Past Presidents

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 undergraduate degree in Communications from the University of Wisconsin in 1978. She earned her Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania in 1981. 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 the Fowler School of Law at Chapman University in 1996. Nancy coaches competition teams in trial and appellate advocacy, arbitration, pretrial advocacy, voir dire, mediation, mediation advocacy, negotiations, and client counseling. Her teams have competed 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 chairs the International Law School Mediation Tournament. 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.