Ellwood F. (Ebb) Oakley, III, is an Associate Professor of Legal Studies in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University. Professor Oakley was educated at Auburn University (B.S.), Emory University (M.A.) and Georgetown University Law Center (J.D.), where he was a staff editor of The Tax Lawyer. He is a member of Omicron Delta Kappa and Phi Eta Sigma.

He served in the U.S. Navy as the legal and administrative officer of a cruiser during a Viet Nam tour. He was a partner in the Atlanta law firm of Dodd, Connell & Hughes from 1974 to 1988, where his practice centered on business and health care litigation.

Professor Oakley has taught in the MBA program at Georgia State since 1988, including courses in business law, health law, negotiations, insurance law, and the legal and ethical environment of business. He received the distinguished Teaching Award from the College of Business in 1993, as well as a national teaching award from the Academy of Legal Studies in Business in 2000. He has participated in medical/legal programs as a faculty fellow at Dartmouth College and the Medical University of South Carolina.

Professor Oakley's research interests are currently focused on increased use of alternative dispute resolution in business and applied business ethics. His works have been published in the Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Business Ethics, South Carolina Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law, Journal of Insurance Regulation, Georgia Bar Journal, North American Actuarial Journal, and The CPA Journal.

Professor Oakley consults with public and private companies on matters of designing and implementing ethics compliance programs. He also conducts corporate training programs on effective negotiation skills development, based on his participation in the Harvard Law School’s “Teaching Negotiations” workshop.

Arbitration and Disupute Resolution Training

• AAA Advanced Commercial Training: Complex Cases (1999)
• Harvard Law School: Dispute Resolution seminar (1996)
• Ga. Bar Mediation Observation Seminar (1994)
• Ga. Bar Mediation Training Course (1993)
• AAA Arbitrator Training: "Business Disputes" and "Intermediate Arbitration" (1993)
• Conducted Ga. Bar CLE session: "Securities Arbitration" (1992)
• NASD Arbitrator Training, "Punitive Damages" (1989)
• Fulton County Superior Court Civil Arbitration Training (1986)

Professor Oakley has written extensively in support of ADR. His publications have appeared in law journals, business journals, and business practitioner outlets. The writings have addressed the use of arbitration and mediation to resolve insurance, securities, contracts, health care, and employment disputes.

In addition, Professor Oakley has taught graduate level business school and law school courses in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution, Legal and Ethical Environment of Business, Insurance Law, and Health Law. In each of these courses, extensive treatment is given to ADR as a fair and economical alternative to litigation.