John Allgood has 20 years experience as a neutral. His principal practice area is Labor and Employment. Mr. Allgood also has experience in the areas of commercial, real estate, construction, and warranty. Mr. Allgood was on the 1996 and 1998 U.S. Olympic Committee Arbitration Panels.
Michael (Mike) Bowers is a former Attorney General of the State of Georgia. Georgia Trend Magazine named Mr. Bowers as one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians from their beginning in 1990 through 1997 and again in 2003. His principal practice area is civil litigation. Mr. Bowers is also experienced in the areas of Commercial, Construction, Employment, Section 1983, Environment, Premises Liability, and Product Liability. He currently serves as Chairman of the Georgia Judicial Nominating Commission. Mr. Bowers is a partner at Balch & Bingham, has extensive experience as a mediator and is one of the most sought-after neutrals in Atlanta.
Greg Crochet is an experienced mediator and arbitrator. His principal practice area is Employment. Mr. Crochet is also experienced in the areas of Commercial, Securities, and Insurance.
Richard (Rick) Deane was appointed by President Clinton as United States attorney for the Northern District of Georgia in 1998. Mr. Deane also served 4 years as U.S. Magistrate judge. His principal practice area is general litigation. Mr. Deane is also experienced in the areas of RICO, commercial, employment, healthcare, and section 1983. Mr. Deane is now a partner with Jones Day.
H. Lane Dennard is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Prior to retirement, Mr. Dennard practiced in the field of labor and employment law for over 30 years. He served as managing partner of the Atlanta office of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak and Stewart, and was a senior partner at King & Spalding for 12 years.
Robert Dokson has 20 years of ADR experience. His principal practice area is Commercial matters. Mr. Dokson is also experienced in the areas of Commercial including Trade Secret, Restrictive Covenant and shareholder disputes; Franchise matters; Employment including discrimination, ERISA and benefits claims, and employment contract issues; Bankruptcy and reorganization, Professional liability, Personal injury, Product liability, Intellectual Property, Insurance claims (life, disability and health), and Trusts & Estate.
Randy Gepp has over twenty-seven years of practice specializing in the areas of employment discrimination and labor relations. Mr. Gepp has served as a mediator in more than 250 cases since 1987. He was appointed by several Governors of Georgia to serve as a special master for the Georgia Office of Employment Practices with responsibility for conducting trials based on cases brought by employees against state agencies. Mr. Gepp is a partner in the firm of Hollowell, Foster & Gepp.
Floyd Hale has mediated approximately 2,000 cases and arbitrated scores of cases. Mr. Hale is experienced as a neutral in the areas of employment, contract, environmental, commercial, personal injury, wrongful-death, product liability, divorce, securities, construction, stockholder, and partnership. Mr. Hale is skilled and experienced in mediating cases involving strong emotions and large numbers of participants. Before limiting his practice to serving as a neutral, he spent more than 20 years as a litigation attorney (16 years), an inside corporate attorney, and an adjunct professor of law.
James (Jim) Hoover has more than 15 years experience as a neutral. His principal practice area is Employment and Labor. Mr. Hoover is experienced in the areas of commercial, real estate, securities, and warranty. Mr. Hoover is of counsel at Ford & Harrison.
Cary Ichter’s principal practice area is Commercial. Mr. Ichter is also experienced in the areas of employment (including claims made under Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, as well as claims of sexual harassment, restrictive covenants ancillary to employment agreements and trade secret misappropriation actions) and copyright infringement (involving both computer software and musical recordings). He has 5 years experience as a mediator and arbitrator. Mr. Ichter is a partner with Balch & Bingham.
Gary Kessler has been practicing labor and employment law and business litigation exclusively since entering private practice in Atlanta in 1977. Mr. Kessler’s expertise includes labor and employment, employment discrimination, wrongful discharge, employment-related tort and contract claims, business litigation, affirmative action, arbitrations and wage and hour disputes. He also regularly represents clients before state and federal administrative agencies including Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Department of Labor and other agencies, which regulate employer-employee matters. Mr. Kessler is a partner with Irvin, Stanford & Kessler.
Ellen Malow has extensive experience in toxic torts, employment, commercial disputes, products liability, personal injury and pharmaceutical litigation.
Kenneth (Ken) Menendez is the senior litigation partner in the Atlanta office of the law firm of Epstein, Becker & Green, P.C. His practice focuses on complex business disputes. Mr. Menendez also is experienced with employment, trade secrets, construction, health care, financial transactions and general corporate litigation.
Abraham (Abe) Ordover is a nationally prominent mediator and arbitrator. In the last three years, he mediated claims, which aggregated more than $3 billion. Mr. Ordover’s success rate is very high. His specialty is mediating complex, often multi-party disputes and business and professional break ups. Mr. Ordover has mediated and arbitrated more than fifteen hundred cases involving a wide variety of issues. He founded and led Resolution Resources Corporation in 1991, retiring from RRC in 2004. He now resides in the San Diego metropolitan area and continues his ADR practice.
W. Fred Orr’s experience in his 39 years of practice has included cases involving: commercial real estate disputes; insurance coverage disputes; contract and business disputes; labor and employment disputes; business torts, including fraud claims; copyright claims; music and entertainment law; wrongful death claims; professional liability claims, including medical malpractice claims; catastrophic personal injury claims, from product defects, premises liability, construction project accidents, auto and trucking accidents, and assault and battery; constitutional and public interest law; equitable claims, including claims for restraining orders, temporary and permanent injunctions, and other equitable relief; contested trusts, estates, and guardianships; and other complex civil litigation.
Penn Payne has twenty-five years of experience in employment litigation and general business litigation in both federal and state courts. Ms. Payne frequently serves as a mediator and arbitrator for employment and commercial disputes.
Daniel (Dan) Shea’s primary practice area is Labor & Employment. Mr. Shea has extensive experience in matters relating to collective bargaining, union arbitration, trial practice, particularly of employment discrimination cases. Roughly 25 to 40 percent of his practice during the last 10 years has been with respect to restrictive covenants-employment agreements on a nationwide basis. Mr. Shea’s FLSA practice has also been a significant part of his work for 30 years, including the trial of several wage-hour cases, including collective action claims. Mr. Shea is a partner with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough.
E. Kendrick Smith is the section head for the Litigation Department at Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP. Mr. Smith has special expertise in handling complex business litigation, multi-state tax litigation and land use issues. He also has extensive experience in resolving fiduciary controversies. Over the past 15 years, Ken served as lead counsel on most of Georgia’s landmark multi-state tax cases.
Lovita Tandy concentrates on traditional labor law, employment discrimination litigation, and employment related contractual disputes including litigating race discrimination, sexual harassment, trade secret, restrictive covenant, FMLA, reduction-in-force, age discrimination, whistleblower litigation (including Sarbanes-Oxley Act litigation) state law tort and complex breach of contract matters. Ms. Tandy is a partner in King & Spalding's Labor and Employment Practice Group.
Brent Wilson is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Mr. Wilson devotes a significant portion of his practice to defending employers in employment-related litigation and representing employers in traditional labor matters including unfair labor practice proceedings, representation cases, arbitration and collective bargaining. He is also focused on proactively counseling employers regarding day-to-day employment decisions to avoid litigation. Mr. Wilson works with a variety of employers nationwide, including communications companies, service providers, educational institutions, non-profit groups, public entities and manufacturing operations. Mr. Wilson is partner with Elarbee, Thompson, Sapp & Wilson.
Stanford (Stan) Wilson is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Mr. Wilson focuses on defending employers in employment-related litigation and representing employers in traditional labor matters including unfair labor practice proceedings, representation cases, arbitrations and collective bargaining. He also focuses on proactively counseling employers regarding day-to-day employment decisions in order to avoid litigation. He works with a variety of employers nationwide, including chemicals and mining operations, major restaurant chains and manufacturing and retail operations. Mr. Wilson is partner with Elarbee, Thompson, Sapp & Wilson.
