Carole practices exclusively as a neutral mediator, arbitrator and case evaluator. As a mediator, she leverages decades of trial, litigation, and executive business experience to actively and persistently help parties and their counsel reach their dispute resolution goals (see Carole’s attached CV for detailed information about her experience). She is an approved mediator of the AAA, FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), the US District Court for the Western District of PA, the US Bankruptcy Court, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and also provides her services privately. Carole provides mediation services in virtually every kind of business dispute, including: employment cases (for example, discrimination, wage and hour, wrongful discharge, breach of restrictive covenant); employee vs. independent contractor issues; commercial disputes involving allegations of breach of contract, breach of professional or fiduciary duty, business torts, and related statutory claims; public accommodation disability claims; and professional liability matters.
Mediation/Arbitration Experience. Carole has mediated and arbitrated hundreds of cases and, since 2012, has devoted herself exclusively to working as a neutral mediator, arbitrator and case evaluator.
Business Executive Experience. As Vice President of Litigation for FedEx Ground from 2006-2012, Carole was responsible for all of the company’s litigation and risk management. She developed litigation and negotiation strategies, and led negotiations in complex cases that carried significant financial implications.
Litigation Experience. For more than 20 years before joining FedEx Ground, Carole handled a wide variety of employment-related cases as a partner in two of the largest international law firms. She headed the Pittsburgh Labor and Employment Group at Morgan Lewis from 2002-2006, leading her team to successful outcomes in trials and settlements. From 1985-2002, Carole obtained successful results at Reed Smith through settlements, trials, summary judgments, and appellate arguments
Carole has mediated and arbitrated many hundreds of cases.
Carole brings to her work as a neutral the same core values that led to her successful career as a partner in two major law firms and a business executive: hard work, integrity, and a commitment to excellence in solving problems through communication, collaboration, understanding, persistence and creativity. She respects parties’ autonomy to make decisions that affect their lives and businesses, but tenaciously works to help and support them in reaching their goals and interests and, when the parties wish, she offers her perceptions, assessments, and views.
Carole received her law degree from Columbia University in 1985. She graduated from Kenyon College in 1981 (Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude, Honors). She completed the Harvard Negotiation Institute’s Mediating Disputes program, the Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution’s course on Advanced Mediation: Skills and Techniques, and The Center for Dispute Settlement’s Advanced Mediation Techniques. She also has led many panels and seminars on mediation. Carole formally trained as an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association and FINRA through classes on, for example: arbitration basics and fundamentals, arbitration best practices, award writing, and FINRA expungement rules.
For mediations outside of the Western Pennsylvania area, Carole charges a flat rate plus reasonable travel expenses. There are no additional charges for preparation or travel time. For additional work after the mediation session done remotely, Carole charges on an hourly basis. For Virtual or Pittsburgh mediations, Carole works on an hourly basis ($500/hour). All fees and expenses are generally split evenly by the parties, unless they agree otherwise.
