I have mediated for over twenty-two years, approximately three thousand hours of at-the-table experience, during which time I have mediated a wide range of disputes, since the basic structure of mediation - often described as organized problem solving - can apply to any conflict.
For the past ten years I have been specializing in financial disputes and personnel/employment disputes, in addition to divorcing or separating parents who are designing a parenting agreement, often in concert with a guardian ad litem.
Financial matters mediated include contracts, investments, property evaluation, landlord/tenant, real estate broker/agent, real estate agent/client, land use, historical preservation, commercial and economic development, foreclosures, credit issues, loan agreements. The largest case was fifteen million dollars.
As a facilitating neutral I have provided employment mediations to the United States Postal Service for almost twenty years, approximately two hundred forty cases. Issues mediated include Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA); Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Mediations for charges of discrimination under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulations (EEOC) due to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Parenting agreements have been facilitated for parents who are separating or divorcing. Matters mediated include housing for the children, child support, visitation agreements, choice of school districts, medical insurance, and similar matters.
I have (and continue to receive) 0ver two hundred hours of training through numerous organizations: Community Mediation Center of Central Ohio, the Supreme Court of Ohio, Ohio Mediation Association (OMA), the United States Postal Service, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the University of Wisconsin Extension Service. Courses taken include Mediating with Highly Positional Parties; Cross-Cultural Mediation; Advanced Issues in Mediation; Mental Health Issues in Mediation; Ethics, Professionalism and Substance Abuse; Domestic Abuse Issues in Mediation; Ohio's Uniform Mediation Act; Tough Moments in Mediation; Co-Resolution Mediation and other related subjects.
As a trainer I train law students in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) for Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University and Capital University Law School, and for court staff being trained in basic mediation by the Supreme Court of Ohio. I also judge negotiation skills contests for law students at Moritz.
I am a past president of the Ohio Mediation Association and an associate member of the Columbus Bar Association.