CONFERENCE BIOGRAPHIES

 

HONOREES

 

Charlotte Carter

Charlotte Carter joined the New York State Dispute Resolution Association (NYSDRA) in 2004.  She helped develop policies and procedures for the Independent Mediation Assistance Program (IMAP). The Albany Diocese allocated $2M for a program for people who were abused as children by clergy. Bishop Howard Hubbard asked Howard Levine, a former Court of Appeals judge, to be the program coordinator. Judge Levine commissioned NYSDRA to administer the program. Originally accepted as a mediator, Charlotte was recruited to join NYSDRA as the intake coordinator. IMAP was a groundbreaking program, and combined restorative practices, mediation and settlement negotiations.  As the IMAP program wound down, Charlotte was selected to coordinate the agricultural mediation program. At that time the program had a small caseload and budget, and covered limited services. The program is funded by the USDA under contract with OCA. Dan Kos was responsible for contract oversight, and was developing a vision for program expansion which included statewide outreach, expanded services for farmers and agricultural businesses, and mini-grants for capacity building by CDRCs. NYSAMP flourished under Dan and Charlotte's leadership, as did the partnership between OCA and NYSDRA. 

 

In 2012 the NYSDRA Board asked Charlotte to become the Executive Director. In this role she reversed the organizational and financial decline, regained trust and repaired relationships with the CDRC network, OCA and contract program partners.  Having shored up NYSDRA foundations, Charlotte began the serious & creative work of building on the statewide network of dispute resolution services, with a focus on quality assurance, integrity of process, and expanded collaboration with existing and new partners.  Charlotte focused on NYSDRA fiscal matters, optimized program budgets, tracked income and expenses, and made tough and effective strategic decisions.  After a few years of preparation Charlotte introduced full financial transparency and shared financial responsibility within NYSDRA.

 

As an association, NYSDRA has a long history of advocacy. Under Charlotte's leadership, the CDRC network and NYSDRA made a strong commitment to an aggressive and comprehensive advocacy campaign. With the services of Malkin & Ross and Rebecca Koch, NYSDRA expanded its capacity and became sophisticated advocates. NYSDRA has witnessed the impact of these joint efforts with the new Chief Administrative Judge, and cultivated champions in the legislature and Governor's Office. Charlotte’s background in restorative practices helped her recognize the potential for expanded services, especially for youth. 

 

Charlotte's years of experience as a community mediator (and perhaps her Canadian roots) have left her with a knack for building and maintaining relationships. She is able to see the potential in people, and to support and encourage those around her to strive to reach that potential. She sets high standards for herself and those around her, is firm in her convictions, and willing to listen to other viewpoints. Sometimes executive directors must make tough decisions and deal with difficult personalities.  Charlotte built strong partnerships with NYSDRA's contract program partners and with the CDRC direct services providers. She frequently took on program administrative duties during staff turnover and training. During her term she and her staff improved neutral and intake training, revised program manuals, and developed improved policies related to administration and services. As a dispute resolution practitioner, she brought program services to the public into alignment with ethical standards and best practices, and gained the trust and respect of NYSDRA partners across the state.

Marvin Johnson

Marvin Johnson is a nationally recognized mediator, arbitrator, and trainer with more than 30 years of dispute resolution experience. He is the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution, the first dispute resolution center founded at a historically black university, and a JAMS Panel Member. Mr. Johnson received his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from Catholic University. He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Kent State University and a Master of Science Degree in Industrial Relations from the University of Wisconsin. Mr. Johnson has worked for the Department of Labor, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the National Treasury Employees Union, the National Football League Players’ Association, the National Academy of Conciliators, and was Professor of Labor Relations, Law, and Dispute Resolution at Bowie State University for 16 years.

 

Mr. Johnson provides dispute resolution and diversity workshops and lectures extensively on the subjects of diversity and conflict management. He has arbitrated and mediated thousands of cases in the fields of employment, labor-management, consumer, business and community reconciliation. Mr. Johnson has trained over 10,000 people in various forms of dispute resolution including mediation, joint problem solving, arbitration, facilitation and interest-based bargaining. He is an experienced facilitator/trainer working with organizations and communities that need assistance in communicating and working together.

 

Mr. Johnson was named by Mediate.com as one of the thirty-one “best known and most experienced mediators in the world” (The Mediators: Views from the Eye of the Storm, Volume 1, DVD-2005). In July 2006, he received the American College of Civil Trial Mediators’ “2006 Lifetime Achievement Award” for his major contributions to the ADR field. Mr. Johnson received Catholic University, Columbus School of Law’s 2007 Black Law Students Association Alumni Achievement Award for his achievements and contributions to both his profession and the community. In 2007, the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) announced the creation of the Marvin E. Johnson Diversity and Equity Award, as a tribute to Mr. Johnson’s diversity efforts within Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution (SPIDR) and ACR and throughout the dispute resolution field. He received the Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR) Institute’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Diversity in Alternative Dispute Resolution in January 2009 and the New York State Dispute Resolution Association’s Andrew Thomas PeaceBuilder Award for advocating peaceful means for resolving conflict in October 2009. Mr. Johnson received the Maryland State Bar Association, Section of Dispute Resolution’s Chief Judge Robert M. Bell Award for Outstanding Contributions to ADR in Maryland in 2010. In 2014, the Mayor of the City of Rochester, NY declared August 9, 2014 to be “Marvin E. Johnson, J.D. Day” for his superlative work in conflict resolution.

SPECIAL GUESTS

Sen. George Mitchell

George J. Mitchell served as US Special Envoy for Middle East Peace from January 2009 to May 2011.

Prior to that he had a distinguished career in public service. He was appointed to the United States Senate in 1980 to complete the unexpired term of Senator Edmund S. Muskie, who resigned to become Secretary of State. He was elected to a full term in the Senate in 1982 in a stunning come-from-behind victory. After trailing in public opinion polls by 36 points, Senator Mitchell rallied to win the election, receiving 61 percent of the votes cast. Senator Mitchell went on to an illustrious career in the Senate spanning 15 years.

In 1988, he was reelected with 81 percent of the vote, the largest margin in Maine history. He left the Senate in 1995 as the Senate majority leader, a position he had held since January 1989.

Senator Mitchell enjoyed bipartisan respect during his tenure. It has been said "there is not a man, woman or child in the Capitol who does not trust George Mitchell." For six consecutive years he was voted "the most respected member" of the Senate by a bipartisan group of senior congressional aides.

While in the Senate, Senator Mitchell served on the Finance, Veterans Affairs, and Environment and Public Works Committees. He led the successful 1990 reauthorization of the Clean Air Act, including new controls on acid rain toxins. He was the author of the first national oil spill prevention and cleanup law. Senator Mitchell led the Senate to passage of the nation's first child care bill and was principal author of the low-income housing tax credit program. He was instrumental in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, landmark legislation extending civil rights protections to the disabled. Senator Mitchell's efforts led to the passage of a higher education bill that expanded opportunities for millions of Americans. He was a leader in opening markets to trade and led the Senate to ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement and creation of the World Trade Organization.

Senator Mitchell received an undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College and a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. He served in Berlin, Germany, as an officer in the US Army Counter-Intelligence Corps from 1954 to 1956. From 1960 to 1962 he was a trial lawyer in the Justice Department in Washington, DC. From 1962 to 1965 he served as executive assistant to Senator Edmund S. Muskie. In 1965 he returned to Maine where he engaged in the private practice of law in Portland until 1977. He was then appointed US attorney for Maine, a position he held until 1979, when he was appointed US District Judge for Maine. He resigned that position in 1980 to accept appointment to the US Senate.

In 1995, he served as a Special Advisor to President William J. Clinton on Ireland, and from 1996 to 2000 he served as the Independent Chairman of the Northern Ireland Peace Talks. Under his leadership, the Good Friday Agreement, an historic accord ending decades of conflict, was agreed to by the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom and the political parties of Northern Ireland. For his service in Northern Ireland Senator Mitchell received numerous awards and honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given by the US government; the Philadelphia Liberty Medal; the Truman Institute Peace Prize; and the United Nations (UNESCO) Peace Prize.

In 2000 and 2001, at the request of President Clinton, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and Chairman Yasser Arafat, Senator Mitchell served as Chairman of an International Fact-Finding Committee on violence in the Middle East. The Committee's recommendation, widely known as The Mitchell Report, was endorsed by the Bush Administration, the European Union and by many other governments.

In 2006 and 2007 he led the investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball. He also served as Chairman of the Special Commission Investigating Allegations of Impropriety in the Bidding Process for the Olympic Games and was the Independent Overseer of the American Red Cross Liberty Fund, which provided relief for September 11 attack victims and their families.

Senator Mitchell served as Chairman of the global board of the law firm DLA Piper and is now Chairman Emeritus; Chairman of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company; a member of the board of the Boston Red Sox; and a director of several companies, including Federal Express, Xerox, Staples, Unilever and Starwood Hotels and Resorts. He also served for ten years as the Chancellor of Queen’s University of Northern Ireland; as President of the Economic Club of Washington; and as Chairman of the International Crisis Group.

Sen. Mitchell is the author of six books. Most recently, a memoir entitled The Negotiator: Reflections on an American Life, was published in May 2015; and A Path To Peace was published in November 2016.  With his colleague, Sen. Bill Cohen of Maine, he wrote Men of Zeal, describing the Iran-Contra investigation. In 1990, Sen. Mitchell wrote, World on Fire, describing the threat of the greenhouse effect and recommending steps to curb it. His next book, published in 1997, was Not For America Alone: The Triumph of Democracy and The Fall of Communism. In 1999, Sen. Mitchell wrote Making Peace, an account of his experience in Northern Ireland.

Brian Lehrer

Brian Lehrer is host of The Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC Radio's daily call-in program, covering politics and life, locally and globally. The show airs weekdays from 10am-noon on WNYC 93.9 FM, AM 820 and wnyc.org. The Brian Lehrer Show was recognized with a 2007 George Foster Peabody Award for "Radio That Builds Community Rather Than Divides."

 

The New York Times called Lehrer a "master interviewer." Time magazine called the program "New York City's most thoughtful and informative talk show." The Daily News calls it "cutting edge" for its extreme interactivity and creative use of the internet. Guests range from politicians such as Barack Obama, Chris Christie, Michael Bloomberg, John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Cory Booker, to cultural figures such as Werner Herzog, Penn Jillette, David Lynch, DJ Spooky and Margaret Atwood, to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, to New York City middle school students.

 

Lehrer is also a commentator on local and national issues on television and in print. He has appeared on TV networks including CNN, MSNBC, Fox Newschannel, C-SPAN, ABC World News Now, and NY1. He has written op-ed pieces for publications including The New York Times, The Daily News, Newsday, The New York Sun and Slate.com. He also hosts a weekly television program on CUNY-TV, "BrianLehrer.tv" featuring issue-oriented web video.

 

In addition to the Peabody, Lehrer has won numerous awards, including seven Associated Press New York Broadcasters "Best Interview" Awards since 2000 and “Best Talk Show” by the Garden State Journalists Association in 2009 and 2011.

 

Lehrer was a questioner in the 2006 televised campaign debates for U.S. Senate and Governor of New York, and in the televised New York City Mayoral Debates in 1997, 2001, 2005, 2009 and 2013.

 

He has hosted his eponymous program, originally called On The Line, since its inception in 1989. Prior, he was an anchor and reporter for the NBC Radio Networks, and an award-winning author and documentary producer.

 

Lehrer holds master's degrees in public health from Columbia University and journalism from Ohio State University and a bachelor's in music and mass communications from the State University of New York at Albany.

Stephanie Gendell, Esq. 

Stephanie Gendell is the Associate Executive Director for Policy and Advocacy at Citizens' Committee for Children. She oversees all of CCC’s policy, advocacy and government relations work.  This includes supervising policy staff, managing CCC’s juvenile justice, child welfare, family homelessness and early childhood education work.  Stephanie often serves as an expert on children’s issues for the media, on panels, at legislative hearings and in coalitions, particularly in the fields of child welfare, juvenile justice, early childhood education and government relations.

Stephanie’s recent successfully advocacy includes co-chairing the New York State Coalition for More Family Court Judges, which successfully advocated for 25 new Judgeships statewide (the first added in nearly 20 years), successfully advocating for the expansion of pre-kindergarten and after-school programs, playing a lead role in the successful Raise the Age-NY Campaign, and preventing budget cuts to child welfare preventive services.

Stephanie also researched and drafted CCC’s report, The Wisest Investment: New York City’s Preventive Service System which led to the preservation of 3,000 preventive service slots for families, successfully advocated for the passage of New York’s Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program, successfully advocated to save child care and after-school for over 47,000 children and summer programs for 31,000 children. She is the Public Advocate’s representative on the City’s Child Fatality Review team. Stephanie received the 2015 NYC Bar Association Kathryn A. McDonald Award for Excellence in Service to the Family Court and the 2011 NY State Bar Association Levine Award for Excellence in Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare.

Prior to coming to CCC, Stephanie spent almost eight years at the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), where she was the Chief of Staff to the General Counsel and then Chief of Staff to the Executive Deputy Commissioner. Stephanie graduated with a B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University and a law degree from Harvard Law School.

Heather Thompson

HEATHER ANN THOMPSON is an award-winning historian at the University of Michigan. Her most recent book, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy, won the Pulitzer Prize in History, the Bancroft Prize, the Ridenhour Book Prize, and the J. Willard Hurst Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, among other accolades. She is also the author of Whose Detroit?: Politics, Labor, and Race in a Modern American City and the editor of Speaking Out: Activism and Protest in the 1960s and 1970s. She served on a National Academy of Sciences blue-ribbon panel that studied the causes and consequences of mass incarceration in the United States and has given congressional staff briefings on the subject. She has written on the history of mass incarceration and its current impact for The New York Times, Time, The Atlantic, Salon, Newsweek, NBC, Dissent, New Labor Forum, and The Huffington Post, as well as for various top scholarly publications.

 

Michael D. Young, Esq.

Michael D. Young, Esq. joined JAMS as a full-time neutral in 1989. Since then he has conducted over 1,750 complex or multi-party mediations and arbitrations in over thirty states (as well as in Puerto Rico) and abroad (such as in Rome, Madrid and Zurich), including approximately 250 arbitrations, appraisals or other binding dispute resolution proceedings. He has been appointed as a mediator or special master (for discovery management or settlement implementation purposes) by various federal, state and bankruptcy courts. In addition to serving on the JAMS and JAMS International panels, Mr. Young is a member of the CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution Panel of Distinguished Neutrals and is a member of the panels of the Beijing Arbitration Commission, Singapore International Mediation Center, Afghanistan Centre for Commercial Dispute Resolution and Center for Arbitration and Dispute Resolution in Israel. He is also an elected fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators and an elected “neutral” member of the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers.

 
Mr. Young specializes in the resolution of commercial (including financial instrument and contract issues), insurance coverage, professional liability, construction and employment disputes.

Mr. Young has been recognized by various publications and members of the legal community in New York, and more broadly, as a skilled and widely respected mediator and arbitrator. For example, in 2017, Chambers and Partners identified Mr. Young as one of the seven mediators in the United States recognized in Band One and noted “his deft, subtle handling of mediations…”

PRESENTERS

Halley Anolik, Esq. serves as the Director of Education and Training at the Center for Creative Conflict Resolution. With a background in mediation, Halley coordinates, creates and delivers training to city agencies on ways to understand and incorporate conflict resolution theory and techniques in their workplace. Halley is continuously learning and teaching from a place that examines opportunities for increased understanding and party self-determination in conflict. Prior to joining the Center, Halley worked at New York Center for Interpersonal Development where she mediated a variety of case types, collaborated with courts, schools and various community groups to implement mediation programs and provided training in conflict resolution. She graduated cum laude from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law with a concentration in Alternative Dispute Resolution and is a Supervising Attorney for Brooklyn Law School's Mediation Clinic.

Martin Applebaum completed his undergraduate degree at SUNY at Stony Brook. After receiving a master's degree in Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii, Martin spent the next five years in the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto, continuing his studies in Japanese philosophy and religion while teaching at Doshisha University, Shiga National University and as a consultant with the Kyoto City Board of Education. 

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Upon his return to the United States, Martin graduated from Georgetown Law Center, became licensed to practice law in Maryland and the District of Columbia, and practiced with the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, specializing in international trade law. Subsequently, he worked as the general manager of the East Asian operations of a U.S. educational software company and as a business development consultant assisting American companies seeking access to the Pacific Rim.  

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Throughout, Martin has engaged in the practice of Zen meditation, practicing for over forty years under qualified teachers, both in Japan, at the Daitoku-ji temple complex, and in the United States.

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Looking to get to the heart of the matter of conflict and to empower those in dispute to come to their own resolutions, Martin took up the practice of mediation and became a volunteer mediator with Community Mediation Services in Queens, NY.  He has mediated well over a hundred and fifty cases in areas involving contract and business disputes, family issues, elder care, landlord/tenant matters, special education issues, and school conflict. He has also offered conflict coaching in many of these areas.

He currently offers mediation services through his firm, Attune Mediation. 

Simeon H. Baum, President of Resolve Mediation Services, Inc., 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. He was selected for New York Magazine’s 2005 - 2014 “Best Lawyers” and “New York Super Lawyers” listings for ADR, and Best Lawyers’ “Lawyer of the Year” for ADR in New York for 2011 and 2014, and for the International Who’s Who of Commercial Mediation Lawyers 2012-14. An attorney, with 30 years’ experience as a litigator, Mr. Baum has served as a mediator or ADR neutral in a wide variety of matters involving claims concerning business disputes, financial services, securities industry disputes, reinsurance and insurance coverage, property damage and personal injury, malpractice, employment, unfair competition, fraud, bank fraud, bankruptcy, intellectual property, and commercial claims. Mr. Baum has shared his enthusiasm for ADR through teaching, training, extensive writing and public speaking.  He has taught ADR at NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Development, and he teaches Negotiation, and Processes of Dispute Resolution (focusing on Negotiation, Mediation and Arbitration) at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He has been a panelist, presenter and facilitator for numerous programs on mediation, arbitration, and ADR for Judges, attorneys, and other professionals.  Mr. Baum is a graduate of Colgate University and the Fordham University School of Law.

Bruce Berman is a psychologist who has been in private practice for over 30 years and who specializes in providing couples and family therapy as well as a variety of services to families facing separation and divorce. These include serving as a divorce coach or child specialist in collaborative divorce cases, serving as a child consultant in child-inclusive divorce mediation, and parenting coordination. He is a founding member of Child Focused Mediation Professionals of New York and with his colleague, Kate Hannibal, has given a number of presentations on child-Inclusive mediation. In addition he is a certified sex therapist.

Niki Borofsky, CPR's Vice-President of Membership Services, is responsible for growing the organization’s corporate, law firm, association and individual memberships across the globe, managing special events and keeping all of CPR’s members happy. In this capacity, she develops and curates innovative membership benefits; works with current members to build value-adding and sustainable relationships that leverage CPR's cutting-edge ADR tools; and implements strategic plans designed to engage and connect new members and promote business-smart ADR practices across the United States and internationally. Borofsky comes to CPR as an experienced attorney and mediator. She received an LLM in French and European Law from the University of Paris I – Pantheon-Sorbonne and previously worked with Proskauer's International Arbitration group in Paris where she focused on complex international commercial arbitrations and counseled multinational corporate clients on cross-border disputes. A member of the bars of New York and Massachusetts, Borofsky has authored several articles on global dispute resolution, including International Labor and Employment Arbitration: A French and European Perspective (28 A.B.A. J. Lab. & Emp. L. 349 (2012-2013)).

Borofsky is active with the New York Peace Institute as a mediator, coach and mentor training members of the NYPD in peaceful confict resolution. She is also a leader of the New York Chapter of Mediators Beyond Borders International where she has led introductory peacebuilding dialogue trainings for the Liberian diaspora community. Prior to her legal career, Borofsky was a political campaign consultant helping guide hundreds of national and local

candidates and measures to victory. She speaks fluent French and is a certified Le Cordon Bleu chef.

Bennett Brooks is a Senior Mediator at the Consensus Building Institute. Based in New York City, he has facilitated dozens of complex and highly contentious collaborative dialogues on issues related to water resource conflicts, fisheries, infrastructure improvements, and ecosystem restoration throughout the U.S. His most recent work has focused on marine mammal bycatch issues on the East Coast and Hawaii, a longstanding transportation dispute in Seattle, and an evaluation of the International Pacific Halibut Commission. Bennett has conducted numerous assessments, designed and facilitated several joint fact-finding panels, and taught numerous negotiation trainings on mutual gains bargaining. Bennett is adept at working with senior policy makers, and he puts a premium on structuring dialogues that forge understanding among parties with diverse viewpoints and backgrounds. 

Bennett previously worked as a senior trade and economic development official in the Alaska State government, where he headed up the state’s international trade and relations program. He also worked as a journalist in the New York metropolitan area and in Asia in the 1980s.

Elizabeth Clemants is the founder, president and principal trainer at Planning Change, whose mission it is educate and empower individuals to affect meaningful change in the conflicts around them. She attended Columbia University School of Social Work where she graduated with an MSW and a Minor in Law.  She immediately went to work in the field of conflict resolution and has been practicing ADR since 1997. In 2015, Elizabeth started Hidden Water, a non-profit organization that uses a circle process in a restorative justice model to help individuals and families heal from the devastating impact of child sexual abuse. She is the board president and an active circle keeper for Hidden Water. In addition to the programs, Elizabeth works as a mediator, a coach, a shaman and speaks regularly at events and conferences.  

Robert B. Davidson, Esq., FCIArb is a full-time arbitrator and mediator, and the Executive Director of JAMS Arbitration Practice. He has sat in over 150 domestic and international arbitrations as sole arbitrator and as a member of tripartite panels in both institutional and ad hoc settings. Cases arbitrated have involved complex commercial and financial business issues, including contract actions, disputes under APA and SPA agreements, construction, insurance and reinsurance claims, oil and gas disputes, securities, tax, real estate, intellectual property, pharmaceutical licensing disputes, employment disputes, and sports matters.

Over the course of his career as a litigation partner at a major international law firm, Mr. Davidson acted as counsel for clients in numerous arbitrations involving a variety of disputes, including serving as lead counsel in domestic and international arbitrations, including 11 cases before the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal (more than any other lawyer), cases before the U.N. Compensation Commission (established to determine claims against Iraq arising out of the first Gulf war), cases before domestic panels, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Netherlands Arbitration Institute, and ad hoc panels.

Mr. Davidson has also mediated numerous commercial disputes involving securities, intellectual property, tax, employment, construction, real estate, aircraft leasing, and other commercial matters.

Todd Drucker, Esq. is a Regional Practice Development Director for JAMS, the largest private ADR provider in the world. He provides in-depth business development and strategic marketing support to JAMS mediators and arbitrators throughout the country and internationally. He also partners with JAMS senior management on larger national and international marketing and business development initiatives related to the promotion of ADR.

Mr. Drucker is committed to advancing thought leadership in ADR through educational programming, speaking engagements and writings. He currently serves as President of the Association for Conflict Resolution – Greater New York Chapter and acts as Co-Chair of the New York County Lawyers Association ADR Committee.  Mr. Drucker is a former Co-Chair of the Programming Committee for the New York Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association and a Past President of the University of Michigan Club of Los Angeles.

Mr. Drucker received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and his J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He is admitted to practice law in New York and New Jersey.

Tara Fishler is currently the Restorative Practices Coordinator of the 6 schools within Lehman H.S. in The Bronx.  As a Conflict Resolution Specialist, Ms. Fishler founded “Customized Training Solutions” in 2003. She teaches conflict resolution and related skills in schools and organizations, both for her company and for Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility.  Ms. Fishler is renown for her facilitation skills, as well as for strategic planning. Educating people about how to work with individuals with special needs, is one of her passions. She has authored several articles about bullying related to children with and without special needs, as well as bullying in the workplace.

As a leader in the field of Appropriate Dispute Resolution (ADR), Ms. Fishler has served on the Executive Boards of The Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) locally and nationally, as well as for The New York State Dispute Resolution Association (NYSDRA).

   

Eric S.  Goldman, Esq. Eric’s clients frequently comment on his passion for the creative process - and his dedication to helping creators and innovators surpass their goals and achieve more than they ever dreamed possible. 

The core of Eric’s philosophy and approach to rendering legal services is his recognition that the industrial age is over, and that we now live in an innovation economy where “job security” is an oxymoron. The keys to success in this new economy are the abilities to collaborate and improvise. It is no longer sufficient to be a worker drone; the new currency in the workplace is the ability to create new opportunities and new solutions. For those with the ability to adapt, this new economy presents an exciting opportunity to succeed by pursuing their individual visions on their own terms.

For over 25 years, Eric has provided legal services to Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award winning talent, and to technology and internet entrepreneurs. Current projects include representing the writers of the Broadway smash hit COME FROM AWAY and the producers of the highly successful Off-Broadway musical parody of the television show FRIENDS. His clients thrive in careers that transcend the employer-employee model of wealth creation. In order to help his clients better transition into this post-industrial era, Eric has expanded the services he offers to include arbitration, mediation and coaching. 

Eric approaches every working relationship as a collaboration. His clients bring their passion for creating the best work they can, and Eric brings his ability to navigate legal challenges, interpersonal conflicts and professional set-backs. In truth, Eric has embraced this new economy because it allows him, in fact requires him, to pursue his passions daily.

Alan Gross is an international mediator, educator and author.  He is a former board member of MBBI and has worked on projects in Liberia, Ecuador, Sierra Leone, Columbia, Cambodia, Greece and in the US (Hurricane Katrina).  Alan is a former chair of the MBBI training committee, and has mediated, arbitrated, facilitated and trained at many venues internationally and in the NE USA, where he served as the Special Projects Coordinator for the New York Peace Institute. He has previously acted as Senior Director for Safe Horizon Mediation, ombudsman for the American Psychological Association, arbitrator for AAA, FINRA and mediator for the US Post Office, US Army, EEOC and Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission. Alan was formerly Psychology Chair at the University of Maryland, a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, and the author of a textbook and chapters and articles related to conflict resolution and social psychology. He is a Founding Member of Mediators Beyond Borders.

Catherine Grace Hannibal, Esq., is a graduate of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law where she was trained by competitive admission in the “Top Ten” nationally ranked Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution’s Mediation and Divorce Mediation clinics.  She received her MA and BA (with Honors) from Stanford University.

Catherine is an Adjunct Professor with CUNY School of Law’s Mediation Clinic and a Certified Mediator, Mentor and Coach with the New York Peace Institute.  Catherine is currently on the Board of Directors of the Family and Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York and the Association of Conflict Resolution of Greater New York, and is an Accredited member of the New York State Council on Divorce Mediation, and a professional member of the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals.

Catherine has co-taught the Mediation Works, Inc. apprenticeship and has lectured and presented at CUNY School of Law, Cardozo School of Law and Brooklyn Law School and for the NYSCDM Manhattan Peer Group, the Interdisciplinary Forum for Mental Health and Family Law, Lawyers for Children, FDMC, the local chapter of AFCC, and FamilyKind, where she is trained to provide Parenting Education classes in connection with the courts.  Catherine is a founding member of Child Focused Mediation Professionals of New York, a new affiliation of mediators and mental health professionals specially trained to address children’s perspectives in the divorce mediation process.

Catherine lives with her family in Larchmont, NY.

Dustin Hausner graduated Columbia University with a Masters in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution. He has received training in Basic Mediation & Divorce Mediation from the New York Peace Institute. He has also received training in Mediation of Ethno-Religious Conflict from the International Center for Ethno-Religious Mediation. Dustin is the head of Hausner Counsulting: Specializing in Mediation, Nonviolence, & Conflict Resolution Programs. He is also the Executive Assistant at the American Society for Yad Vashem. 

Doug Hostetter is the Director of the Mennonite Central Committee United Nations Office where he works primarily on issues related to Palestine, Israel, Syria, Iraq, as well as North and South Korea.  Doug was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, and chose to do his alternative service working for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Vietnam, in the middle of the war zone during the height of that war.  He has worked with faith-based nongovernmental organizations in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, Europe, and the United States.  During the 1990, Doug was the International/Interfaith Secretary for the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and in that position started the Bosnian Student Project (BSP) in response to the ethnic cleansing and genocide of the War in Bosnia.  During that war, the BSP brought 160 Bosnian Muslim and mixed ethnic students, no longer able to study in their own country, out of the war zone, and placed them in American schools with Christian, Jewish and Muslim host families.    Doug has been published widely on the issues of war, peace and nonviolence.  His booklet describing BSP work:  Hostetter, Doug, The Bosnian Student Project:  A Response to Genocide, Wallingford, PA , Pendle Hill Publications, 1997.

Mark A. Josephson Esq, CPA, CFP, CFE, CGMA, is a founder and senior partner of Murray & Josephson, CPAs, LLC. Previously, Mark worked for BDO Seidman, a leading national public accounting firm. Mark received his bachelor's degree in Accounting and Finance from Boston University and is also a graduate of New York Law School. He is a member of the bar in the states of New York, New Jersey and Florida. In addition to his CPA and law degree, Mark has earned a certification in Financial Planning from the College for Financial Planning, is a Certified Fraud Examiner and a member of the Association of Fraud Examiners, and is certified as a chartered global management accountant. 

Mark is a winner of the New York Enterprise Report Best Accountants and Attorneys Award. He has appeared as a lecturer in a series of Education Seminars for various organizations and as an adjunct professor at New York University.

 

He serves on many professional committees, including the Estate Planning, and Trust and Estate Administration committees of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. He is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. He is a member of the Business Valuation and Forensics of Litigation Services section of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and of the Small Law Firm Management Committee for the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He is a member of the Board of Savvy Ladies and on the Planned Giving Advisory Council of Lighthouse International.

 

He is also the immediate past President and a Board member of the New York State Council on Divorce Mediation, the past Treasurer and Board member of the Family & Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York, a Founding member of the Academy of Professional Family Mediators, and a member of the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals, and the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals.

 

Mark assists lawyers, mediators and collaborators with business, tax and accounting advice for their practices, as well as their clients. This powerful combination of accounting, legal and financial planning achievements has enabled Mark to assist the firm's clients in nearly every facet of business and personal growth.

Monica Kaiser is an experienced family law attorney and mediator devoted to helping individuals resolve family law issues in a non-adversarial manner. As a practicing New York City attorney since 1991, she has participated in structuring countless complex matrimonial settlements and prenuptial agreements through the use of mediation, collaborative law and negotiation.

Her practice includes all aspects of family law: prenuptial agreements, divorce, separation, child support, parenting plans and custody disputes. As a threshold matter, Monica educates her clients about the relevant law and explains their legal rights and obligations while advocating on their behalf. Whether in mediation or collaborative practice, the goal is to reach a fair and comprehensive settlement.

Monica received her Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Duke University in 1985 and her law degree with honors from Fordham University in 1990. Before opening her own practice in 1996, Monica worked as a litigator at the New York City office of Morgan Lewis & Bockius and then joined the litigation department of a smaller firm. While Monica has extensive litigation experience, she firmly believes that parties and their children benefit immensely when settlements can be reached without court intervention. She now devotes her time exclusively to mediation and collaborative law and negotiation of family law matters.

Monica is committed to educating attorneys and the public to the benefits of resolving disputes through alternative dispute resolution techniques. Monica is an active member of the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals, the New York State Council on Divorce Mediation, the International Association of Collaborative Professionals and the Family and Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York, where she served on the Board of Directors and co-chaired the organization's Continuing Education Committee for several years.

She has trained extensively in mediation and collaborative practice and completed numerous intensive training programs offered by: The Bar Association of New York City; United States Postal Service (workplace mediation); the Center for Mediation and Law, the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals, the Family and the Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York and Parents in Action. Monica maintains her expertise by participating in and presenting at continuing education programs on family law, collaborative practice and mediation techniques.

In addition to her family law practice, Monica serves as a party appointed arbitrator for commercial license fee disputes administered by the American Arbitration Association. In the past ten years, she has served as arbitrator in more than 100 such cases.

James Kornbluh is an executive leadership consultant and trust agent. He is a lawyer, mediator and law professor with 20+ years of experience mediating, teaching, advising and coaching business owners, entrepreneurs, leaders and teams. James has a special capacity for transforming costly frictions, divisions and dramas into trust, innovation and business development. A gender dynamics expert, coach and facilitator, James is known for leadership, team and culture evolution. 

Hon. Raymond Kramer

Judge Kramer serves as the Executive Director at the Center for Creative Conflict Resolution and Director of the Administrative Judicial Institute at OATH, the mission of which is to provide ongoing educational programs, training and workshops to New York City administrative law judges and hearing officers. An Administrative Law Judge and Mediator, Judge Kramer leads the Center's Dispute Systems Design initiative. He has many years of experience mediating in the Family Court and workplace contexts and assisting parties in settling matters before OATH. He holds an Adjunct Professor post at New York University Law School, where he co-teaches the Mediation and Advanced Mediation: Dispute System Design Clinics, and New York University's School of Professional Studies, where he teaches Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management in the Master's Degree Program in Human Resources.

Lea Haber Kuck concentrates her practice on the resolution of complex disputes

arising out of international business transactions. She represents clients in federal and state courts in the United States, as well as in international arbitrations conducted under UNCITRAL, ICC, ICDR, LCIA and other arbitration rules.

Ms. Kuck regularly advises clients on a variety of issues relating to international dispute resolution, including forum selection, jurisdiction, service of process, extraterritorial discovery and enforcement of judgments, as well as drafting of arbitration, dispute resolution and choice-of-court clauses.

She has been selected for inclusion in Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America and was cited in Legal 500 Latin America in 2014. She is a member of the Skadden team that was named as a finalist for 2017 Litigation Department of the Year by The American Lawyer; as Arbitration Team of the Year at the 2017 Transatlantic Legal Awards; as International Arbitration Team of the Year at the 2017 Legal and Business Awards; as one of Law360’ s International Arbitration Groups of the Year for 2016 and 2017; and as 2013 Law Firm of the Year: Dispute Resolution by Chambers Global.

Chris M. Kwok comes to JAMS as a well-known and highly sought after mediator of complex labor and employment disputes. Mr. Kwok’s stellar reputation stems from a 15-year career at the New York District Office of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where he mediated hundreds of employment disputes. During his tenure at the EEOC, Mr. Kwok also served for four years as supervisory ADR coordinator, where in addition to his own mediation work, he oversaw employment law mediations across all EEOC offices within the New York District Office region. Mr. Kwok is known for his ability to formulate creative and unique solutions to seemingly intractable employment disputes

Jonathan C. Lattimer is the founder of a J.C. Latimer Law, PLLC, where he provides mediation and legal services to clients seeking negotiated solutions to complex business and family law matters. 

Mr. Latimer serves on the Board of Directors of the Family and Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York and he is the Vice Chair of the Family and Matrimonial Law Steering Committee of The Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Greater New York.

Mr. Latimer draws upon his prior work experience to assist business clients in the development and execution of growth strategies, developing and managing licensing agreements and partnerships, and contract negotiations.  He understands the issues that small businesses and entrepreneurs face on a daily basis. His goal is to provide solutions that enable his clients to focus on the success of their businesses.

Prior to founding J.C. Latimer Law, Mr. Latimer held executive positions in the media, internet and investment banking industries.   

Amy Lehman comes to the practice of law after a career in the arts.  She was a professional ballet dancer for many years in Canada, Sweden and the US, before returning to school to get her bachelor’s degree from NYU in theater history and dramatic literature. While at NYU, she worked for Broadway producers as a general management intern. After graduating from NYU, she continued to work in the theater industry as an assistant producer and assistant theatrical agent, where she reviewed contracts and managed and negotiated licensing agreements for plays in the US and internationally.

Having been inspired to go to law school by her desire to help other artists, she studied copyright, trademark, media law while at University of Michigan School of Law, where she served as an editor on the Journal of Race and Law, and as president of the Entertainment, Media and Arts Students Association.

Amy’s relationship with VLA began as soon as she had the opportunity to volunteer her services as an associate at Fleming Zulack Williamson Zauderer L.P.  Through VLA and her own practice, she has gained experience advising clients in non-profit corporate governance, negotiating and drafting contracts and license agreements.  Her primary practice has been general commercial litigation, including matters involving art law, media law, employment, intellectual property, constitutional law, real estate, insurance, contract disputes, torts, and as well as other disputes.

Amy is a trained mediator with extensive experience working with VLA in the MediateArts program and is on the panel of mediators assigned to resolve cases for the Southern District of New York.

Amy is a new member of the Entertainment Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association and was selected to Super Lawyers Rising Stars 2014, 2016, 2017 and New York Metro Super Lawyers 2018.

David Leichtman is the Managing Partner of trial law firm Leichtman Law PLLC, formed in April 2017 after practicing for over 20 years in large law firms.  Recent trials Mr. Leichtman has first-chaired have involved: copyright ownership, infringement and validity claims; breach of fiduciary duty and fraud claims; patent inventorship claims; and fraudulent conveyance claims.  Mr. Leichtman serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Volunteer Lawyers For The Arts; serves on the IPO committee on Copyright Practice; and is the in-coming Treasurer of the NYIPLA, where he has served on or been the chair of the Committees on Patent Litigation, Law Firm Management, Amicus Briefs, and Inventor of the Year.  He has been named a New York SuperLawyer every year since 2010.  In 2016, The New York Law Journal selected him as a Lawyer Who Leads by Example for providing crucial pro bono legal services in New York.  He is also a fellow, Litigation Counsel of America, a highly selective Trial Lawyer Honor Society, where he is a founding member of its Intellectual Property Institute.  Mr. Leichtman is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School, the University of Michigan (BA), Hunter College (MA), and Columbia Law School (JD).

Stefanie Marrone Stefanie Marrone helps law firms effectively tell their stories and find their unique voices. With more than 16 years of experience in professional services marketing, Stefanie currently leads the business development, marketing and communications functions for full-service, mid-size law firm Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP. 

Previously, Stefanie worked at five of the most prominent law firms in the world, developing and executing global revenue generating, business development, internal and external communications strategies, including media relations, branding and multi-channel content marketing and thought leadership campaigns. She has particular experience in helping companies effectively utilize social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for business development, revenue generation and visibility.

Stefanie is a frequent speaker on a wide range of content marketing and social media topics for the Legal Marketing Association, Thomson Reuters, GroPro2020, the Association of Legal Administrators and Fordham University School of Law, among others. Stefanie is an active volunteer with the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) and served on the board of the New York Chapter from 2015 to 2016 and is currently serving a two-year term as secretary of the LMA's Northeast region.

Paul Bennett Marrow, Arbitrator and Member Commercial Panel, Complex Case Panel and Consumer Panel, American Arbitration Association. Arbitrator, British Columbia International Commercial Centre. Arbitrator, Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration. Fellow, Charter Institute of Arbitrators. Former member, Board of Managers, Charter Institute of Arbitrators. Adjunct Professor, New York Law School. Member, Grievance Committee, 9th Judicial District, Appellate Division, Second Department.

Richard Mattiaccio's experience as counsel includes disputes arising from technology sharing; supply, distribution, licensing agreements; M&A transactions; partner and shareholder relationships; unfair competition claims; financial, banking services; hedge funds; TM infringement; executive compensation. Clients have been in aerospace; automotive; aviation; energy (oil & gas, solar, wind); industrial and consumer products; logistics; manufacturing including outsourcing; medical equipment/devices; professional services; fashion and apparel; specialty foods and beverages. 

Service as arbitrator includes AAA commercial and complex cases; ICDR international commercial cases; non-administered CPR and ad hoc arbitration. Service as mediator includes ad hoc, ICDR cross-border mediation and panel service as a NY Commercial Division mediator.

Katharina Mauer holds a B.A. in European Studies from Maastricht University and an M.A. in Management from Steinbeis University, Berlin. For several years, she worked in corporate communications with Allianz Group both in Germany and the United States, developing and managing communications initiatives on climate change and demographic change. 

In 2013, she completed an M.A. in conflict resolution and mediation from Tel Aviv University, researching the connection between personal transformation, spirituality, and conflict resolution. Upon her return to the United States, she found practical expression for her focus, working on communications and development for the United Nations and other non-profits active in the area of nonviolence and conflict resolution.

Katharina is fascinated by the potential and power that each of us holds to resolve conflicts. To this end, Katharina explores and utilizes meditation, related Buddhist psychology, and nonviolent communication techniques to facilitate awareness, seeking to ease isolation and discord on both individual and societal levels.

Katharina has completed several trainings with the New York Center for Nonviolent Communication and is currently enrolled in the 2018 Meditation Teacher Training at The Interdependence Project in New York. Since 2017, she has become a certified mediator, volunteering at Community Mediation Services in Queens and conducting workshops on the intersection between meditation and mediation. Katharina offers mediation services through Attune Mediation. 

Catherine Morris, Sr. Mediator with Consensus Building Institute, has more than 15 years of experience as a mediator and consensus builder. She has helped stakeholders collaborate on advancing rural electrification in Africa and Asia, development of renewable energy projects, the role of nuclear power, and transmission needs to support a clean energy future. She has led communities facing the economic and environmental challenges through a process to envision and take hold of a different future that requires both mitigation and adaptation strategies. Before becoming a trained mediator, Catherine worked for the MA regulatory commission, and for an air quality and climate change think tank. Catherine has a BA in Economics and an MRP in Economic and Environmental Planning. 

 

Sethu L. Nair serves as the Center’s Conflict Resolution Specialist. She manages Conflict Resolution services including; Mediation, Group Facilitation, Conflict Coaching, and Restorative Practices. A Mediator, Circle Keeper, and Coach, Sethu has worked across a range of conflicts including; family matters, small business disputes, non-profit staff and board challenges, workplace conflict and community discord. She is also a leadership development and personal transformation Coach and a founding member of the team at Hidden Water NYC, Sethu also facilitates restorative circles to heal the impact of child sexual abuse in the family system. Prior to joining the Center, Sethu ran her own Conflict Management and Coaching practice. She has also worked for various human rights organizations in New York and India. Sethu is graduate of SUNY Purchase and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and delights in the dynamic interplay of relationships, communication and conflict.

Priscilla Prutzman is co-founder and Executive Director of Creative Response to Conflict. She teaches Conflict Resolution in Education at  SUNY New Paltz. On the Fulbright Roster for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Priscilla has written many articles and books on mediation, conflict resolution, bias awareness , bullying prevention and intervention and restorative practices. She is co-author of the Peer Mediation Standards of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR)  and has received many awards including the National Peace Foundation Peacemaker Award, The Peace and Justice Studies Association Peacemaker of the Year Award, the 1st annual William Kriedler award for  service to the field of Conflict Resolution and  the Equity and Diversity award from ACR. She is currently working in several New York City Schools helping to implement whole school approaches to restorative practices. She is very interested in bias awareness and how that can be helpful in religious conflict.

Dr. David Ragland is a Sr. Bayard Rustin Fellow at the Fellowship of Reconciliation.  He is the co-founder and former co-director of the Truth Telling Project of Ferguson, and he also serves as visiting professor at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Community Liberation and Eco-Psychology. His areas of activism and research focus on the intersections between decoloniality, critical race theory, restorative justice and peace education. 

David weaves his personal experience of growing up in segregated St. Louis with the history of that city and nearby Ferguson, explaining how Ferguson became the new center of American racism and Black resistance. In the early days of the Ferguson Uprising, he cofounded the Truth Telling Project so that marginalized voices could be heard and move society to lay a groundwork for healing, reconciliation and social transformation.

David is a contributing editor to Waging Nonviolence and a frequent contributor to PeaceVoice. 

He has served on the board of the directors for the Peace and Justice Studies Association, the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s National Council, and The Sophia Project - a mentoring program in St.Louis, MO. Find David on Twitter @theraglandpage

Rekha Rangachari is the Executive Director of the New York International Arbitration Center (“NYIAC”).  Founded in 2013, NYIAC is a non-profit organization that promotes and enhances the conduct of international arbitration in New York, offers educational programming, and operates world-class hearing facilities for rent in Midtown Manhattan.

Prior to joining NYIAC in October 2017, Ms. Rangachari was Director of ADR Services for the New York Commercial Division of the American Arbitration Association/International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA/ICDR).  Therein, she led the New York Corporate Innovation Team, and served on the Diversity Committee – spearheading initiatives for greater cross-cultural representation and collaboration – and on the AAA/ICDR Foundation Committee.  She is a 2017 Recipient of the AAA/ICDR President’s Award for Service.  Ms. Rangachari also served as Case Counsel for the ICDR, focusing her efforts on the European and Sub-Saharan Africa Regions.

Ms. Rangachari serves as Member of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) Dispute Resolution Section’s (DRS’) Executive and Diversity Committees, Co-Chair of the NYSBA DRS’ Arbitration Committee, Advisory Member of the NYSBA Planning Committee for the Judith Kaye Moot Court Competition, Member of the International Arbitration Club of New York, Member of the New York City Bar’s Standing Committee on Women in the Legal Profession, Board Member of the New York Coalition of Women’s Initiatives, Member of the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of International Law’s International Arbitration Committee, and Member of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution’s Women in Dispute Resolution Committee, among other professional and personal affiliations.  She is also a Contributor to Investment Claims.  Ms. Rangachari was educated at New York University and the University of Miami School of Law, and is trilingual in English/Tamil/Spanish.  She is admitted to practice law in the U.S. (New York).

M. Salman Ravala, Esq. is a Senior Partner with Criscione Ravala, LLP’s New York City office where he focuses on business law, employment law, and non-profit law. He litigates in New York state and federal court and also serves as a neutral on various ADR rosters including FINRA, NYS Part 137 Fee Dispute Panel, and New York State Court. He has authored legal articles on ADR that have been published by New York University, as well as the American Bar Association and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.  A 2016 American Arbitration Association Judge Higginbotham Fellow, he is a recipient of the 2013-2017 NYSBA Empire State Counsel Award, the 2015-2017 Super Lawyers® Rising Stars Award, and the 2015-2017 Martindale-Hubbell® “Preeminent” Client Achievement Award. Mr. Ravala is a graduate of Syracuse Law School and is admitted to practice with the Bar of New York and Court of International Trade.

Maurice Q. Robinson, Esq. serves as EEO Officer and Executive Agency Counsel for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Department of Equal Opportunity.  In those capacities, he supervises the Office of Employment and Fair Housing Investigations and the Services for People with Disabilities Unit.

Prior to joining the nation’s largest public housing authority, Mr. Robinson was Senior Administrative Hearing Officer for the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) Appeals Unit and the former Queens County Custody |Visitation Mediation Manager for the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NYSPCC).

His principal passions are the promotion of inclusion within the private bar and Civil Gideon, the national access-to-justice initiative which calls for the universal appointment of legal counsel in non-criminal matters.  

He serves as Associate Director of the Seton Hall Law Conflict Management Program and Supervising Attorney for the school’s Southern District of New York Mediation/Settlement Conference Practicum, an innovative pro bono publico partnership which has garnered praise from jurists, scholars, and practitioners across the nation.  

Mr. Robinson is a frequent guest presenter at the Georgetown University Law Center and has served on the instructional staff of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution’s Intensive Mediation Advocacy Program, an initiative recognized as the instructional gold standard in law school mediation advocacy.  Mr. Robinson is a former A. Leon Higginbotham fellow with the American Arbitration Association (AAA); a former Project Real Estate Associate Program (REAP) fellow; and a recipient of the New York State Bar Steven C. Krane Public Interest Award.

Mr. Robinson earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and African-American Studies at Williams College and is an alumnus of the Yeshiva University Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. The Society for Human Resource Management | Human Resource Certification Institute (SHRM | HRCI) recognizes Mr. Robinson as a Certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR).   

Joy S. Rosenthal, Esq. founded Rosenthal Law & Mediation in 2006 to use both law and mediation as a tool to help families as they move through transitions.  Her services include divorce mediation and elder (adult sibling) mediation, adoptions, collaborative divorce, and representation in custody and visitation disputes. 

 

Joy spent 10 years representing children and youth in New York City’s Family Courts for the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Division before opening her own practice, thus she tends to view divorce from a child’s perspective.  Joy has extensive mediation, negotiation, trial and appellate experience, and enjoys working with clients from all walks of life.  She has trained co-workers and colleagues in cultural competence and bias awareness. Joy has served on the Board of Directors of the Family & Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York (FDMC) from 2008-2014, and as its President from 2012-2014.  Joy received her law degree from the City University of New York School of Law.

Jessica S. Rothberg, Esq., Founder of Mediation Works, Inc., is a graduate of Northeastern Law School and has received formal mediation training at The Center for Mediation & Training, The Ackerman Institute for the Family and The Center for Understanding in Conflict.

Jessica is an Advanced Practitioner member of the Association for Conflict Resolution, an Accredited member of the New York State Council on Divorce Mediation, the Family and Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York, The Association of Professional Family Mediators, and the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals. 

Jessica served as an adjunct at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (2008 – 2013) where she taught an advanced seminar on Family and Divorce Mediation. Jessica currently presents on mediation topics throughout New York and oversees the Mediation Works Inc. apprenticeship program where she trains and supervises mediators.

Jessica lives with her family in Brooklyn.

Justo A. Sanchez serves as the Center’s Director Center Services at the Center for Creative Conflict Resolution. An experienced facilitator, mediator, trainer and program administrator, who began to develop his craft over 15 years ago, actively mediating, mentoring and facilitating group discussions at various venues throughout New York City. Justo was the Director of OATH’s initial workplace mediation program from 2005-2010. His prior positions include serving as Child Permanency Mediator in a nationally recognized innovative program in the NYC Family Courts and as a Mediation Coordinator for the Center for Court Innovation, where he administered the Harlem Community Justice Center’s Mediation Program, and mediated community disputes and court referred conflicts. Throughout his career, he has worked with a wide variety of groups, couples and individuals across a broad spectrum of conflict themes and contexts, including court and community justice programs, higher education institutions, and private, not-for-profit and governmental organizations.

Elena Bayrock Sapora is a trainer and consultant working with mediators and mediation centers throughout New York State. Incorporating her background in theater and movement, Elena has trained audiences of all ages in mediation, conflict resolution, and communication skills. She respects all learning styles and uses active, energetic, and engaging techniques to support each person as they integrate new learning and skills. Elena got her start in mediation as a teenager, when she initiated the peer mediation program at Thomas Tallis Secondary School in London, England. Since 2005 she has worked extensively with the New York State Community Dispute Resolution Centers Program, including serving as the founding Director of Operations for the New York Peace Institute. Elena is a certified Initial Mediation Trainer by the New York State Unified Court System Office of ADR and Court Improvement Programs. More about Elena and her work can be found at her website, www.elenasapora.com.

Danielle B. Shalov is an attorney and mediator with offices in Rye Brook, New York.  Ms. Shalov is an adjunct professor at New York Law School where she runs the Mediation Clinic.  She also serves as an adjunct professor at The Elisabeth Haub School of law where she teaches: Advanced Appellate Advocacy, Forensic Evidence, and Mediation.  Ms. Shalov volunteers with The New York Peace Institute (formerly Safe Horizons) and Cluster.

Ms. Shalov began her career as a litigation associate at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP. She later joined the Law Offices of Gerald L. Shargel where she specialized in criminal law. Ms. Shalov then joined The Fund for Modern Courts, a nonpartisan, nonprofit dedicated to court reform, where she was the Director of The Citizens Jury Project.

Ms. Shalov received her BA, magna cum laude, from Kenyon College and her JD, magna cum laude, from The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa Society and Order of the Coif.

Joseph A. Siegel 

teaches Environmental Dispute Resolution at Hofstra Law School and climate change courses at Haub School of Law at Pace University. He also manages the Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution progra

m in EPA's New York office, serving as a neutral on climate change and a wide variety of other environmental matters.  He also co-chaired the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the ABA's Section of Environment an

d Energy Resources. Joe has combined his expertise as a policy and legal expert on climate change with his more than 30 years of experience as a negotiator, facilitator, and mediator to lead many multi-stakeholder consensus-building efforts related to resilience. 

Daniel Weitz, Esq., is the Director of the Division of Professional and Court Services for the New York State Unified Court System.  Dan oversees the statewide responsibilities of alternative dispute resolution, attorney for the child contracts, judiciary civil legal services contracts, office of language access, office of grants and contracts, guardianship and fiduciary services, legal information, office of the court record, parent education and awareness program, records management, the federally funded child welfare court improvement project, the court appointed special advocates assistance program, the children=s centers program, and operational issues related to the Americans with Disabilities Act. From 1998-2016, Dan served as Statewide ADR Coordinator, overseeing a statewide program of court-annexed ADR initiatives involving mediation, arbitration, neutral evaluation, parenting coordination and collaborative law. He also directed the Community Dispute Resolution Centers Program.

Dan has over nineteen years of experience as a court administrator and twenty seven years of experience in the field of ADR, serving as an administrator, professor, trainer and practitioner.  He is an Adjunct Clinical Professor of Mediation at Cardozo School of Law, an Adjunct Professor of Clinical Law at NYU School of Law and has taught ADR and conflict resolution related courses at Vermont Law School, Mitchell Hamline School of Law, Pepperdine School of Law, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Long Island University.  Dan is an international ADR speaker having presented across the United States and beyond including Japan, China, Thailand and South Africa. He has also served as mediator in a wide range of matters including, general civil, family, employment, human rights, community, and police conduct cases.

Brooke Willig is an associate in the Litigation Department at Debevoise & Plimpton, having joined the firm in 2016. Prior to joining Debevoise, Ms. Willig clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 2015 to 2016, and for Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2014 to 2015. She received her J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2014, where she served as Notes Chair of the Harvard Law Review and was awarded the Sears Prize. She received her B.A. magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University in 2011.

Peter Woodin is a mediator and arbitrator with JAMS, where he specializes in the resolution of complex, multi-party litigation. He has practiced full time as a dispute resolution neutral since 1993 and has served as court-appointed special master, with responsibilities for settlement efforts and/or discovery oversight in a variety of federal and state litigations.  He has successfully mediated settlements in a wide range of disputes, including banking, insurance coverage, intellectual property, environmental contamination, employment, products liability and personal injury, and many more.

Peter has mediated numerous arts and entertainment related disputes, involving such matters as copyright infringement, music licensing, publishing, arts management, defamation and other matters. He brings to his work with artists and entertainers not only his experience as attorney and mediator, but also his experience as a professional dancer, including 7 years with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

In addition to his ADR practice at JAMS, Peter currently teaches negotiation as an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School and has appeared as speaker and panelist on numerous court-related and other educational programs around the country.

 

Jeff T. Zaino, Esq. is the Vice President of the Commercial Division of the American Arbitration Association in New York. He oversees administration of the large, complex commercial caseload, user outreach, and panel of commercial neutrals in New York. He joined the Association in 1990. Mr. Zaino is dedicated to promoting ADR methods and services. His professional affiliations include the American Bar Association, Connecticut Bar Association, District of Columbia Bar Association, New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), New York City Bar Association, New York Law School ADR Skills Program Advisory Committee, Scheinman Institute Board of Advisors, and Westchester County Bar Association. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Dispute Resolution Section of NYSBA, oversees the section’s Resolution Roundtable blog, and is the co-chair of the Arbitration and ADR Committee of NYSBA’s Commercial and Federal Litigation Section. He has also written and published extensively on the topics of election reform and ADR and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and Bloomberg to discuss national election reform efforts and the Help America Vote Act.