RSI - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Partner
• Treasurer
• Partner in the Chicago

Alan King is a Partner in the Chicago-based law firm Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP. An experienced trial lawyer, Mr. King has successfully advised and represented companies in high-stakes employment litigation and investigations across nearly every industry. Mr. King litigates individual and class action employment cases in federal and state courts around the country, and has vast experience representing employers before federal, state, and local administrative agencies, across numerous industries, including retail, airlines, healthcare, telecommunications, education and financial services, as well as municipalities and minority-owned businesses. A certified mediator and a member of the American Arbitration Association's (AAA) National Panel of Employment Arbitrators, Mr. King has developed a unique expertise and passion for helping parties resolve employment-related disputes and has advocated for clients in more than 100 arbitrations, mediations, and settlement conferences. Parties frequently choose him as a third-party neutral arbitrator and mediator,based on his experience, expertise, and reputation for fairness and civility.

Job Titles:

• Clinical Associate
• Board Member Clinical Associate Professor

Alyson Carrel is a Clinical Associate Professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and Co-Director of their nationally recognized Center on Negotiation and Mediation. For two years, she also served as the law school's first appointed Assistant Dean of Law and Technology Initiatives. Carrel is a tech-curious legal educator and mediator with over 20 years of experience in a variety of contexts, including courts, non-profits and law schools. Her innovations in law, teaching and technology include obtaining wearable cameras students use during negotiation simulation courses, developing a fellowship to integrate the A2J Author platform in a mediation advocacy clinic, and launching TEaCH LAW, a demonstration series for instructional technology. As part of a small working group of individuals from Thomson Reuters, Michigan State, Suffolk, and Vanderbilt law schools, she is developing a new client-driven lawyering model for the 21st century that recognizes the importance of technology fluency and emotional intelligence in the delivery of legal services called the Delta Model. Carrel received her JD from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she published a case note on drafting an effective ADR contract clause and was the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Dispute Resolution. She received her BA in Women's Studies from the University of Florida where she wrote a thesis focused on domestic relations mediation.

Job Titles:

• Partner
• President
• Partner in Reed Smith 's Litigation

Brian Roche is a partner in Reed Smith's Litigation Department, focusing on intellectual property and technology disputes. His cases primarily concern copyrights, patents, trademarks, licenses and claims of unfair competition. Mr. Roche is a great consumer of court ADR in his practice, believing it often to be a better and more efficient process for both large and small disputes. In addition to representing leading corporations in federal jury trials, he regularly represents clients in arbitration and mediation. Mr. Roche received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1982, at which point he joined Sachnoff & Weaver. There he chaired the Intellectual Property and Technology Litigation Group. Mr. Roche joined Reed Smith in 2007 when the firm combined with Sachnoff & Weaver.

Job Titles:

• Administrator
• Resolution Systems Institute As Administrator

Bridget Crawford joined Resolution Systems Institute as Administrator in 2014. In this role, they provide operational support to and project management for the organization. Their duties range from coordinating staff hiring processes to maintaining donor relations, editing publications and maintaining financial records and project budgets. Bridget received their B.A. from the University of Chicago. They enjoy furthering RSI's mission of strengthening justice.

Job Titles:

• Eviction Mediation Program Assistant

Brock Grenn started as the Kane County Eviction Mediation Program Assistant in August 2023. They graduated with their master's in Urban Community Studies at Northeastern Illinois University in May 2023. Brock has ten years of experience as a social worker, primarily working with unhoused youth and folks in and out of the prison system in Illinois. Brock is a community organizer and grassroots fundraiser and firmly believes in centering the voices and experiences of those most impacted by capitalism. They are excited to be a part of a team that helps keep people in their homes and connects people to resources they need.

Job Titles:

• Eviction Mediation Program Manager

Chris Riehlmann joined RSI in January 2022 as the Eviction Mediation Program Manager. In this role, he has helped implement eviction mediation programs in courts in Illinois' Kane, Winnebago and Kankakee counties and continues to do so for Kane County. Chris received his J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2014. Following law school, he focused on civil rights litigation and advocacy with the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, the Orleans Parish Public Defenders Office, and private civil rights attorneys in the Chicago area. He continued his interest in housing issues by working with Open Communities, a fair housing organization in Evanston, IL, to lead a program that responded to allegations of housing discrimination, conducted investigations, and provided educational programs. Chris was a part of local and national enforcement actions that protected the civil rights of protected classes throughout the Chicago area. Licensed to practice law in both Illinois and Louisiana, Chris has a significant understanding of the litigation process and courtroom mechanisms. Chris is excited to apply this knowledge to expand court-based mediation services to the residents of northern Illinois.

Job Titles:

• Kane County Eviction Mediation Program Coordinator

Christina "Chrissy" Wright joined RSI in April 2021 and coordinates the RSI Eviction Mediation Program in Kane County. Chrissy graduated from DePaul University with a BA in Women's and Gender Studies and an emphasis in Peace, Justice, and Conflict Resolution. During that time, Chrissy presided over her department's honors society, Iota, Iota, Iota for two years and was the editor and publisher of her department's news magazine for three years. She has dedicated her life to helping people in need and fighting for equal rights. Following university, Chrissy apprenticed with the American Friends Service Committee where she was involved in the anti-war peace movement. Chrissy then spent seven years working for a domestic violence and sexual assault center where she taught abuse prevention classes to school-aged individuals. While RSI is a change of pace, Chrissy is excited to help landlords and tenants resolve their differences and reduce the number of individuals experiencing homelessness in our communities.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board

Honorable Nancy Katz (Ret.) joined JAMS as a mediator and arbitrator in 2017, having served for 17 years as an Associate Judge on the domestic relations bench in the Circuit Court of Cook County (Chicago), Illinois. Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Katz served as Assistant General Counsel for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and as Project Director and Staff Attorney for Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago. Judge Katz is active as an educator in family law issues for judges, attorneys and the public. As a Judge on a domestic relations calendar for 17 years, Judge Katz has substantial judicial and settlement experience in all kinds of family law cases. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers recognized Judge Katz in 2013 with its prestigious Samuel Berger award recognizing her "high(est) standards of integrity, courtesy, knowledge of family law and the extraordinary ability to solve human problems." Judge Katz received her undergraduate degree from Northeastern Illinois University, and her law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology.

Job Titles:

• Adjunct Professor
• Member of the Board

Robert Anderson is a retired DuPage County Circuit Judge. He graduated from Loyola University of Chicago with a B.A. Degree and a J.D. Degree. Bob spent most of his career as a Judge working with children and families. While serving as a Judge, Bob was honored for his work in violence prevention, promoting education, his work on domestic violence issues and on juvenile issues. With help from RSI and others, as Presiding Judge of the Domestic Relations Division of the DuPage County Court system, he established the Mediation Program currently used in Divorce and Family cases. He is an adjunct professor at Loyola University School of Law where he teaches Family Law. He is a past President of the Illinois Judges Association and previously served as the Chair of the DuPage County Circuit Court Family Violence Coordinating Council. He is lucky enough to be married to Irene Bahr, a past President of the Illinois State Bar Association. They have three wonderful grown children and two adorable grandsons. Bob is honored to be able to continue to help children and families by serving on the Board of Resolution Systems Institute.

Job Titles:

• Administrative and Finance Assistant

Isabel Schmitz joined RSI in August 2023 as the Administrative and Finance Assistant. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in Music and Comparative Human Development in 2023. She has previous experience interning and volunteering at educational institutions and non-profits, and is interested in continuing work at non-profit organizations.

Job Titles:

• Board Member Dean Emeritus and Professor
• Professor

Professor James J. Alfini has been very active in the field of ADR for more than three decades. He served as Director of Research and Assistant Executive Director of the American Judicature Society from 1976 to 1985. In 1985, he accepted a position as Professor at Florida State University College of Law and Director of Education Research at the Florida Dispute Resolution Center. While in Florida, he served on the initial Supreme Court committee on arbitration and mediation. Professor Alfini moved back to Illinois in 1991 to become Dean of Northern Illinois University's College of Law. In 2003, he left for Texas to take on the responsibilities of President and Dean of South Texas College of Law in Houston. He is a past chair of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution and the ADR Section of the Association of American Law Schools.

Job Titles:

• Research Associate

Jasmine Henry started with RSI in 2022 and worked in our Eviction Mediation Program, assisting landlords and tenants in resolving cases. She is currently RSI's Research Associate and supports our ongoing projects in various ways. As part of her role, Jasmine plans focus groups, drafts research surveys and edits research findings. Jasmine obtained her J.D. from Florida State University College of Law and her B.A. in Editing, Writing and Media from Florida State University. She previously worked in private practice as a family law attorney, where she helped her clients obtain divorces, modify prior judgments and adopt children. During her time as an attorney and law student, Jasmine employed several alternative dispute resolution (ADR) tools, and, over the years, her positive experiences with mediation and the collaborative law process increased her interest in ADR. Jasmine loves ADR because it helps resolve disputes outside of the courtroom, in a typically lower-stress and lower-cost alternative setting. She also values ADR as a tool for connection and education, as it also allows opposing parties to talk in-depth and gain a greater understanding of each other and the legal process. Jasmine is excited to continue working with RSI to strengthen access to justice for everyone.

Job Titles:

• Director of Research

Jennifer Shack has two decades of experience conducting complex evaluations of court-based mediation programs and researching the effectiveness of mediation in court settings. In addition to evaluation and research, she has helped courts and government agencies to design mediation case management and evaluation systems. Program evaluation is Jennifer's passion. Her projects include outcome and process evaluations of foreclosure, child protection, eviction, juvenile and family mediation programs, such as a multi-site evaluation of eight foreclosure mediation programs in Illinois and comprehensive evaluations of the child protection mediation programs in Washington, DC, and Cook County, Illinois. More recently, she has evaluated family ODR and debt and small claims ODR in Michigan and Texas. In cooperation with the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Jennifer led a national committee of the top court ADR researchers in developing the RSI/ABA Model Mediation Surveys. This toolkit provides field-tested surveys of parties, lawyers and mediators that can be used by any court to evaluate its civil case mediation program or modified for programs involving other case types. Jennifer has also written a number of articles, including the widely cited "Mediation in Courts Can Bring Gains, But Under What Conditions?" Most recently, she co-authored "Promoting Access to Justice: Applying Lessons Learned from Foreclosure Mediation." Jennifer also discusses issues related to court ADR on RSI's blog, Just Court ADR, and summarizes research for RSI's e-newsletter, Court ADR Connection. Additionally, Jennifer served on the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution Research Task Force. She has presented on her research at numerous national conferences. Jennifer was first drawn to ADR by seeing it in action in Benin, West Africa, during her Peace Corps service. She is thrilled to be involved in assuring its effective use here in the US.

Job Titles:

• Partner
• Secretary
• Partner at Armstrong Teasdale

Mitchell Marinello is Partner at Armstrong Teasdale and has worked as a trial attorney for over 30 years. He represents individuals, partnerships and corporations in sophisticated business and property litigation. Mr. Marinello has extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution. He serves as a commercial arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the International Center for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR), the American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA) and the National Future Association (NFA). To date, Mr. Marinello has served as an arbitrator in more than 240 commercial cases. He also serves as a private mediator for the AAA, the CPR and privately. A strong advocate for ADR, Mr. Marinello believes arbitration and mediation are often superior to litigation, because they provide a quality outcome and are generally faster, less expensive and more service-oriented. He is the editor of the Alternative Dispute Resolution website for the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association and a former chair of its ADR Committee. He is a fellow and former director of the College of Commercial Arbitrators (CCA), a national organization of distinguished commercial arbitrators, and a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. Mr. Marinello teaches Commercial Arbitration at DePaul Law School, and often writes and speaks on ADR issues.

Job Titles:

• Board Member Professor
• Professor, Professor of Law and Director of the Dispute Resolution Program at Texas a & M University School of Law

Nancy A. Welsh is the Frank W. Elliott, Jr. University Professor, Professor of Law and Director of the Dispute Resolution Program at Texas A&M University School of Law. Professor Welsh is a leading scholar and teacher of dispute resolution and procedural law. She examines negotiation, mediation, arbitration, judicial settlement, and dispute resolution in US and international contexts, focusing on self-determination, procedural justice, due process and institutionalization dynamics. Professor Welsh presents nationally and internationally and has written more than 70 articles and chapters that have appeared in law reviews, professional publications and books. She served as co-chair of the Editorial Board of the Dispute Resolution Magazine, conducted research as a Fulbright Scholar in the Netherlands, and served as Chair of both the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution and the AALS Alternative Dispute Resolution Section. She is a member of the American Law Institute and an American Bar Foundation Fellow. Before joining the legal academy, Professor Welsh was the Executive Director of Mediation Center in Minnesota and practiced law with Leonard, Street and Deinard. She has advised state legislatures, federal and state agencies, and courts regarding the institutionalization of dispute resolution, conducted empirical research, convened roundtables and symposia on various dispute resolution topics, and served as a mediator, facilitator and arbitrator. She earned her B.A. from Allegheny College and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Job Titles:

• Assistant Professor
• Member of the Board
• Assistant Professor of Law at the University
• Professor

Oladeji M. Tiamiyu is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Denver. He is also an Expert Adviser to early-stage ventures at Harvard's Innovation Lab. Before joining DU, he was a clinician at Harvard Law School's Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program. He has also been a Visiting Professor at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, and a member of Negotiation Workshop teaching teams at Harvard Law School and Harvard's Graduate School of Education. Professor Tiamiyu has worked with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Constitutional Review Commission in The Gambia. His research interests focus on the intersection of technology and dispute resolution. His work has been published with multiple law reviews, including Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution and Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution. Professor Tiamiyu holds a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School and is licensed to practice law in Illinois and Massachusetts. A lover of data science, he has working proficiency in R and Python. He speaks Yoruba and French. For leisure, he enjoys exploring Colorado's many cycling and hiking trails.

Job Titles:

• Researcher

Rachel Feinstein joined RSI in May 2023 as a Researcher. In collaboration with the research team, she is working on projects aimed at improving and increasing access to mediation programs. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Texas A&M University in 2014, and then began working as an Assistant Professor at Carthage College in Wisconsin. Before starting at RSI, Rachel worked in the Sociology Department at California State University Fullerton and the Criminology, Law and Society Department at the University of California, Irvine. Rachel studied restorative justice and taught undergraduates about this philosophical approach in her courses. She has conducted research involving in-depth interviews with incarcerated juveniles to analyze their experiences of incarceration, perceptions of police officers and other topics. These studies have been published in journals for academics and practitioners. She is committed to conducting research that addresses social inequalities and increases access to justice.

Job Titles:

• Board Member Corporate VP, Associate General Counsel
• Corporate VP, Associate General Counsel, International, at McDonald 's Corporation

Prior to joining McDonald's, Ms. Moore spent nine years in private practice at Reed Smith. While at Reed Smith, Ms. Moore was a partner in the firm's intellectual property group, representing clients in patent, trademark and copyright disputes. She works on pro bono matters with the National Immigrant Justice Center. Ms. Moore received her B.A. from the University of Dayton in 1998 and her J.D. from Tulane University School of Law in 2003, at which point she joined Sachnoff & Weaver (which then merged with Reed Smith in 2007). Ms. Moore lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband and two sons.

Job Titles:

• Communications and Development Manager

Sandy Wiegand joined RSI in May 2022. As Communications and Development Manager, she manages RSI communications including the Court ADR Connection e-newsletter, social media, e-blasts, annual report and website. Additionally, she researches financial support for RSI activities. Sandy has an MA in Journalism from Indiana University and a BA in American Studies from the University of Notre Dame. Prior to joining RSI, she was Senior Editor at a Denver consulting firm that provided grant writing, evaluation, strategic planning and other capacity-building services to nonprofits. In that role, Sandy also wrote numerous reports and blogs, compiled the company's weekly newsletter, managed its social media accounts, performed research and worked to enhance and streamline website content. Sandy is thrilled to use her communications skills to support RSI's work of improving access to justice.

Job Titles:

• Executive Director
• Executive Director of Resolution Systems Institute

Susan Yates has been Executive Director of Resolution Systems Institute (RSI) since 1997. As RSI Executive Director, she is responsible for implementing RSI's mission of strengthening access to justice by enhancing court alternative dispute resolution (ADR) systems. To accomplish this mission, RSI conducts research into issues affecting court ADR, such as online dispute resolution and optimal mediator behaviors; designs and administers court ADR systems; and conducts ongoing monitoring and in-depth evaluation of court ADR systems. RSI's work is undergirded by the organization's national court ADR resource center. Susan developed RSI from an idea to a nationally recognized organization with a respected Board of Directors and a 10-person expert staff. She is responsible for articulating RSI's vision and for supporting that vision by charting a strategic path, innovating court ADR processes, developing a diverse funding base and managing a professional staff. Susan is widely respected for her unique expertise in court ADR. She pioneers new ways for mediation to serve the needs of thinly resourced litigants, courts and communities, while adhering to underlying ethics such as self-determination, confidentiality and neutrality. She has worked extensively in dispute system design, helping courts develop sound programs for cases ranging from small claims to large civil litigation, from divorce to foreclosure. Much of her work focuses on the needs of individuals who do not have legal representation, on ways to serve people who have experienced intimate partner violence, and on the potential benefits and pitfalls of online dispute resolution. Susan is active on a national level in the dispute resolution field. She served on the Grants Committee of the American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR) Foundation from 2019 to 2022 and on the Editorial Board for Conflict Resolution Quarterly from 2003 to 2017. She has served in many positions in the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association (ABA), including serving as one of the ABA's two delegates to the six-person Joint Committee to Revise the Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators. This was bracketed by multi-year terms on the Section Council. She also served on the Association for Conflict Resolution's Taskforce on Safety in ADR, which drafted Taskforce on Safety Recommended Guidance in 2014. In 2020, Susan was awarded ADR Professional of the Year by the Chicago Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution; in 2016, she was named an ADR Champion by the National Law Journal; and in 2012, she was named an Ambassador by the Association for Family and Conciliation Courts. Susan is a regular speaker at ADR, bar association and other events and has spoken internationally. She has designed and conducted training programs ranging from comprehensive new-mediator training to advanced and other specialty mediator trainings. Susan has designed and written training manuals and instruments to assess mediator competency and has authored or co-authored two books, numerous studies and multiple articles. Susan has mediated employment, foreclosure, real estate, eviction, commercial, juvenile, housing, minor criminal and neighborhood disputes since she began mediating in 1983. She has been an adjunct faculty member in the schools of law at DePaul University, Loyola University and Northwestern University.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Member of the American Arbitration Association
• Member of the Board of Governors of the Loyola University School of Law Alumni Association

Terry Moritz formed Terry F. Moritz LLC, a boutique litigation and alternative dispute resolution firm, in 2014. Mr. Moritz has more than 45 years of experience litigating a wide variety of complex commercial disputes both in court and ADR settings. Prior to forming his present firm, he was a principal in several significant firms, most recently Goldberg Kohn Ltd., where he founded and built the firm's litigation practice and served as chair of the Litigation Group for over 25 years. Mr. Moritz is employing the knowledge he has gained as an advocate to resolve disputes more effectively and efficiently through mediation, arbitration and a focused strategic approach to settlement. Mr. Moritz has worked extensively as an advocate and an arbitrator in the electric energy field, as well as the railroad, construction and financial service industries. He has arbitrated over 60 commercial matters including disputes concerning fossil fuel power plants, renewable energy resources, long-term power purchase agreements, fuel supply and transportation agreements. He has extensive knowledge of the nuclear energy field, and he has successfully tried complex tax disputes involving nuclear generating facilities and telecommunications companies. He has extensive experience representing corporate trustees in disputes involving complex financial instruments and has also represented numerous individuals in their role as members of private and public company boards. Mr. Moritz is a member of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), serving on its energy, commercial and joint venture panels, and is certified by the ADR Committee of the Midwest Independent Systems Operator (MISO) and the Midwest Reliability Organization as an energy mediator and arbitrator. He is a charter member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals (NADN), Illinois Chapter, and Adjunct Professor of Law at Loyola University School of Law focusing on ADR issues. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) and serves as the chair of its Chicago Chapter, and is a board member and panelist for the Forum for International Conciliation & Arbitration (FICA). Mr. Moritz has been a member of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR) serving on the CPR Energy, Oil and Gas Committee. Mr. Moritz is a member of the Board of Governors of the Loyola University School of Law Alumni Association and serves on the Board of the Big Shoulders Fund, a major Chicago charitable organization. Mr. Moritz is admitted to practice in New York and in Illinois and before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. He received both his law degree in 1970 and his B.A. in 1966 in English from Loyola University. He has been recognized annually as one of Illinois' best commercial litigators by the Leading Lawyers Network, Super Lawyers, and Best Lawyers and was elected to membership in the American Law Institute. Mr. Moritz is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, the American Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association.