Private Adjudication Center: Mediation Training Certificate, Panel Member Bios
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mr. Beason is a mediator with the Duke Private Adjudication Center. He currently serves as Vice-President of Mediation Services with the Center. He has prior litigation experience in a wide variety of civil matters involving personal injury, products liability, business, commercial, professional liability, contracts and domestic law. Mr. Beason’s mediation practice experience has involved over one thousand disputes including complex, multi-party cases. His experience covers a broad range of subject areas including business, commercial, contracts, products liability, insurance/personal injury, real estate, land condemnation, equitable distribution, construction, professional liability matters and employment discrimination. He is a North Carolina Superior Court Certified Mediator. Mr. Beason has also trained attorney mediators as a Primary Trainer with Dispute Management, Inc. and trains, on average, over one hundred attorney mediators each year as Primary Trainer with the Duke Private Adjudication Center. Mr. Beason presently serves as a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law. He has organized and conducted seminars and workshops for the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers. He served on a panel for the 1994 Annual ABA Convention. Mr. Beason served as the course coordinator, lecturer and moderator for the North Carolina Bar Association’s Seminar to introduce North Carolina’s Standards of Professional Conduct for mediators. In October of 1998, Chief Justice Burley Mitchell of the North Carolina Supreme Court appointed Mr. Beason to a second consecutive term as one of two certified mediators to serve on North Carolina’s original Dispute Resolution Commission. He currently chairs the Commission’s Ethics and Professionalism Committee. He served on the Council of the Dispute Resolution Section of the North Carolina Bar Association and also chaired its Ethics and Professionalism Committee. Both Committees produced ethical standards for mediators that were adopted by the Dispute Resolution Commission in May 1996. From 1986 - 1989, Mr. Beason also chaired the Mediation Committee for the Family Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association. Mr. Beason is a 1970 graduate of the College of William and Mary and a 1973 graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law.
7/98 Mr. Boyette has been engaged in the private practice of law since 1980 with the Raleigh, North Carolina law firm of Cranfill, Sumner & Hartzog, L.L.P. In his law practice, Mr. Boyette has concentrated in the areas of civil defense litigation, including automobile, premises liability, product liability, intentional torts, construction and employment disputes. In addition to his litigation practice, Mr. Boyette has significant experience in commercial real estate transactions, including entity formations, land acquisition and construction and permanent financing. Mr. Boyette has also advised and represented businesses in employment and contract disputes, serving as general counsel to a construction company and local counsel to an international manufacturing concern. In the early 1990’s, Mr. Boyette’s interest in the process of mediation was kindled by an article in a bar journal. His interest lead him to attend the first mediation certification training class offered in North Carolina in early 1992, and to thereafter obtain mediator certification. Since 1992, Mr. Boyette has conducted approximately 600 mediations, both court appointed and by selection of parties, including pre-suit mediations, in a broad range of subject matters, including personal injury, contract, construction disputes, employment relations, professional liability, product liability and insurance coverage. He is an approved NASD mediator. He has also served as a trainer of other attorney mediators and a speaker at seminars on mediation. Mr. Boyette also serves as an arbitrator on selection of the parties in disputes of varying nature. Mr. Boyette is a member of the Board of Directors of the Defense Research Institute, and is past chair of the DRI’s ADR Committee. In addition, he is past president of the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys, currently serves on the councils of the Dispute Resolution and Litigation Sections of the North Carolina Bar Association, and is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Wake County/Tenth Judicial District Bar Association. Mr. Boyette is a 1974 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a 1977 honors graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law where he served on the Moot Court Bench and was a member of the National Moot Court Team. 11/99 Since 1987, Patrick Coughlan has worked exclusively as a mediator and arbitrator, and in that time, he has mediated over one thousand cases. During the course of a year, Mr. Coughlan handles over two hundred cases throughout the country with a settlement percentage of above ninety percent. The subject matter of his work has been wide ranging and includes product liability, employment discrimination of all types, construction, contract, personal injury, insurance, professional liability, environmental, administrative law, estate and trusts, and real estate. Prior to becoming a full time mediator, Mr. Coughlan practiced law for over twenty-five years. He is licensed to practice in Maine, California, and Florida, and his professional practice has been wide and varied. Mr. Coughlan has been a partner in law firms in both Palm Beach (fifteen lawyers), Florida, and Los Angeles (ninety lawyers), California, and has served as a judge. In addition to his legal work, his extensive background and experience in business, government, and finance enables him to understand and simplify complicated legal and technical issues. Mr. Coughlan is particularly skilled at bringing people with divergent points of view together. He views his role as an active participant in the mediation process–working with participants to find solutions to conflicting points of view. Since the obvious goal of any mediation is to resolve conflict, Mr. Coughlan believes that the mediator should be the "reality therapist" for all parties. He possesses the unique ability to deliver bad news in a palliative manner. Mr. Coughlan was a leader in developing and promoting alternative dispute resolution as a viable alternative to the court system. His early work was with the president of Sony Corporation who strongly objected to going to court. He regularly writes and lectures about alternative dispute resolution. Between 1982 and 1986, Mr. Coughlan left the active practice of law to run a number of business enterprises which were sold in 1987. He subsequently founded a dispute resolution firm in 1987 and soon developed a thriving practice. His clients include many Fortune 1000 companies and major law firms. Mr. Coughlan is a Director of and Mediator for the Private Adjudication Center at Duke University, a Fellow of The International Academy of Mediators (Membership chair); a member of The Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution, and a member of the Maine Association of Professionals in Dispute Resolution (past President). He has been listed in Who’s Who in America since 1982 and serves on numerous non profit boards. Mr. Coughlan is a graduate of Duke University and The School of Law at Duke University.
11/99 Mr. Crouch is a member of Block, Crouch, Keeter & Huffman, L.L.P. in Wilmington. His principal area of practice is State and Federal Civil Litigation. He is a member of the Construction Law, General Practice and Litigation Sections of the North Carolina Bar Association. Mr. Crouch is also a member of the North Carolina State Bar and the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers. He received his B.S. degree from The Citadel in 1966 and his J.D. degree from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago in 1976. Mr. Crouch has represented clients or mediated cases involving contracts and commercial transactions, products liability, personal injury, real estate, environmental and zoning and land use. 7/98 Ms. Ellis is the Executive Director of the Private Adjudication Center. She is a certified mediator and neutral. Her mediation experience includes medical malpractice, personal injury, construction, environmental, employment, and business/commercial cases. Her experience includes the negotiation of dispute resolution options in hundreds of complex cases, including mediation, consulting and administration in mass torts. Representative programs include the Dalkon Shield Claimants Trust arbitration programs, Silicone Gel Breast Implant Litigation Regional Information Program, Fibreboard Asbestos Trust Interim Committee Arbitration Program, Piper Aircraft Irrevocable Trust Mediation Program, and the Smith Barney Dispute Resolution Process. She has also served as a special master. Ms. Ellis trains lawyer mediators and designs and provides specialized mediation training programs for other clients. She has an appointment as a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University School of Law where she teaches Negotiation and Mediation. She received her mediation training from the Superior Court Mediation Training Course and the Durham Dispute Settlement Center. She has attended the Harvard Negotiation Project, the Harvard Advanced Negotiation Workshop, and the Harvard Negotiation Workshop on Gender Dynamics in Negotiation. Ms. Ellis has published scholarly articles in the area of dispute resolution and frequently speaks on a variety of topics relating to dispute resolution. Ms. Ellis is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association Dispute Resolution section and serves on its council. She is a 1983 graduate of West Virginia University and a 1986 graduate of Duke University School of Law.
7/98 Mr. Gumbiner is a graduate engineer and a senior partner at Tuggle, Duggins & Meschan in Greensboro, North Carolina. His practice includes complex case litigation in both state and federal courts throughout the country. He is a former partner with a major Chicago law firm where he gained his experience in complex litigation and utilized his technical background in patent, environmental, construction, product liability and other complex matters. He also spent several years as a Group Vice President and in-house counsel for three related engineering and construction firms. Throughout his career, he has served as an advocate or neutral in mediations, arbitration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. He has mediated or arbitrated over one hundred cases. Mr. Gumbiner’s mediation practice includes a broad range of subject matter areas including commercial and business disputes, product liability, personal injury and property damage dispute, environmental claims and construction disputes. Mr. Gumbiner is a North Carolina Superior Court Certified Mediator, having completed both the Superior Court Mediation Training and the Advanced Civil Superior Court Mediation Training. Mr. Gumbiner has also trained attorney mediators as a Trainer with Dispute Management, Inc. Mr. Gumbiner is active in North Carolina State initiatives in ADR and is the Secretary of the Dispute Resolution Section Council of the North Carolina Bar Association. Mr. Gumbiner speaks and writes on the subject of ADR and is the former editor of the North Carolina Bar Association Dispute Resolution Newsletter and a chapter contributor to a forthcoming American Bar Association book, A Litigator’s Guide to ADR." He is a co-chair of the ABA Litigation Section Sub-Committee on uniform local ADR rules for the federal courts. Mr. Gumbiner is a member of the American, North Carolina, Illinois and Massachusetts Bar Associations and is licensed to practice in all three of those states. Mr. Gumbiner received his B.S. in engineering from Purdue University in 1968 and his J.D. from the University of Illinois in 1971.
11/99 Margaret Jane McCreary has had her own law practice in Durham, North Carolina, since 1983. She is a certified mediator for North Carolina Superior Court, the Industrial Commission and Family Financial cases. She is the President of the North Carolina Association of Professional Family Mediators. She is also a practitioner of the Academy of Family Mediators, a status awarded after 200 hours of mediation and peer review. Ms. McCreary’s roots with alternate dispute resolution began with her work for the Quaker American Friends Service Committee from 1978 to 1982. During that time, she received considerable training in conflict resolution. Prior to her work with the AFSC, Margaret worked on bad faith insurance claims, malpractice and real estate matters in Denver, Colorado and with the Colorado legislature. She is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association, North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers, and North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys. She has served on the Family Financial Mediation Rules Committee for the Dispute Resolution Commission and the 14th Judicial District. She has conducted training courses or taught continuing legal education courses for the North Carolina Bar Association, North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys and local dispute resolution organizations. She is a past Board Chair and Board Member for Carolina Legal Assistance, the statewide legal services program for people with mental disabilities. She graduated from Connecticut College in 1971 and received her law degree from University of California at Davis in 1975. She is licensed to practice in North Carolina, Colorado and California. She enjoys many outdoor activities from rollerblading to hiking and spends much time with her teenage daughter and their family friends.
11/99 Mr. Perkinson has been engaged in the private practice of law since 1974 with the Sanford, North Carolina law firm of Staton, Perkinson, Doster, Post & Silverman. His practice consists of civil litigation matters, with an emphasis on personal injury, insurance coverage, employment matters and contractual issues. In personal injury and employment cases, his experience is evenly divided between the representation of Plaintiffs and Defendants. Since July 1, 1996, Mr. Perkinson has been a Certified Superior Court Mediator. He has mediated matters in all of the areas in which he practices as well as medical negligence and product liability claims, including EIFS cases. He has conducted approximately two hundred settlement conferences. Mr. Perkinson graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1969 with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. In 1974, he graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University School of Law. He is a past president of the Lee County Bar Association and has served on committees for the North Carolina Bar Association and the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers.
11/99 Mr. Phillips is a mediator and private judge with the Private Adjudication Center. He is also the Love Foundation Term Professor of Dispute Resolution at the University of North Carolina School of Law. Mr. Phillips was previously a partner at the law firm of Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A. in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he practiced from 1979 to 1991, principally in a broad range of civil litigation. While at that firm, Mr. Phillips developed an interest in alternatives to litigation for resolving disputes, particularly mediation. To pursue this interest, he went on leave in 1987-1988 to study mediation theory and practice at Oxford University (Brasenose College) in Oxford, England, earning a Diploma in Law. In 1991, Mr. Phillips withdrew from Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A. and has since developed his practice of serving as a neutral in resolving disputes. He was in the first class of persons trained to serve as mediators under North Carolina’s Mediated Settlement Conference Pilot Program, receiving mediator certification from the Administrative Office of the Courts in early 1992. Mr. Phillips regularly serves as mediator in cases assigned by the State and Federal courts, as well as in cases submitted to him voluntarily by parties in disputes. Mr. Phillips’ mediation experience covers a broad range of subject matters including business/commercial, environmental, construction, intellectual property, employment, professional negligence, personal injury, equitable distribution, and real estate matters. He is an approved NASD mediator. He is also active as a trainer of other attorney mediators and frequently speaks and writes on mediation and alternative dispute resolution. Mr. Phillips is active in the Dispute Resolution Section of the North Carolina Bar Association, serving as chairperson in 1996-1997. He also served from 1989 to 1991 on the Mecklenburg County Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee. Mr. Phillips was on the Board of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Dispute Settlement Committee from 1989 to 1991 and currently serves as a board member and volunteer mediator with the Orange County Dispute Settlement Center in Carrboro, North Carolina. Mr. Phillips is a 1975 graduate of Davidson College and a 1979 graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the North Carolina Law Review.
7/98 Ms. Slifkin is a partner in the firm of Fuller, Becton, Slifkin & Bell, P.A. in Raleigh, North Carolina. In this capacity she both works as a third party neutral, serving frequently as mediator and arbiter, and also continues to practice law. Ms. Slifkin is a North Carolina Superior Court Certified Mediator. Her mediation experience has included mediating disputes involving medical malpractice actions, automobile wrecks, premises liability and business matters including contract, partnership and insurance coverage disputes. Her litigation experience has included a wide variety of civil litigation with areas of special interest including personal injury, wrongful death and land condemnation cases. These matters have arisen out of situations involving medical malpractice, automobile wrecks, premises liability and products liability. Her work has included the trial and settlement of multimillion dollar cases. Through Ms. Slifkin’s work representing people who have sustained serious injury, she has gained extensive knowledge of the mechanisms and causation of medical injury and the significance of medical conditions. Ms. Slifkin is a co-founder of the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys and has been involved in land use planning and education issues. She has served on the Chapel Hill Board of Adjustment and Planning Board and has taken active leadership roles, both as a citizen and as an attorney, in various land use, community and education issues in Durham. Currently she is co-chair of the Shepard Middle School Site Based Management Committee and serves on the Durham Public Schools International Baccalaureate Program Task Force. She is a master with the Inns of the Court of Wake, Orange and Durham Counties, and has been listed in Best Lawyers in America since 1991. Ms. Slifkin is a 1973 graduate of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, and a 1976 graduate of the University of North Carolina Law School where she graduated as a member of the Order of the Coif.
11/99 |
|
|
|
|
