DISPUTE RESOLUTION INSTITUTE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Treasurer
- Vice - President
Benjamin W. Reed was born and raised in Murphysboro, Illinois. After graduating from Murphysboro High School, Ben attended Illinois State University and studied cinematography. After graduating in 2005 from ISU, Ben worked in Chicago and Tucson before deciding to study law. In 2008, Ben moved back to Southern Illinois and attended Southern Illinois University Law School, graduating in 2012. He has joined his father Gerry at the Reed, Heller, Mansfield & Gross. His areas of practice include family law and municipal law. When he isn't working, Ben enjoys spending time with his wife Katie, his daughter Eloise and his dog Seven.
Mike is an associate judge in the First Judicial Circuit and sits in Jackson County. Prior to that he worked for Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation for 32 1/2 years as both a staff attorney and the managing attorney of the Southern Regional Office. In addition to being on the DRI board, Mike serves on the Illinois Supreme Court's Commission on Access to Justice and is co-chair of the Commission's Forms Committee.
Missy was named Executive Director by Dispute Resolution
Institute's Board of Directors on October 1, 2016. She has been
In her spare time, Missy is a 200-Hour Registered Yoga Teacher. Her husband, Lee, works in IT in St. Louis, MO. They live in the metro-east area with their daughter, Grace, and two cats, David and Matthew.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Member of the Board of Directors
- President of the Board of Directors
- Member of the American Bar Association
Sarah J. Taylor has been employed as an associate attorney with the Carbondale, Illinois law firm of Barrett, Twomey, Broom, Hughes & Hoke, LLP since 2004. Her areas of practice include probate litigation, guardianships, mediation, family law, and civil litigation. She is currently on the First Judicial Circuit's Guardian ad Litem and Civil and Family Mediation rosters. She is also a Special Assistant Attorney General, representing the State of Illinois in eminent domain cases, and she teaches Client Interviewing and Counseling and Mediation Skills courses at Southern Illinois University School of Law as an adjunct professor.
Ms. Taylor received a Bachelor's Degree in Cinema and Photography in 1997 from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and a Juris Doctorate in 2002 from Southern Illinois University School of Law. From 2002 to 2004, she was employed as a research attorney with the Illinois Supreme Court in Springfield, Illinois.
Ms. Taylor is a member of the American Bar Association, a member and past President of the Jackson County Bar Association, a member and Assembly member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Chair Ex Officio of the ISBA's Standing Committee on Law-Related Education for the Public. She is also an officer and board member of the Dispute Resolution Institute, Inc. She has completed basic mediation, civil and family mediation, and advanced guardianship/eldercare mediation training programs. She is also on the pro bono attorney roster for Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance.