OFFICERS & MEMBERS

Richard M. Calkins is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Northwestern University Law School. Admitted to bar, 1959, Illinois; 1981, Iowa. From 1959-1961 he served as a law clerk to Judge Elmer J. Schnackenberg of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. From 1961-1969 he was an associate and partner of the law firm of Chadwell, Keck, Kayser, Ruggles & McLaren. From 1969-1980, he was a founding partner of the Burditt & Calkins Law Firm. During the years 1980-1988, he served as dean of the Drake University Law School, and from 1988 to 1993, was a partner in the law firm of Zarley, McKee, Thomte, Voorhees & Sease. In 1993 he entered the full-time practice of mediation and arbitration. Mr. Calkins was president of the American Mock Trial Association from 1984-2004; President of the Blackstone Inn of Court from 1992-94; President of the American Academy of ADR Attorneys from 1999-00 and Dean from 2000-02; and president of the International Academy of Dispute Resolution from 2014-2016. He has completed over 2800 mediations and arbitrations, and regularly holds classes in mediation training, having taught over 800 lawyers and 1000 law and undergraduate students. He is also co-author of the treatise, Lane and Calkins Mediation Practice Guide.

H. Case Ellis (Case) graduated from Purdue University (B.S. 1972) and Chicago Kent College of Law (J.D. with honors, 1976). He served as a member of the Board of Governors, Illinois State Bar Association (2001-2007), the Illinois Supreme Court’s Character and Fitness Committee (2007-present) and is a Certified State (Illinois, five circuits) and Federal (Northern District of Illinois) Court Mediator. He was awarded the Center for Analysis of Alternative Dispute Resolution System “Service to Community Award” (2002) and the McHenry County Bar Association “Distinguished Service Award” (2004) – for his involvement in the establishment and furtherance of court mediation programs. He taught Dispute Resolution in the graduate program at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, (2003-2007). Case proposed and implemented a pilot program to mediate pro-se small claims disputes in McHenry County (since used as a model program for a number of Court systems), and now runs the permanent program. In 2012, Case was inducted into The National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. Case was admitted to the Illinois State and Federal Bars in 1976 and to the Federal Trial Bar in 1982. He closed his litigation practice in 2006 to practice as a full time mediator and arbitrator and has conducted more than 3,000 mediations and served as arbitrator in more than 600 cases. One of the founding Board of Directors of INADR, Case served as INADR’s President for seven years. He has participated in conducting training and law school mediation competitions at more than 50 tournaments in Chicago, Boston, Des Moines, London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Bhopal and Dubai,UAE. Additionally, along with the head of International Training for one of the UK’s largest ADR providers, is a co-instructor of 40 hour mediator training courses for mediators outside the USA. For more information, see www.wemediate.info.

Fred is a graduate of Loyola School of Law in Chicago. He is a co-founder and past president of the International Academy of Dispute Resolutions. He has been a full time mediator since 1990 in a variety of areas, primarily in the fields of Personal Injury, Products Liability, and Professional Malpractice cases. He is a past president of the following bar associations: Illinois State Bar Association, American Board of Trial Advocates (Illinois), Illinois Trial Lawyers and The Decalogue Society of Lawyers. He was the third recipient in the 138 year history of the ISBA to receive The Medal of Merit, it’s highest award. Fred is a past president of the Organization for Rehabilitation Training (Chicago) and was the first recipient of it’s Jurisprudence Award. Fred is a frequent lecturer on all phases of litigation and the mediation process. He has been involved in numerous training programs for mediators, students and participants in mediation. Twice a year since 2009 he has co-conducted 40 Hour Mediation programs as part of the Illinois State Bar Association Master Series. He is the co-author of Mediation Practice Guide and Mediation: Quest for Peace. He is also the author or co-author of the following multi-volume treatises; Lane Medical Litigation Guide, Lane Goldstein Trial Technique, and Lane Goldstein Litigation Forms. Since l968 he has been the editor of the Medical Trial Technique Quarterly. In 1995 he established the Trial Technique Institute at the Illinois State Bar Association. Prior to becoming a full time mediator, Fred was an Assistant States Attorney in the Cook County States Attorneys Office. After leaving the States Attorneys office he specialized in civil litigation, primarily representing plaintiffs in Personal Injury, Products Liability and Professional Malpractice cases.

Nancy Schultz earned her BA in Communications from the University of Wisconsin. She earned her JD from the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation from law school, Nancy practiced law for about five years. She taught legal writing at the Villanova University Law School for three years, then became Director of Legal Research and Writing at the George Washington University Law School, where she remained for seven years before moving to Chapman University in 1996. Nancy coaches teams in trial and appellate advocacy, arbitration, pretrial advocacy, voir dire, mediation, mediation advocacy, negotiations, and client counseling. Her teams have competed successfully on the national and international level. Nancy served on the ABA-Law Student Division Competitions Committee for 12 years, and currently serves on the International Client Counseling Competition Committee, and the International Negotiation Competition Committee, where she is the North American representative to the Executive Committee. She also chaired the INADR International Law School Mediation Tournament for more than 10 years. Nancy has co-authored three texts in the legal research and writing field, and has also authored three articles on legal education and one article on negotiations. Nancy teaches or has taught Client Interviewing and Counseling, Negotiations, Mediation, Resolving Disputes Across Cultures, Advocacy, Legal Research and Writing, Legal Writing Skills, Legal Drafting, Civil Procedure, and Advanced Legal Analysis. Nancy received her mediation training from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University.

Dr. Mary Lou Frank is a licensed psychologist and mediator. Her Ph.D. and M.S. in Psychology as well as her M.Ed. in Counseling and B.A. in Speech Communication are from Colorado State University. Completing training in Advanced Negotiations for Executives at Harvard University, she also received mediation training at Brenau University and Georgia State University. She served as a mediator for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and serves as a state approved neutral for the courts in Georgia. She is the Chair of the Law School Tournament Committee, an executive committee board member, and immediate past President for the International Academy of Dispute Resolution. She is co-founder of the consulting group, Transforming Mediation. Dr. Frank is a Fellow at the Institute for Higher Education at the University of Georgia and continues to teach at Brenau and Middle Georgia State Universities. She has provided mediation training for bar associations, graduate and law students, and young leaders throughout the world, most recently in Ukraine and Poland. At universities, she has served as a professor, department chair, dean, associate vice president, and interim vice president and continues to consult and train nationally and internationally on mediation, civility, diversity, ethics, and leadership. For over twenty years, she has published in journals and textbooks in psychology and counseling. Her textbook, “The Mind of a Peacemaker: The Psychology of Mediation,” the first book on mediation written from the psychological viewpoint, has gone into second edition. She received the Distinguished Provider Award in Counseling, has served as the president of the Georgia Association for Women in Higher Education, and has been the recipient of grants and awards in leadership, teaching, diversity, and community service. Dr. Frank serves as a board member of the International Women’s Think Tank.