Mediator Resume

Highly experienced commercial and construction mediator and arbitrator. Over 30 years’ experience representing large and small businesses, as well as public and private owners and developers. Proficient in mediating and arbitrating complex commercial, construction, government contract disputes, business divorces, insurance coverage questions, anti-trust, technology, manufacturing, securities and labor/employment issues.

Vermilyea ADR - Owner

Arbitrator, Mediator

Owner, Vermilyea ADR, 2017-Present; Owner, Vermilyea Law, 2017 - 2025; Shareholder, Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt, 2011-2017; Shareholder, Bullivant Houser Baily PC, 2010-2011; Owner, Vermilyea Law PC, 2007-2010; Shareholder, Jordan Schrader nka Jordan Ramis PC, 2000-2007; Associate Attorney, Law Offices of Royce & Brain (Alaska), 1997-2000; Law Clerk, The Honorable David Mannheimer - Alaska Court of Appeals, 1996-1997.

Over 30 years’ experience as outside general counsel and litigation/trial attorney for businesses in many sectors, and particularly in the construction industry. Examples of prior work include contract preparation and negotiation, general business advice and counsel, litigation of business disputes, breach of contract, business divorce, whistleblower protection litigation, antitrust and bid-rigging, workplace discrimination, wrongful termination, and other civil (non-family) disputes. Construction industry experience includes representing parties in nearly every facet of the industry, including public and private owners, design professionals, prime contractors, large and small subcontractors, and material and equipment suppliers. Previously represented top five largest homebuilder and top five largest commercial contractor in the United States. Other construction industry litigation experience includes multi-million dollar, multi-jurisdiction product liability disputes involving construction materials; public works disputes in the state and federal courts in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Hawaii and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and appellate work on construction disputes before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; payment claims; breach of contract disputes; delay/schedule/impact claims; large commercial scope disputes; construction defect on residential and non-residential projects; multi-party complex disputes with insurance coverage issues; design professional/standard of care disputes; highway and heavy civil disputes; federal disputes with FAR and DFAR application; and military project disputes.

Has conducted over 200 mediations as a mediator in commercial/business, real estate and construction disputes in Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia and Washington, including construction defect and traditional construction claims, government contracting disputes, commercial and residential real estate disputes, and business divorce, transaction and valuation disputes. As an advocate has participated in several hundred mediations, the large majority of which were as lead counsel, and most of which were traditional construction claims, construction defect, or commercial disputes. Many mediations have been multi-party (three or more parties) disputes. Most of those have been in construction defect disputes, and therefore usually have multiple sub-disputes, including insurance coverage, subcontractor vs. subcontractor issues, and related issues that must be resolved before a “global” settlement can be reached.

Construction disputes including payment, scope, delay/impact and construction defect, insurance coverage disputes, antitrust, general business and contract disputes including M&A and business divorces, fraud, collections, unfair business practices/consumer protection, professional negligence, state and federal claims, and labor/employment disputes. Successfully mediated multiple “business divorce” disputes, including by way of example, a complex seven-party shareholder dispute with conflicting objectives, including whether to continue to operate the business, whether to dissolve and cash-out, whether to divide subsidiary entities among the shareholders, and whether and how to value and ultimately divide other assets such as equipment and income-producing real property. Successfully mediated a six-party design/construction/delay dispute on a complex low-income housing project that was approximately 60% complete where there were multiple sub-disputes that had to be resolved before the primary issue (design error and resultant schedule impacts) could be resolved. There were multiple pre-mediation meetings with the various stakeholders and experts to set expectations, get complete information, and streamline the day of the mediation. After resolution, the parties successfully completed the project without additional disputes. Successfully mediated a mid-project dispute on a several million-dollar custom home where the parties had to continue to work with one another to avoid potential insolvency for one party and several hundred thousand dollars in unrecoverable increased expense for the other. The resolution involved having the parties agree to a special master to decide all scope and technical disputes going forward, to enable the parties to reduce their daily contact, engage with someone each side trusted, and quickly address and resolve all future disputes quickly and with minimal expense or risk of additional litigation. Successfully mediated multiple real estate transaction disputes, including commercial leasing, realtor malpractice, lot line/easement, rescission, property management, HOA/COA, and related issues. Successfully mediated several disputes in which insurance coverage issues were the driving factor in the dispute. Successfully mediated multiple disputes involving public owners at the state, local and special district levels.

My style has evolved since I first began conducting mediations. Now in almost all mediations I try to have at least one conversation with the lead attorney for each party prior to the day of the mediation. Sometimes, depending on the dispute, these pre-mediation discussions are lengthy and involve clients, experts or insurance adjustors, or some combination thereof. I strongly encourage the parties to send me and the other party or parties a mediation statement so I have the opportunity to learn as much as I can before the mediation commences. My goal is to have there be as little new information to learn on the mediation day as is possible. That makes for a much more efficient and cost-effective mediation. This approach is particularly important when there are multiple parties or where there are complex/muti-faceted factual issues, as is often the case in construction disputes. I have also used “Guided Choice Mediation”, which is a term that has come into vogue in recent years and essentially means that the mediator is hired early in the dispute and assists the parties with the exchange of information, shepherding of experts, etc., so that on the day of mediation the parties and mediator are well-prepared to negotiate, without surprises. I tend toward the “evaluative” spectrum of mediator styles. I try to give the parties my sense of what a judge, jury or arbitrator might do when presented with the facts and law in dispute. I believe it is important for the lawyers and parties to get a sense of how their key facts and law may be received when presented later.

Zoom, Teams, Microsoft 365 suite, Google Drive/Docs, Apple pages, numbers and related programs, and ClearBrief. Regularly conduct virtual hearings and mediations via various platforms.

Vermont Law School (JD, cum laude-1996); University of Alaska Fairbanks (BA, Journalism/Broadcasting-1992).

Admitted to the Bar: Alaska (1997), Oregon (2000), Idaho (2002-inactive), California (2003-inactive), Washington (2005).

American Bar Association; Alaska Bar Association; California State Bar; Oregon State Bar; Washington State Bar Association; Arbitration Service of Portland, Inc.; Mediate.com; King County (WA) Bar Association.

Alaska Construction Law Compendium; Seminar Group; Project Delivery Systems and Trends Related to Project Delivery. ADR and the use of Experts in Construction Disputes. 2026 Oregon Construction Law Symposium – Best practices for attorneys and parties in remote ADR proceedings. 2024 Oregon State Bar Annual Construction CLE: Mediation panelist discussing best practices in construction mediations. 2022 Oregon Society of CPAs Construction Symposium - Recent Developments in Construction Law and Ongoing Impacts from COVID-19 and Russia/Ukraine war, including materials price escalation and supply chain disruption. 2021 Oregon State Bar ADR Section CLE - Unique Issues Arising in Construction ADR. 2020 Oregon Construction Law Symposium; Seminar Group, September 2020. Best Practices for Construction Arbitrations. Oregon State Bar CLE Deskbook: Co-Author, Chapter 20, Alternative Dispute Resolution in Construction Disputes (2019 ed). Co-Author, “ADR of Construction Disputes”, Chapter 20, ADR in Oregon (2019 ed.).

Portland, Oregon Metro (including Vancouver, WA) Seattle Metro

Hourly Rate: $750.00 Daily Rate: Not provided Study Rate: $750.00/hr Cancellation: $4,000.00/Day Cancellation Period: 14 Days Comment: No charge for travel time, but pass through any necessary travel expenses, such as airfare, hotel, car, etc.

English

United States of America

Seattle, Washington