Best Lawyers in America for Alternative Dispute Resolution
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State
Mills Gallivan is a senior partner and Certified Mediator & Arbitrator who practices law in Greenville, South Carolina, and has been recognized since 1995. Over the past 45 years Mills has applied his knowledge, skill and energy to providing clients with creative legal solutions. He states that law school refined his ability to solve legal problems using the analytical side of his brain to gather and organize facts, apply the law, and use the legal process in pursuit of solutions. Through...
Mark draws on 40 years in the practice of law to support and advocate for the business interests and legal rights of clients – large national and international corporations, regional interests, middle market, small, and entrepreneurial ventures – in wide ranging litigation, general business, and transactional matters. He serves as trial counsel and advisor on large dollar, corporate governance, officer and director liability, business tort, commercial, financial institutions, and ...
Tony Paganelli is the founder and managing attorney at Paganelli Law Group , a mid-sized firm with offices in Indianapolis and Bloomington, Indiana. For over 30 years, he has practiced in the areas of business and real estate litigation, mediation, and business law. He also frequently advises corporate officers, senior executives, and professionals on employment law matters. Born and raised in Northwest Indiana, Tony was the first person in his family to go to college. He is a 1992 graduate o...
Bruce concentrates his practice in mediation and complex commercial litigation. Having completed over 500 mediation cases, he represents plaintiffs or defendants in significant cases in both state and federal court. His practice specializes in complex business litigation, employment, commercial, and personal injury litigation.
As leader of the Labor and Employment Practice Group in Dickinson Wright’s Phoenix office, Sam Coffman has over 30 years of experience counseling employers in all areas of employment law, including management and labor practices, hiring, discipline, terminations, terms of employment, and the review and drafting of employment policies, manuals and employee contracts. His strong employment-related litigation background includes representing clients in Title VII claims, breach of contract ...
William Harstad is a Partner in the firm's Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution practice group. He has experience in numerous arbitrations and litigations, with amounts in dispute ranging from the tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars. Mr. Harstad has also represented both secured and unsecured creditors in bankruptcy proceedings on both the East Coast and in Hawai`i, including in various adversary proceedings.Mr. Harstad's litigation experience is broad and...
John A. Pappalardo is a Partner in the Pappalardo Law Group, PLLC, with offices in White Plains, New York and Roseland, New Jersey. The firm is involved in arbitration, mediation, and litigation. John has been an active Arbitrator, Mediator, and litigation attorney for 39 years. John has extensive experience in alternate dispute resolution (ADR), having served as an arbitrator and mediator in over 2,000 domestic and international matters. Throughout his career, John has presided over a broad ...
Lauren Yevich is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Arbitration. Lauren, who practices law in Tampa, Florida, has been recognized since 2025. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Lauren is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Hal Ostrow is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers. Hal is a business attorney who focuses on serving clients who provide information technology and creative services. His practice includes: Technology Transactions, Privacy, and Cybersecurity: He assists numerous businesses in formulating, negotiating, and drafting service agreements, statements of work, terms of use, privacy policies, data ownership and licensing contracts, and cybersecurity prevention and response plans. As a Certified...
Marcia Busching’s legal practice is primarily devoted to arbitration, real estate, construction, and complex business matters, with significant experience in construction and commercial arbitration. With service on American Arbitration Association (AAA) panels spanning three decades, including international arbitration, Marcia is in demand for a wide variety of very significant construction and business disputes as well as consumer and smaller disputes. Presently, she is a member of the...
Leonard J. Frankel is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Family Law Mediation and Mediation. Leonard J., who practices law in Clayton, Missouri, has been recognized since 2007. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Leonard J. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
"As a mediator or arbitrator my goal is to have the perspective, persistence, and patience to resolve business disputes and settle cases effectively." With more than 40 years of experience as a litigator representing both plaintiffs and defendants, I know business issues. This wealth of experience and knowledge now serves as the foundation for successfully resolving disputes through alternative dispute resolution (ADR). I am a leading provider of commercial litigation ADR services and have an...
For over 40 years, Bill Andrews, a leading construction attorney in Houston, has practiced construction law , focusing on construction-related claims, lawsuits, mediations and arbitrations . He has represented owners, contractors, subcontractors, vendors, suppliers and engineering firms on a wide variety of construction-related projects. His experience in claims, trials, arbitrations and mediations includes projects such as highways and bridges, public works projects, commercial and retail co...
Bill Vines was admitted to the courts of the State of Tennessee and the United States District Court for the Eastern District in 1966. He is admitted to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and in 1972 was admitted to the United States Supreme Court. He is certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education and Specialization and by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is a Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31 listed mediator both in state and federal co...
Area of Emphasis Mark Shepard is a shareholder in the Litigation Group of Babst Calland and currently serves as general counsel to the Firm. Prior to joining the firm, he served as chair of the litigation group for one of Pittsburgh’s largest law firms. Background as a Litigator Mr. Shepard focuses his practice in the areas of commercial, toxic tort, products liability and environmental litigation. He has represented clients as lead trial counsel in a variety of complex commercial litig...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.