A mediator since 1995, I have helped people bridge differences and reach resolution in disputes involving workplace, business, real estate, tort, community, probate, and family issues, for cases in litigation or for private clients. 

Before becoming a mediator, I practiced personal injury, municipal, labor, employment, and probate law with a private firm.  Today, my work focuses entirely on providing alternatives to litigation--mediation, facilitation, conflict resolution training, negotiation coaching, and consulting. In addition to my private practice, I serve on numerous mediation panels, including the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

An experienced trainer of mediation, conflict resolution, and negotiation skills both in New England and nationally, I have taught thousands of people in corporate, institutional, governmental, and non-profit settings, including attorneys, judges, dispute resolution professionals, human resource specialists, senior executives, law enforcement officers, health care professionals, educators, and university administrators, for clients that have included Coca-Cola Enterprises and USAID.

In addition, I am a Qualified Administrator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®, a tool which can be used to assist organizations build more effective teams and manage conflict more competently.

As part of my commitment to advancing the conflict resolution field, I serve on the Massachusetts Trial Court Standing Committee on Dispute Resolution, charged with promoting and improving the use of dispute resolution services in courts throughout the Commonwealth. 

Outside of the United States, I serve on the advisory board of Meta-Culture, a premiere conflict transformation and dialogue center based in Bangalore, India, Asia's influential and rapidly growing information technology hub.  I also serve as a negotiation and conflict resolution coach to entrepreneurs and executives and consult on business development and digital technology to mediators and mediation programs throughout the world.

I publish the award-winning weblog, Online Guide to Mediation, which provides news and commentary on mediation, negotiation, law, and conflict management. I also founded the groundbreaking World Directory of Alternative Dispute Resolution Blogs, the first online directory ever created to globally track and catalogue web media relating to ADR. 

I'm a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Russian Language, and earned my J.D. cum laude from Suffolk University Law School in Boston.