Presenter Biographies

 

KEYNOTE

 

Hon. Robert M. Levy

Robert Levy is a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of New York, sitting inNew York City. Judge Levy is the Court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Oversight Judge and is responsible for the design and operation of its court-annexed mediation and arbitrationprograms. He has served as a Consultant in Mediation for the Federal Judicial Center (“FJC”) and as a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Staffing Formula Working Group of theAdministrative Office of the United States Courts.

Judge Levy has assisted other federal courts in the United States in the evaluation, design anddevelopment of their court-annexed mediation programs and has provided training in mediationand court ADR design for judges and lawyers both in the United States and overseas. Forexample, in 2011 he was part of a team that assisted the Sofia City Court and Sofia RegionalCourt in the development of a court-annexed mediation program. Also in 2011, he co-taught amaster class and a two day workshop on ADR design and mediation skills to Russian judges andattorneys. In 2013, he was invited by the United States embassy in Russia to present theAmerican judicial perspective at a conference organized by the American Bar Association andthe United States Department of State in Moscow to promote the use of arbitration and otherforms of ADR in Russia.

Judge Levy is a member of the Federal Judicial Center’s Magistrate Judge Education Committeewhich trains newly appointed judges in a range of subjects, including mediation skills. JudgeLevy serves on the faculty of the Federal Judicial Center’s Mediation Skills Workshop for United States Judges. He has also taught at the Mediation Skills Training Program for Foreign Judges at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Mediation and Negotiation Workshop. He has also made numerous presentations on court ADR design in France, Russia, Bulgaria, and the United States, as well as at annual meetings of the Section on Dispute Resolution of the American Bar Association.

Judge Levy is a founding member of the International Conference of Mediation for Justice(CIMJ), located in Paris and has served as a consultant for Human Rights Watch and DisabilityRights International. He is an adjunct professor of law at Columbia University Law School, New York University School of Law, and Brooklyn Law School and has taught at the Fulbright Institute in Bulgaria and in Summer Law Programs in Xiamen, China and Berlin. Judge Levy is a graduate of Harvard College and New York University School of Law.  

AWARDEES

Carol Liebman
 

Counsel, Massachusetts Department of Correction, 1976-79; clinical professor, Boston College Law School, 1979-91. Visiting clinical professor, Columbia, 1991-92. Joined Columbia faculty in 1992. Has lectured and taught widely on negotiation, mediation and legal education. Received the Columbia University Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2012.

Liebman has taught negotiation and mediation in Vietnam, Brazil, Israel and China and designed and presented mediation training for a variety of groups including the Certification Program in Bioethics of Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; New York's First Department, Appellate Division, Attorney Disciplinary Committee; the Association of the Bar of the City of New York; and high school students, parents and teachers.

Liebman is a former member of the New York City's Civilian Complaint Review Board and of the Executive Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. She was co-principal investigator of the Mediating Suits against Hospitals (MeSH) project, and of the Demonstration Mediation and ADR Project, a part of the Project on Medical Liability in Pennsylvania, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Liebman is co-author of Mediating Bioethics Disputes: A Guide to Shaping Shared Solutions, Revised and Expanded Edition, 2011.

Edna Sussman
 

Edna Sussman is a full-time arbitrator and mediator with over 35 years of experience in complex commercial disputes. Formerly a partner at White & Case LLP and of counsel at Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney LLP, Ms. Sussman has served as the chair, sole or co-arbitrator in over a hundred complex disputes under many institutional rules concerning commercial contracts, mergers and acquisitions, financing, banking, energy, environment, distributorships, insurance, accounting, intellectual property, construction, securities, real estate and professional liability with cases ranging in value up to $1 billion. Ms. Sussman is the distinguished ADR practitioner in residence at Fordham University School of Law and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. She serves on many arbitration panels including ICDR, AAA, CPR, HKIAC, SCIA, ASA, VIAC, DIAC, KLRCA, KCAB, CEAC, NFA, US ECR, FINRA and is listed by the LCIA and ICC. Ms. Sussman also mediates and was named as one of the ten most highly regarded international mediators by Who's Who Legal (commercial mediation 2013). She is a director of the American Arbitration Association serving on its executive committee and is the vice chair of the New York International Arbitration Center. She also serves as the vice-president of the College of Commercial Arbitrators. Ms. Sussman chaired the dispute resolution section of the New York State Bar Association and the arbitration committees of the American Bar Association's international law and dispute resolution sections as well as the alternative dispute resolution committee of the Energy Bar Association and the energy committee of the New York City Bar Association. She is a frequent speaker, author and trainer on arbitration and mediation. Ms. Sussman is a graduate of Barnard College and Columbia Law School.

    

PRESENTERS

Abayomi O. Ajaiyeoba

Abayomi O. Ajaiyeoba ("Yomi") is a Deputy Managing Attorney and Administrative Law Judge with the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings/New York City Environmental Control Board where she, among other things, serves as the agency's EEO Counselor.

Ms. Ajaiyeoba is an experienced litigator, certified mediator, arbitrator, and adjunct professor at Touro College.  Ms. Ajaiyeoba graduated from Rutgers School of Law-Newark in May 2004, where she was an associate editor of the Race and the Law Review, member of the Moot Court Board, clinician with the Community Development Clinic and provided pro bono services to the Domestic Violence Project.

Ms. Ajaiyeoba is committed to empowering and servicing the community through her involvement in various organizations.  She co-chaired the New York State Bar Association’s (“NYSBA”) Dispute Resolution Section’s Diversity Committee, a volunteer mediator with the Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, Inc., provided pro bono services to: Changer, Inc., Brooklyn Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Project, and InMotion, Inc.  In addition, she serves as an arbitrator on the Brooklyn Bar Association’s Part 137 Fee Dispute Committee and Small Claims Court.

Ms. Ajaiyeoba is the former President of the Nigerian Lawyers Association, past Vice President of the Association of Black Women Attorneys and is currently an Executive Council member of the NYSBA's Conference of Bar Leaders and is a NYSBA House of Delegate member.

Richard Barbieri

Dr. Richard Barbieri began working in the field of mediation four years ago, after a 40+ year career in private elementary, secondary, and higher education.  He has studied mediation at the Harvard PON and UMass Boston,  has published with ACResolutions and mediate.com, and has presented at conferences in Boston and Sturbridge Massachusetts. He currently serves as President of the New England Association for Conflict Resolution.

 

Simeon Baum
 

Simeon H. Baum, litigator, and President of Resolve Mediation Services, Inc. (www.mediators.com), has successfully mediated over 1,000 disputes.  He has been active since 1992 as a neutral in dispute resolution, assuming the roles of mediator, neutral evaluator and arbitrator in a variety of cases, including the highly publicized mediation of the Studio Daniel Libeskind-Silverstein Properties dispute over architectural fees relating to the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site, and Trump’s $ 1 billion suit over the West Side Hudson River development.  For two decades, he has played a leadership role in the Bar relating to ADR, including service as founding Chair of the Dispute Resolution Section of the New York State Bar Association, and chairing the ADR Section of the Federal Bar Association and ADR Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association.  He has served on ADR Advisory Groups to the New York Court system, is a Board  member of the  Federal Bar Association and was President of its SDNY Chapter.  He was selected for the 2005–2014 “Best Lawyers” and “New York Super Lawyers” listings for ADR, and as the Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer of the Year” for ADR in New York for 2011 and 2014.  He teaches on the ADR faculty at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, for two decades has trained Commercial Division mediators, and frequently speaks on ADR.

James Berger

James Berger is a partner in the International Arbitration group at King & Spalding LLP.  He represents clients in commercial disputes before courts and arbitral tribunals, with a focus on cross-border and multi-jurisdictional proceedings and matters involving state-owned enterprises and sovereigns. He has significant experience litigating matters arising under the Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, and other statutes having particular application in international disputes.

Mr. Berger is admitted to practice in New York and the District of Columbia. He is a member of the Litigation and International Law Sections, and the International Litigation and China Law Committees, of the American Bar Association, and currently represents the International Litigation and International Arbitration Committees on the Section of International Law’s Steering Committee. He is also a member of the International Commercial Disputes Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and serves as a Director of the Association for Conflict Resolution of Greater New York. Mr. Berger writes and speaks regularly on international dispute resolution topics. He has given numerous presentations on international arbitration, disputes involving states, and other U.S. litigation issues to corporate and foreign governmental in-house counsel. He has served as a guest lecturer on international commercial arbitration at Renmin University of China School of Law, Fordham University School of Law, and New York Law School. In addition, he is the editor (and a contributing author) of the forthcoming American Bar Association treatise entitled International Aspects of U.S. Litigation, and a contributing author on international litigation and arbitration issues in Law360 and to the “Point of Law” column in the South China Morning Post.

Dan Berstein

Dan Berstein is an experienced mediator, support group facilitator, trainer, and speaker.  Since founding MH Mediate, an organization that works at the intersection of mental health and mediation, Dan has delivered mental health sensitivity trainings in over 10 states.  He has also facilitated the NYC event for the National Dialogue in Mental Health and launched a program training mental health consumers in mediation.  Working to create neutral tools to address challenging behaviors, Dan launched the Behaviors in Mediation project (www.mhmediate.org/bim).  The project researches difficult behaviors in mediation and invites mediators to collaborate in designing responses.

Judith Bresler 

Judith Bresler is Of Counsel at Withers Bergman LLP. Her practice is focused on Art Law, Mediation, Arbitration, Intellectual Property, Commercial and Publishing Law.
She is the author of numerous texts on the topic of art law including, "Begged Borrowed or Stolen: Whose Art Is It Anyway?" Journal, Copyright Society U.S.A. 50th Anniversary
Issue, 2003;"Expert Opinions and Liabilities - an IFAR Update," International Foundation of Art Research, Vol. 6 No. 4, 2003-2004;"Art Expert Opinions and Liabilities," International Foundation of Art Research, Summer 1999. She also co-authored "Art Law: The Guide for Collectors, Investors, Dealers and Artists," (1st, 2nd and 3rd Editions) Practicing Law
Institute. Judith was a panelist for "The Law and Business of Sculpture and Fine Art Multiples" at the New York County Lawyers' Association's 5th Annual Art Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice Institute. New York, NY, November 2012. Judith also enjoys singing in local choirs and performing in amateur theatricals.

John R. Cahill

 

John R. Cahill is an attorney who focuses his practice on legal matters that arise in the art world. Mr. Cahill provides counseling, representation in litigation, and handles transactions for leading art collectors, art dealers, auction houses, art advisors, fine art insurers, appraisers, museums, lenders, nonprofits, artists, and estates. Through his New York law firm, Cahill Partners llp, he is engaged in a wide range of matters, including art title and authenticity disputes (including two cases arising out of the Knoedler-Freedman scandal), commercial transactions concerning fine art (sales, acquisitions, loans, etc. totaling hundreds of millions of dollars in the aggregate), intellectual property, and fine art insurance.

 
For a number of years, Mr. Cahill served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the fine art auction house now known as Phillips, de Pury & Company. Before joining his current law firm, Mr. Cahill was with a number of law firms: a law firm now known as Tory’s (following his graduation from the University of Michigan Law School in 1987), Berger Stern & Webb llp, and Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman llp. Mr. Cahill is a past Chair of the Art Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association. He frequently writes and lectures about art law-related matters in a variety of venues, including at Columbia University, New York University, and at the Christie’s and Sotheby’s graduate programs.

Aldo Civico

Aldo Civico is the founder and director of The International Institute for Peace at Rutgers University, where he is an assistant professor in anthropology. Over the last 20 years, Civico has served as a strategic adviser and conflict resolution facilitator to organizations and communities in Italy, Haiti, Mexico, and Colombia. Since 2001, Civico has been involved in research and conflict resolution work in Colombia. On issues of political violence and organized crime, Civico has carried out challenging ethnography about the paramilitary, drug trafficking, and forced displacement. From 2007 to 2010 he served as a director of the Center for International Conflict Resolution at Columbia University.

Recently he wrote the chapter Elusive Peace. The case of the ELN in Colombia for the edited book by I. William Zartman and Guy Oliver Faure “Engaging Extremists” (USIP 2011). Civico is a columnist for the Colombian newspaper El Espectador and a blogger for The Huffington Post. Civico holds a Master and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University and a laurea in Political Science from the University of Bologna, Italy

Harold Coleman, Jr.

Harold Coleman, Jr., Esq., is senior vice president for mediation at the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and executive director/mediator for MEDIATION.org, a division of the AAA.  Coleman also trains new AAA arbitrators and aspiring mediators in basic/advanced arbitration case management techniques and basic/advanced mediation skills. A former multi-disciplinary project manager and complex litigation attorney, Coleman has mediated and arbitrated multiplied hundreds of litigated and non-litigated disputes during a 27-year legal and ADR career. He is a Fellow and director of the College of Commercial Arbitrators (CCA) and board member of the International Mediation Institute (IMI). Coleman works from the Association’s Los Angeles and New York offices. Contact information: ColemanH@mediation.org; 213.457.0353

Hon. Stephen Crane

Hon. Stephen G. Crane (Ret.) was the Senior Associate Justice of the Appellate Division, Second Department and has served as a Justice of the Supreme Court, New York County since 1984. Justice Crane presided as one of the New York County Justices in the Commercial Division handling complex commercial cases from 1995 to 2001, and Administrative Judge, Civil Branch, Supreme Court, New York County from 1996 to 2001. Widely respected for being knowledgeable, thoughtful, and fair, Justice Crane is most comfortable in the middle of conflict, helping parties sort out their problems and reach an amicable resolution.

Matthew D. Donovan

Matthew D. Donovan is a commercial litigation attorney who assists clients in the resolution of complex business disputes, shareholder and partnership disputes, construction disputes, insurance-coverage disputes and a variety of other matters through all phases of litigation and arbitration, including trial. He is a frequent contributor to Farrell Fritz’s New York Commercial Division Case Compendium and New York Construction Law blogs and the author of a number of articles on the topic of business divorce.

Alexandra Dosman

Alexandra Dosman is the first Executive Director of the New York International Arbitration Center  (“NYIAC”). NYIAC is a nonprofit organization formed to advance, strengthen and promote the conduct of international arbitration in New York. Ms. Dosman oversees all aspects of the Center’s operations, which includes educational initiatives as well as organizing arbitral hearings. Canadian born and educated at McGill University and University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Ms. Dosman previously practiced law in New York as a senior associate in the international arbitration group of Shearman & Sterling LLP.  

Hon. Elizabeth Hazlitt Emerson

Justice Elizabeth Hazlitt Emerson graduated magna cum laude from Boston College and magna cum laude from Syracuse University College of Law. She has served as a Supreme Court Judge since 1996.

Justice Emerson has been assigned to the Commercial Division since 2002 when the Division was first established in Suffolk County. Prior to that time she spent four years in a general civil part and two years in a dedicated matrimonial part.

Before coming to the Bench, Justice Emerson was a partner of Shearman & Sterling. Her practice included the representation of domestic and foreign commercial banks, investment banks and corporations in the structuring, negotiating and documentation of complex financing transactions. A representative sample of these transactions included acquisition financings, leveraged buyouts, restructurings, project finance and public offerings.

Justice Emerson began her practice as an associate at White & Case, where, in addition to handling the types of transactions referred to above, she represented corporate clients in a variety of securities litigation, general commercial litigation and complex proceedings.

She is a member of the Suffolk County Bar Association, Suffolk County Women’s Bar Association, The New York State Bar Association and The New York State Bar Commercial and Federal Litigation Section.

She recently served as a member of The Chief Judge’s Task Force on Commercial Litigation in the 21St Century.

    

Darlene Fairman

 

Darlene Fairman is Counsel with the law firm of Herrick, Feinstein LLP, where she has practiced since 1994. Darlene's practice includes a wide range of civil litigation with recent emphasis on complex commercial and real estate litigation in New York's state and federal courts.

 

Since 1994, Darlene has also been an active member of Herrick's art law practice. Beginning with the successful representation of the Republic of Turkey in recovering the "Elmali Hoard" of rare and valuable ancient silver coins, Darlene has represented Turkey in matters seeking the return of looted cultural property. In addition, she has represented the heirs of the world-renowned Russian artist Kazimir Malevich in their litigation against the City of Amsterdam to reclaim artworks created by their ancestor. This litigation was successfully settled in April 2008 when the City of Amsterdam returned five Malevich paintings to the heirs. Darlene is actively involved in Holocaust looted art matters including the ongoing representation of Marei von Saher in her efforts to recover hundreds of Nazi-looted artworks from the collection of her father-in-law, the renowned Dutch art collector and dealer, Jacques Goudstikker. Additionally, she has represented art dealers and galleries in various matters and successfully represented a jewelrydesigner in a copyright dispute. Since its inception in 2009, Darlene has been the Editor-in-Chief of Art & Advocacy, Herrick's triannual art law newsletter.

 

 

Brian Farkas

Brian Farkas is an associate at Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP focusing his practice on commercial litigation, arbitration, mediation, and intellectual property. Prior to joining the Goetz Fitzpatrick as an associate, he was a law clerk with the firm. Brian earned his B.A. from Vassar College and J.D. from Cardozo School of Law. In law school, he was Editor-in-Chief of the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution and won the Andrew S. Zucker Award for Academic Excellence. He served as a Judicial Intern to Hon. Judy N. McMahon of the New York State Supreme Court, and a legal intern at Condé Nast. He graduated with a Concentration in Intellectual Property & Information Law as well as a Certificate in Dispute Resolution. His writings on arbitration and dispute resolution have appeared in numerous publications, including the Dispute Resolution Journal, Resolutions Roundtable, Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation, and theNortheastern Law Journal. Outside of the firm, he serves as a volunteer mediator in both the Manhattan Civil Court and Small Claims Court through the New York Peace Institute. He serves on the faculty of Brooklyn Law School's Mediation Clinic, mentoring student-trainees in Brooklyn Small Claims Court. Brian is an active volunteer for his undergraduate alma mater, Vassar College, serving on the Board of Directors of the Vassar Club of New York and on the college’s Annual Fund Advisory Council. He also sits on Cardozo’s Young Alumni Board of Directors.

  

Tracey Frisch

Staff Attorney for the American Arbitration Association involved in a variety of legal matters that impact the Association. Tracey also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she supervises a group of law student mediators at Manhattan Small Claims Court. Prior to joining the Association, Tracey was a litigation associate at Bingham McCutchen LLP, where she worked on large and complex commercial litigation cases.  Tracey is a New York State certified community mediator and has mediated cases at many of New York’s community mediation centers, as well as at the Manhattan Small Claims Court, and at Brooklyn and Manhattan Civil Courts.

Sherman Kahn

Sherman W. Kahn has more than twenty years of experience with litigation and counseling in matters raising complex technological issues. He has litigated dozens of patent cases as well as other litigation involving technological issues such as computer copyright, trade secret and IT outsourcing disputes. He also has experience litigating “soft-IP” issues such as trademark and copyright. Sherman’s practice is international. He practiced in Tokyo for five years. During that time he was licensed as a gaikokuho jimu bengoshi and a member of the Dai-Ni Tokyo Bar Association. Sherman has litigated patent matters involving technologies, such as programmable logic devices, microprocessors and controllers, memory devices, construction equipment, medical devices, supercomputers, LCD & PDP display devices, LED Lighting, various computer software products, and networking technologies.  Sherman advises clients regarding information security and privacy issues for compliance and in privacy-related regulatory proceedings and litigation. He has represented clients in numerous FTC and state attorney general investigations of privacy and information security practices. Sherman acts as an arbitrator and represents clients in international arbitration proceedings presenting complex technical and commercial issues and has arbitrated under the AAA, JCAA, ICC, and other arbitration and dispute resolution rules. The subject matter of these arbitrations has ranged from patent and trademark issues to construction, mining and commercial issues. He provides advice regarding clause drafting and pre-dispute issues in connection with major construction and infrastructure projects.  He also provides advice to clients regarding structure of investments with respect to arbitration pursuant to bilateral investment treaties. Sherman also acts as a mediator and assists counsel and parties with resolving complex technology disputes as well as other commercial issues.

Mark Kleiman

Mark Kleiman is the founder and Executive Director of Community Mediation Services, Inc. (CMS) in Jamaica, Queens.  A self described "recovering lawyer,"  Mark's vision was spawned out of his work with the Juvenile Rights Division of Legal Aid Society where he represented at risk adolescents.  The creation of the mentoring program fueled Mark's passion for the alternative dispute resolution field and its applications to family services.  Mark is a founding member of the New York State divorce mediation councils, a board member of the National Association for Community Mediation and former board member of the New York State Dispute Resolution Association.  Mark is a certified mediation trainer through the Office of Court Administration.

  

Betty Krulik

Betty Krulik has over 30 years of experience in the handling of American and  European 19th and 20th Century Art . She has sold to and on behalf of   major collectors and museums around the nation. She has acted as appraiser  for corporate and institutional collections as well as private collectors.  Her specialty is American Art, yet in her 8 years at Christie's she handled  European Old Masters and 19th Century works as well as Contemporary  works of Art.   She began her career in 1976 working at Marbella Gallery before joining  Christie's in 1978 when she became Head of Painting Department and   Assistant Vice President for 8 years.

In 1997, she became Director of Spanierman/Drawings, N.Y, where  she worked for 14 years. At Spanierman Gallery, LLC, she specialized in  important American Works of Art of the 19th and 20th centuries and has  been at the forefront of research in the field, as well as being known as one  of the major outlets for American Art. During her tenure at Spanierman Gallery she curated many exhibitions including the museum quality shows of the work of Willian Merritt Chase,  Willard Leroy Metcalf and the landmark exhibition, Arthur Wesley Dow:  His Art and His Influence.

In 2001, she took the Directorship of the Department of American Art at  Phillips, DePury and Luxembourg, N.Y., where she held the auctions of the  Glen Foster Marine Art sale and the Thyssen Bornemizsa collection. In 2004 she began her business as Private Dealer, Art Advisory and   Appraiser. Ms Krulik has handled the sales of important American Art,  from the Hudson River School to American Modernism.

  

Claudia Maffettone

Claudia Maffettone is the Outreach and Recruitment Officer at Soliya, leading outreach efforts for the creation of new partnerships with education institutions, universities, NGOs and CSOs in the MENA Region, Asia, Europe and North America. Claudia is a mediator and facilitator, and has trained at Soliya, the New York Peace Institute, and Harvard Law School among others. In the past 10 years, she has been working in the field of intercultural dialogue, serving on the boards of different international networks and implementing projects with NGOs in the UN System, the European Union and the Council of Europe. She is currently an Advisory Board member of the NYPI, and an active member of the ADR-GNY, Mediators Beyond Borders, and the international Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Network. Claudia is also the president of LuX, a consultancy company that provides support to NGOs in the organization and implementation of projects and programs. She holds a BA in International Relations and Diplomacy with a focus on the Middle East.

  

Peter Mahler

Peter A. Mahler’s litigation practice concentrates on corporate dissolution proceedings, contested stock valuations, derivative actions and other disputes among co-owners of closely held business entities. He is a recognized authority and frequent lecturer on “business divorce,” about which he has written hundreds of articles on his widely followed blog, New York Business Divorce. Peter provides pre-litigation counseling to business owners involved in emerging disputes with business partners and, when litigation results, he represents clients through all phases of trial, appellate, mediation and arbitration proceedings.

  

Tzofnat Peleg-Baker

Tzofnat Peleg-Baker is a mediator and a consultant, who has supported organizational transformative and participative processes in private, nonprofit, and government sectors. She teaches and trains conflict engagement and related subjects from dialogic and systemic perspectives, and has authored articles on these topics. Tzofnat holds a B.A in Sociology and Communications from the Hebrew University, M.A in Communications from Indiana University, and an M.A. in Psychology from Rutgers University. She served as the Head of the Strategic Department of the conflict resolution and mediation Center at the Ministry of Justice, Israel. Recently, she completed all doctorate requirements except the dissertation in Psychology, specializing in conflict management and mediation. Research was at the intersection of social, cognitive, and developmental psychology, focusing on improving mediators’ expertise and decisions through cognitive reflection. Her dissertation explores theoretical concepts and systemic practices that promote sustainable social realities that cultivate learning through dialogic connectedness.

 

Dre Popow

Dre Popow is the Executive Officer of Veterans Rebuilding Life. Born and raised in New York, Dre enlisted in the Marines after September 11th, 2001 and served combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unable to forget those left behind, he founded VRL and authored its objective: to assist children and American soldiers harmed in the crossfire of war. Dre honorably discharged from the Marines as a noncommissioned o cer. He graduated with honors from FIT and NYU where he studied NGO Development, Nonprofit Law, Graphic Design and Fine Arts.

  

 

Deena Ramadan
 
An Egyptian-American born and raised in New York, Deena moved back to Cairo, Egypt with her family for her high school and university education. She  graduated from the American University in Cairo with a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and a specialization in Public International Law. Starting as a Program Coordinator in Soliya’s Cairo office, Deena is now the Training & Facilitation Officer at Soliya’s New York office. She has been working with Soliya for over five years in a variety of roles ranging from program implementation and facilitation to program quality control and evaluation. Deena currently  recruits and trains volunteer facilitators for Soliya’s Connect Program, oversees the processing of applications, and  manages the implementation of Soliya’s four annual online facilitation training cycles.

  

Peggy Russell
 
Peggy Russell is currently the Director of Mediation Services at Community Mediation Services.  She has six years' experience as a mediator with primary focus on community and family mediation.  Her interest in dispute resolution developed during her tenure as Louisiana Senate Staff to the Committees on Criminal Justice and Civil Law, where she developed legislation  involving restorative justice, victim-offender dialogue, drug and youth courts and family law.  Peggy's experience as a military "brat" of a 30-year retired Air Force veteran, the wife of a former Army officer, and the sister of a 30-year Marine pilot have made her sensitive to the issues of military veterans, especially those who have experienced the effects of combat.  Combining that with her belief in the power of mediation, she has worked with Mark Kleiman in developing the unique Veterans Mediation Program.

 

 

Eunice Salton

Eunice Salton is a trained and certified Mediator and Dispute Resolution Specialist qualified to mediate in New York State Civil Court, New York State small claims diversion cases, New York State Lemon Law Arbitration Program, and in New Jersey community mediation centers and municipal courts. She has been a certified mediator since 2010, assisting companies, organizations, individuals and families to move from conflict situations to mutual solutions. She also participates in the Veterans Reintegration Project, Community Mediation Services, Queens, NY. 

A champion of corporate-government-nonprofit partnerships, Eunice honed her negotiation skills during her 20+ years managing successful corporate sales and marketing teams, serving on nonprofit boards and guiding projects to mutually successful outcomes. She maintains a practice as a business development consultant assisting nonprofit organizations and her background includes executive positions at the New York Institute of Finance, at Simon & Schuster, A Division of VIACOM; Cavillo, Schevack & Partners advertising agency; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; and Plays for Living, Inc.

An Associate Member of the ABA, Eunice serves on the ABA Dispute Resolution Publications Board, and is Vice Chair of the New Jersey State Child Placement Advisory Council, plus member of The Women’s Forum of New York, and member and past director, Financial Women’s Association of New York. She holds an EdS from Florida Atlantic University and an MS in Education from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Sabra Sasson

After her own litigated divorce involving many expensive motions and months to resolve in court, Sabra Sasson made it her mission to help others get divorced with less acrimony, and less negative impact upon their children through mediation.  After years of successfully building her own mediation firm, she has been approached and has taught other mediators the techniques to building their own mediation practice applying the tools and skills that she uses so that they can have the same experience and serve more people. 

Sabra is licensed to practice in NY, NJ and CT and maintains an office in midtown Manhattan.  She has been practicing law in NYS for more than a dozen years and is passionate about the work that she does.  Sabra’s new mission is to teach as many mediators as she can about the tools and skills that they need to effectively get heard and be seen so that mediators can make the impact that they are intended and destined to make in the world.

Sabra graduated from Brandeis University and Hofstra University School of Law.  She is a member of the City Bar Association of the City of New York and various networking group. She has previously spoken at the City Bar Association of the City of New York and various workshops and networking events.

Gary Shaffer

Gary Shaffer has a mediation practice specializing in Divorce, Commercial, Employment and Personal Injury matters.  He has litigated matters ranging from small claims cases to large class actions.  As an Assistant Corporation Counsel, he was New York City’s lead trial counsel in the World Trade Center litigation from 2002-2004.  He is a member of the NYS Council on Divorce Mediation, the mediation panels of the Southern District of NY, and the NYS Supreme Court Commercial Part, the ADR Committee of the NYC Bar Association, and was a on the Storm Sandy mediation panel of the AAA.  He has been studying Mussar since 2004 and since 2011 has been the President of The Mussar Institute.
 

Margaret L. Shaw, Esq.

Margaret L. Shaw, Esq. is widely respected for her persistence and creativity in reaching settlement. She has participated in the resolution of thousands of disputes nationwide.

A former civil litigator, Ms. Shaw has maintained an active ADR practice for almost thirty years and is the author of numerous articles on a variety of aspects of the ADR field. She joined JAMS when ADR Associates, a firm she co-founded, merged with JAMS in 2004. She was also for over twenty-five years an Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU Law School where she taught ADR and negotiation. Ms. Shaw has extensive experience mediating, arbitrating, and facilitating disputes in a wide variety of areas including: Bankruptcy; Business/commercial and contract disputes; Class and collective actions; Employment disputes: sexual harassment, retaliation; and age, disability, gender, race, and national origin discrimination; Intellectual Property; Libel; Product

Liability; Professional Liability; Real Estate; Securities disputes; Special Master. Ms. Shaw has designed and implemented systems for resolving disputes in private organizations, public agencies, and in over two dozen federal and state courts. Additionally, she has trained thousands of professionals, students, and volunteers in law firms and corporations, courts, government, and not-for-profit agencies around the country in mediation and negotiation skills.

Laurence Shore

  

Laurence has been the lead counsel in a large number of arbitration cases under, for example, the UNCITRAL, ICC, LCIA, Cairo Regional Centre, ICDR, and Swiss Arbitration Rules.  He also sits as an arbitrator (ICC, ICDR, Cairo Regional Centre, LCIA, and UNCITRAL Rules).  In addition to his work as an arbitration practitioner, Laurence tries cases in the United States courts. Laurence is a member of the New York, District of Columbia and Virginia Bars.  He is also a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England & Wales (with rights of audience as a solcitor-advocate, Higher Courts, Civil).

  

Allison Skinner
 

Allison Skinner is a neutral at Skinner Neutral Services LLC in Birmingham, Alabama, where she provides neutral services for settlement mediations, discovery mediations, arbitrations, and special master appointments nationally, as well as, e-discovery consulting and expert testimony.   Skinner Neutral Services also provides private training on ADR and E-Discovery for the state and federal judiciary, practicing attorneys, in-house counsel, organizations and other neutrals.  Allison Skinner is the co-founder of the American College of e-Neutrals (ACESIN), which provides the only directory of discovery neutrals in the world.  Allison currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Alabama School of Law teaching E-discovery & Digital Evidence and Social Media & the Law.  Allison is a prolific writer, national speaker and trainer on ADR and e-discovery.   She authored the Teacher’s Manual to the E-Discovery and Digital Evidence casebook (WEST, 2010), which is the only casebook currently in use at U.S. law schools.  She authored Putting the ‘e’ in Neutral course book (ACESIN 2011).  Her most recent scholarly work is Alternative Dispute Resolution Expands Into Pre-Trial Practice:  The Role of the e-Neutral, 13  CARDOZO J. CONFLICT RES., 113 (2012).  Prior to becoming a full-time neutral, Allison handled complex litigation for domestic and international clients.  She received her J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law and her B.A. from the University of Alabama.

  

Sheea Sybblis
 

Sheea T. Sybblis is currently a career law clerk for a federal district judge in the District of New Jersey.

Ms. Sybblis obtained her M.B.A. from Baruch College and her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, where she was symposium editor of the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media, and Entertainment Journal, on the Board of Student Advisors, and participated in the Fordham Mediation Clinic. After law school, Ms. Sybblis worked as a corporate associate at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP before clerking for U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in the District of New Jersey from 2006-2008.

Following her clerkship, Ms. Sybblis was a litigation associate at Patton Boggs LLP. Ms. Sybblis has also provided pro bono representation to victims of domestic violence and nonprofit organizations. Ms. Sybblis is a certified mediator, arbitrator, and adjunct professor.  She has served as a mediator for the New York Peace Institute (formerly Safe Horizon) and has mediated community-based disputes.  She has mediated and performed as an arbitrator in Small Claims Court.  She is currently the Vice President of the Association of Black Women Attorneys in New York.

  

Jeff Thompson
 

Jeff Thompson is a certified international mediator and New York City Police Department (NYPD) detective. Jeff is currently the recipient of the Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly Graduate Scholarship and is conducting research as a Research Fellow at Columbia University Law School.

Jeff's research topic at Columbia University Law School is on effective skills used by law enforcement crisis and hostage negotiators.

His law enforcement work includes being a communication and conflict specialist, engaging in interfaith dialogue, developing and implementing community engagement programs, social media initiatives and designing training workshops.

Jeff is also currently a PhD candidate researching nonverbal communication and mediation at Griffith University Law School. He received his MS in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution from the Creighton University School of Law.

He has presented and trained on the topic of conflict, mediation, communication and nonverbal communication internationally for a variety of audiences.

Jeff has been published with various media websites such as Mediate.com, PsychologyToday.com, and TheConversation.edu.au.  His writing has been for academics, specific professions, and the general public.  His work and projects have been featured with numerous media organizations including the New York Times, CNN, BBC radio, Al Jazeera, and the Sydney Morning Herald.

Jeff is on the board of the Association for Conflict Resolution’s (ACR) Greater New York Chapter, he is the co-chair of ACR's national Crisis Negotiation Section, volunteers with the New York Peace Institute, and is also a member of professional and academic organizations such as Mediators Beyond Borders, the International Mediation Institute, and the National Communication Association.
 

Chris Vermillion
 

Chris is a mediator, facilitator and trainer in the field of conflict resolution.  He currently teaches dispute resolution courses at John Jay College, in addition to teaching social and emotional skills in public schools in New York City.

Chris received his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City in 2008, where he completed the year-long mediation clinic and was Student Director of Cardozo’s Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution.  He worked as the peer mediation coordinator at the Bronx High School for the Visual Arts from 2009-2012, and has lead a variety of trainings related to conflict resolution, diversity issues, restorative justice, and bullying for various organizations including Operation Respect and the Futurework Institute.  He has facilitated dialogue sessions for organizations including Seeds of Peace, Soliya, and The Dialogue Project. 

Chris completed his Masters in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia University in December of 2013, where he completed the Ombuds track and was chair of ANCORS, Columbia’s largest association for students interested in conflict resolution.  His final thesis focused on intercultural intelligence in cross-cultural conflicts.  While attending Columbia, Chris worked as a research assistant for John Barkat, Head Ombudsperson at the United Nations, and was a pro-bono mediator at the New York office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

Chris and his wife Kami welcomed their first child, Graham, in January of 2014. 
 

Peter S. Vogel

Peter S. Vogel has been involved with the computer industry and electronic data since 1967. Peter is a co-Founder of the American College of e-Neutrals.  Mr. Vogel worked as a mainframe programmer, a systems analyst, management consultant for companies acquiring computer technology and related services, and received a Masters in Computer Science. As a lawyer for the past 31 years, Mr. Vogel combines his technical and business background with his legal expertise to help companies with IT and Internet litigation, dispute resolution, and contract negotiation.  Mr. Vogel is Chair of the Electronic Discovery, co-Chair of the Internet and Computer Technology Practice Group, and co-Chair of the Technology Industry Team at Gardere Wynne Sewell - where he helps clients maneuver business and technology issues through the legal mazes of electronic evidence, intellectual property, contracts, government regulation, and litigation. He assists many clients with electronic evidence issues and related planning of document retention policies.  Because of his unique background and expertise, Mr. Vogel is often appointed as a Special Master to assist Courts with electronic evidence and computer technology matters. He also serves as an Arbitrator and court ordered Mediator in Internet, intellectual property, and computer technology litigation.

  

Mara Weinstein 

  

Mara Weinstein is Special Counsel and Panels Manager at the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (“CPR”).  She is a member of CPR’s Dispute Resolution Services department, coordinates CPR’s Roster of Neutrals, and organizes CPR’s major annual CLE event – the CPR Annual Meeting.  Mara joined CPR in 2012 after receiving her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.  At Cardozo, Mara was the Symposium Editor for the Journal of Conflict Resolution and was also a member of the Mediation Clinic, where she mediated small claims court diversion cases at the New York Peace Institute.  Mara’s legal studies were furthered tailored to ADR by taking courses within the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution curriculum, and interning with mediator Roger M. Deitz, Esq.  Prior to attending law school, Mara was a corporate paralegal at Proskauer Rose LLP. 

 

Mara co-authored The Case Against Misdirected Regulation of ADR, Dispute Resolution Magazine (Spring, 2013) with CPR’s president and CEO Kathy Bryan, and has published  Securities Arbitration & Mediation Hot Topics 2011, Securities Arbitration Commentator (Vol. 2010, No. 5).  Mara is also the author of a monthly column in CPR’s Alternatives that highlights each of CPR’s specialty panels. 

  

Mara received her B.A. with Honors in Philosophy, Politics and Law in 2007 from Binghamton University where she graduated summa cum laude.  Mara is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and is admitted to the bar in both New York and New Jersey.
 

Mara lives in Hoboken with her husband, Adam.  They are expecting their first child in July.