. She is the author of "Environmental Contamination Disputes," in Mediating Legal Disputes (Golann ed. 1996), winner of the 1996 CPR Book Award, and one of the ADR Editors for MCLE's recent Superior Court Practice Guide.

Harrie Samaras
ADR and Law Office of Harrie Samaras
West Chester, PA

Harrie Samaras founded the ADR & Law Office of Harrie Samaras for which she serves as a full time neutral in U.S. and international disputes.  She focuses her mediation and arbitration practice on complex commercial cases including intellectual property and business/technology disputes.  Since 1985, her private and corporate practice experience has included litigating intellectual property cases, representing clients in mediations and negotiations, ADR counseling, and extensive experience in early case assessment. 

Harrie serves as a mediator on an ad hoc basis and for such ADR organizations as: AAA, ICDR, CPR, WIPO, and the U.S. International Trade Commission.  She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the College of Commercial Arbitrators and she is an IMI certified mediator.

In addition training mediators, Harrie has taught mediation advocacy and frequently presents on ADR topics at professional and bar association programs and at universities.  She has authored numerous articles on ADR topics for various legal and business publications and she is an author and the editor of the book ADR Advocacy, Strategies, and Practice for Intellectual Property Cases published by the ABA’s IPL Section in 2011. 

Harrie holds LL.M., J.D., M.S. and B.S. degrees.

Jay H. Sandak
Sandak Hennessey & Greco LLP
Stamford, CT

Jay H. Sandak, Founding Partner of the Stamford, CT law firm, Sandak, Hennessey & Greco, LLP, has extensive trial and ADR experience in both state and federal courts.  He is a Fellow of the American College of Civil Trial Mediators, a member of the Association of Attorney Mediators, a member of the American Arbitration Association Panel of Neutrals and a member of the ADR Sections of the Connecticut and American Bar Associations.  He has and continues to serve as a Special Master for the U.S. Federal District Court of Connecticut and the Connecticut Superior Court negotiating settlements where he has served for almost twenty years.  He has been invited to serve as a Presenter on ADR issues before local, state and national audiences.

He holds a B.A. degree from Colby College (1968) and J.D. degree from Syracuse University College of Law (1971). Before starting private practice, he was a law clerk at theUnited States Court of Claims, Washington, D.C.He is admitted to practice in Connecticut, the U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut, U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. He enjoys an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been listed in the Best Lawyers in America 2007-2010 in the area of commercial litigation, and listed in New England SuperLawyers 2008- 2011  in the area of Alternative Dispute Resolution, including being listed in Connecticut Magazine Superlawyers 2010 as being one of the Top 50 Attorneys in Connecticut.

Ora Schwartzberg
NH Divorce & Mediation Center
Concord, NH

Attorney Schwartzberg began a general practice of law in Lake Placid, New York in 1985.  Today, she has two offices in New Hampshire (Concord & the Upper Valley).  Her practice is almost exclusively in the field of domestic relations, 75% of which is mediation. She has served as Co-Chair of the ADR Section of the New Hampshire Bar Association for the past 5 years and in now serving her second term as the President of the Grafton County Bar Association.

Attorney Schwartzberg earned her JD from Vermont Law School and a MS in counseling from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh.  Her undergraduate degree is a BS in English from Temple University in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania.

In 2009, the first edition of Ora Schwartzberg’s book Divorce Mediation from the Inside Out, A Mindful Approach to Divorce was published.  In her book, she explains her unique approach to divorce mediation.  The book is written for lay people who are contemplating divorce.

Attorney Schwartzberg is licensed in New Hampshire, Vermont and New Mexico.

Eric E. Van Loon
JAMS
Boston, MA

Eric E. Van Loon, Esq. brings years of experience to every resolution. A full-time dispute resolution professional since 1989, he has more than 20,000 hours of experience in 42 states and eight countries as a mediator, arbitrator, speaker, and trainer specializing in complex, multi-party, high-stakes disputes and is listed in "Best Lawyers in America" for Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Van Loon has mediated and arbitrated many high-profile matters including the largest electric rate increase in Ohio history, an athletic conference expulsion over bowl game participation, a 60,000-acre New York Indian land claim, a 28-municipality dispute with a New England power plant operator, and the dispute preventing Cleveland's Jacobs Field from being built. He also chaired the three-member U.S. Copyright Office panel, which arbitrated the first royalty rates for internet music streaming.

Inga Watkins
Howard University School of Law
Washington, D.C.

Inga A. Watkins received her Juris Doctor from the George Washington University National Law Center in Washington, D.C. in 1978 where she served on the Editorial Board of the International Law Journal. Ms. Watkins graduated with honors in political science from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1975 where she served as the Editor-in-Chief of a literary magazine and was active in the performing arts. In 2002, Ms. Watkins ascended to the level of PhD ABD in conflict analysis and resolution at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.

Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Watkins conducted complex litigation involving safety and health regulations, labor and administrative law before federal courts and administrative tribunals and counseled government officials concerning rule-making, policy and procedure for the United States Department of Labor. Ms. Watkins subsequently formed the partnership of Brown, Brown and Watkins, a second generation law firm in Alexandria, Virginia where she specialized in civil litigation and alternative dispute resolution for the next fifteen years.

Ms. Watkins serves as a mediator and arbitrator on national and state panels, including the National Arbitration Forum and the Northern Virginia Mediation Service. Ms. Watkins has presented and served as a lecturer on Continuing Legal Education panels and at national and local professional conferences. Ms. Watkins is currently an Adjunct Professor of Law at Howard University School of Law. She has also served as adjunct faculty at the George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College.

Michael Zeytoonian
Zeytoonian Center for Dispute Resolution LLC
Wellesley Hills, MA

Michael A. Zeytoonian, Director of the Zeytoonian Center for Dispute Resolution, LLC and Partner at Hutchings, Barsamian, Mandelcorn & Zeytoonian, LLP in Wellesley Hills, MA is a lawyer, mediator and ombudsman, specializing in employment, business, consumer protection and special education law.  He is admitted to practice in the state and federal district courts of Massachusetts and New York (Southern District) and the state of Connecticut.

He is a Past Board President (2006-2007) and member of the Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council, chairman of the Massachusetts Bar Association ADR committee and member of the New England Association for Conflict Resolution (NE ACR).  Michael writes and lectures frequently at law schools and conferences on collaborative law and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and has trained lawyers and presented workshops on Collaborative Law throughout the United States, Canada and Ireland.  

He served as Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York, overseeing litigation in the State Counsel Bureau in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties and working on consumer advocacy cases.  Prior to his work at the Attorney General’s Office, he was an Assistant County Attorney in the Westchester County (NY) Law Department, in the litigation and family court bureaus.  His undergraduate education was at Boston College and Iona College, where he received his Bachelor of Arts and teacher certification majoring in history and education.  He earned his J. D. from Pace University School of Law with a Certificate in Environmental Law.