Mediator Resume

I have practiced for 51 years. i started out as a law clerk on the old Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for the Honorable David W. Dyer. I then joined Steel Hector & Davis where I practiced from 1976-1987. I had my own firm--Coll, Davidson, Carter, Smith, Salter & Barkett --from 1987-2000. I joined Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP on June 1, 2000 and have practiced at SHB since then.

Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP - Partner

Attorney, Arbitrator, Mediator, Special Master, Allocator

Partner, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, 2000-present; Founding Shareholder, Coll Smith Salter & Barkett, 1987-2000; Partner/Associate, Steel Hector & Davis, 1976-1987; Law Clerk, Hon. David W. Dyer, 1975-1976.

ANTITRUST: Sherman Section 1 and 2 claims including price fixing, tying, and exclusive dealing; relevant product or service market issues; and relevant geographic market issues, and damages issues; Robinson-Patman Act claims CORPORATE/COMMERCIAL: shareholder agreements; a wide variety of contract drafting and interpretation issues; non-compete and non-solicitation agreements/issues; accounting issues; independent investigations; review and interpretation of private placement documents; licensing questions; rights of first refusal; material breach; duty of good faith and fair dealing; arm's length issues; issues related to puts and calls; dispute resolution clauses; partnership agreement issues; joint venture issues; jurisdictional questions; confidentiality agreements; non-disclosure agreements; letters of intent/proposed acquisitions; successor liability issues; release and indemnity contracts/claims/issues; insurance requirements in contracts; fraud, fraud in the inducement, and negligent misrepresentation claims; franchising contracts and claims; unfair and deceptive trade practices claims; utility contract disputes. ENVIRONMENTAL/TOXIC TORT: Superfund/CERCLA, RCRA, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, FIFRA claims; nuclear power plant siting; occupational safety and health; emergency planning and community right-to-know; remedial investigations; feasibility studies; risk assessments; remedial design and remedial action issues; operation and maintenance issues; allocations; indemnities; insurance coverage questions; successor liability; parent liability; groundwater contamination; soil contamination; vapor intrusion; chemical exposure claims through inhalation, adsorption, or ingestion; common law and contractual water rights; contaminant fate and transport; mining agreements. HEALTH CARE: CMS regulations; confidentiality and non-compete, non-solicitation; and non-disclosure agreements; physician service agreements; network agreements; general corporate needs for Medicare Advantage HMO. INSURANCE AND REINSURANCE: insurer and insured coverage claims (property, casualty, injury, death, products liability, life); insurance contract interpretation issues. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: trade secret claims, trademark and service mark infringement claims; trade dress claims; false advertising; counterfeiting and piracy; fair use; unfair and deceptive trade practices claims; copyright claims; domain names. INTERNATIONAL: design of an international dispute resolution system for resolution of claims for a State's claim of damage to biological diversity from the release of a living modified organism, utilizing the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and including rules for fact-finding and conciliation; partnership disputes; joint venture disputes; merger and acquisition agreement disputes; puts and calls; reinsurance; precautionary principle; environmental cleanup issues; Latin American contract issues for telecommunications company. LABOR/EMPLOYMENT: employment contracts; separation agreements; Title VII claims (termination, promotion, retaliation, harassment, among others) and analog state and local human rights law claims; wage and hour claims; age discrimination claims; ADA claims; ERISA and other benefits issues; non-compete and non-solicitation contracts/claims/issues. REAL PROPERTY/CONSTRUCTION: buyer-seller disputes; environmental due diligence; trespass; nuisance; easements; sales contracts; AIA and contracting issues; indemnity, release, and insurance issues; dispute resolution processes; Chinese dry wall; leases; landlord-tenant commercial and residential issues; condominium association disputes. TECHNOLOGY: biotechnology issues involving living modified organisms; vendor contracts; hosting contracts; software licensing contracts; e-discovery. MERGERS AND ACQUISTIONS: Issues under stock or asset purchase agreements. E-DISCOVERY: Developing protocols and resolving disputes.

Has mediated a large number of disputes involving complex contractual, environmental, allocation, statutory interpretation, insurance coverage, or product liability issues. Many of the cases have been brought under federal or state environmental statutes or involve buyer-seller agreements or other types of private contracts, indemnities, successor liability questions, and a wide variety of damage issues. The amounts of money involved are typically quite large, ranging from $500,000 up to more than $400 million. The parties involved have included Fortune 100 companies, non-U.S. companies, individuals, privately held companies, small businesses, sole proprietorships, state agencies, federal agencies, an Indian tribe, a law firm, insurance companies, mining companies, paper companies, electronics companies, and toxic tort plaintiffs.

They include: (1) issues relating to the interpretation or scope of clauses in a contract; (2) the breadth or scope of an indemnity; (3) liability determinations under various federal environmental and state statutes and local ordinances; (4) successor liability questions; (5) general causation and specific causation in toxic tort suits; (6) the nature of remedies to clean up soil or groundwater contamination; (7) attorneys fees and costs; (8) the scope of contribution liability; (9) claims of unjust enrichment; (10) landlord-tenant issues; (11) insurance and reinsurance coverage-related questions; (12) franchise disputes; (13) employment and civil rights (14) banking disputes; (15) copyright infringement; (16) trademark disputes and infringement; (17) patent infringement; (18) FIFRA valuation; (19) investment banking disputes; (20) class actions; (211) health care, and (22) a wide variety of damage issues.

My mediation philosophy is simple: I believe firmly in the principle of self-determination - parties settle cases. But I also know parties expect the mediator to help them achieve this goal. I am very well prepared for the mediation and try to be in a position to argue any participant's side of the case as well as or better than the participant. I help parties contour the strengths and weaknesses of their position and work hard to ensure that parties understand alternatives to a negotiated settlement and the costs associated with those alternatives. I expect lawyers to come to mediation prepared and accompanied by a client representative who has authority to resolve the matter. I realize practically that isn't always the case with large corporations but having persons present with full settlement authority maximizes the likelihood of a successful outcome to a mediation.

In the Microsoft Suite, is proficient in Excel and PowerPoint. In the AI world, is a Claude user. Is also conversant in the cybersecurity and data privacy worlds. Generally speaking, is a quick study on technology issues.

University of Notre Dame (BA-1972); Yale University Law School (JD-1975).

Admitted to the Bar: Florida (1975).

Fellow, American College of Civil Trial Mediators. Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators; Fellow, American College of Environmental Law. American Bar Association (Section of Litigation, former Council Member, Division Director; and Environmental Committee, Co-Chair). ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility (former member for four years and since 2020 serving as a liaison from the ABA Section of Litigation); ABA Section of Litigation Liaison to the ABA Cybersecurity Task Force; Member, Section of Alternative Dispute Resolution; Section of Environment, Energy and Resources (former Natural Resources and Environment Magazine, Editorial Board), and co-author of the Superfund Year in Review since approximately 2015); Member, Florida Bar Association; Member, Dade County Bar Association; Yale Law School (former member of Executive Committee, Past Vice-President), and Class of 1975 Secretary since about 2015). Also served for seven years on the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules, appointed by Chief Justice Roberts in 2012.

The Trump Tariffs: From Liberation Day to – Well – Litigation Day, 4 Transatlantic L.J. 178 (July 2026); Rule 1.16 and the Duty of Inquiry: Are Lawyers the New Sheriffs in Town? (June 2026); “Hugs and Tears: A Pro Bono Manifesto,” in Ethics and Professionalism: the Keys to Building and Maintaining a Successful Law Practice (ABA Book Publishing, May 2026); “Mentoring” in Ethics and Professionalism: the Keys to Building and Maintaining a Successful Law Practice (ABA Book Publishing, May 2026) (Co-author); Superfund Year in Review, (ABA Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources) (Co-author, April 2026); The Roberts Court’s Treatment of the Alien Tort Act (March 2026); College of Commercial Arbitrators: Guide to Best Practices in Commercial Arbitration (5th Ed.) (co-editor),The Roberts Court: 2024-25: The Expansion of Presidential Power, 3 Transatlantic L.J. 196 (September 2025); Legal Ethics in the Use of Artificial Intelligence: An Old Dog Learning New Tricks (Berlin, July 17, 2025): ABA Joint CLE, Aspen, January 2025); The Roberts Court’s Treatment of the Federal Arbitration Act (2025); On Becoming a Great Trial Advocate, 51 Litigation Journal 22 (Winter 2025) (ABA Section of Litigation) (Co-author); The Roberts Court 2023-24: Chevron Deference, Presidential Juris-Politics, and Abortion Redux (August, 2024); The Lawyer as Witness: An Ethics Test (International Data Law Forum, The Hague, July 2024)); The Ethics of Lawyers in Need of Assistance (2023); The Attorney-Client Privilege: An Ethics Test (April 21, 2023); Getting International Arbitration Ready for AI, (Co-author, Law 360, March 28, 2023); Third Party Evidence in Arbitration: A Fix for a Flaw in the Federal Arbitration Act (ACOEL Blog Post, Sept. 26, 2022); The 2022 ICSID Amendments: Key Strategic Considerations for Parties (Co-Author, September 2022) Preparing for Mediation: Spending Client Dollars Wisely (2022); Refresher Ethics: Fabrication, Concealment, and Production Misfeasance (April 2022); A Florida Focus on Key Practice Issue: Mediator Evaluation That Preserves Self-Determination and Impartiality, 39 Alternatives 43 (March 2021); A Mediator’s Dilemma: Evaluating Without Compromising Self-Determination or Impartiality 39 Alternatives 25 (February 2021); Securing Law Firm Data: When the Advice Givers Need Advice (2020); Attorney-Client Privilege, 45 Litigation Journal 34 (Winter 2019); The 2018 Amendments to the Federal Class Action Rule (October 2018); Arbitration and the Unauthorized Practice of Law, 36 Alternatives 83 (June 2018); Arbitration Ethics: A Sampler (2017); Work Product Protect for Draft Expert Reports and Attorney-Expert Communications (May 30, 2017); Ethics in ADR: A Sampling of Issues (September 30, 2015); Arbitration: Hot Questions, Cool Answers (April 2015); Chess Anyone? Selection of International Commercial Arbitration Tribunals (2014); Perspectives on the New York Convention Under the Laws of the United States (co-author, 2014); THE ETHICS OF E-DISCOVERY, First Chair Press, Chicago, January 2009; E-DISCOVERY: TWENTY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, First Chair Press, Chicago, October 2008; chapter author, "Production of Electronically Stored Information in Arbitration: Sufficiency of the IBA Rules?" ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION, JurisNet LLC, New York, 2008; "From Canons to Cannon," ABA Section of Litigation Canons of Ethics Centennial, April 2008. The papers above were presented as part of speaking engagements for the ABA; Shook, Hardy & Bacon; International Data Law Forum; ABA Institute on Cross-Border Discovery, the South Florida Chapter of the American Corporate Counsel Association, among others.

Miami, Florida.

Hourly Rate: $700.00 Daily Rate: Not provided Study Rate: $700.00/hr Cancellation: Not provided Cancellation Period: Not provided Comment: Will charge for out-of-pocket costs without any mark-up.

English

United States of America

Miami, Florida