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Ellen Kandell
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A certified professional mediator and attorney with over 30 years of public and private sector experience. IMI Retired Mediator - Mentor in the IMI-YMI framework.


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YMI
IMI Certified Mediator
Mentor
United States
Maryland
Business, Contract, Employment, Environment, Estate and probate, Health
English
Facilitative
Mediation Profile

President, Alternative Resolutions, LLC. Ms. Kandell has over 30 years of diverse legal experience in private and public sector law practice. She is the owner and president of Alternative Resolutions, LLC and is dedicated to serving as a full time neutral.  Her company provides dispute resolution services, large group facilitation and training.  Ms. Kandell is one of eight Maryland mediators invited to be featured on a statewide demonstration tape of good mediation practice.   For ten years, Ms. Kandell served as an adjunct associate professor at the University of Maryland University College and Catholic University of America, where she developed the curriculum and taught Negotiation and Conflict Management. She has mediated nearly 1000 cases and served as an arbitrator in over 400 interstate commercial cases.  Ms. Kandell passed a voluntary performance based certification in Maryland in 2001.   She is on the roster of numerous Maryland  Circuit Courts,  federal agencies and third party dispute resolution contractors. She is a frequent presenter at business and professional conferences and speaks throughout the United States. She is a well known mediation and conflict management trainer who has worked with diverse audiences ranging from state highway workers to appellate and circuit court judges. Finally, Ms. Kandell is a leader in the dispute resolution field in Maryland, having served as President of the Maryland Council for Dispute Resolution for two years, its Certification Committee chair and as co-chair of the ADR section of the Montgomery County Bar Association.

In April 2016 Ellen F Kandell, Esq. was one of 70 international dispute resolution professionals that was selected by the International Bar Association to participate as an assessor in the 2016 Mediation and Negotiation competition in Vienna, Austria.

Before opening her firm in 1999, she served as attorney advisor for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for nine years where she developed an interest and passion for ADR and helped manage the ADR program. Prior to EPA, she held several positions. She was an associate working on business and environmental compliance matters and served as chief assistant city solicitor in the environmental division for the Philadelphia Law Department. She was with a general civil practice in Philadelphia, where she specialized in complex litigation, estate and trust and general corporate practice. Finally, her first job after graduating from Temple University Law School was Legal Counsel for the Senate of Pennsylvania where she authored a law review article about ground-breaking legislation which became law.

Ms. Kandell has been mediating for over 20 years and serves as a full time neutral. After her initial training at the Harvard Law School Program on Mediation she took a year leave of absence from EPA to begin to build case experience. She volunteered for the Civil Division of the DC Superior Court MultiDoor program where she mediated personal injury, business, landlord tenant and other general civil matters. She also volunteered for the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office program, where she mediated private criminal complaints and misdemeanors. Ms. Kandell returned to EPA where she convened environmental disputes and facilitated large workgroup meetings.   Ms. Kandell’s mediation experience falls in several areas: – (1) Workplace. labor and employment cases: have experience mediating informal and formal EEO matters and served on the roster for the Baltimore field office of the EEOC; have mediated in union and non-union environments. – (2) Business partnership. healthcare and professional practice disputes: have experience working with attorneys, physicians and accountants negotiating workplace issues and business separations.  (3) Estate, trust and probate cases: have experience mediating issues between sibling/heirs and between heirs and estate attorneys as well as estate planning matters between parents and adult children.  Have mediated family decision making meetings concerning care of disabled adult sibling as well as divorce. Handled estate matters in private practice. –  (4) Environmental and public policy cases: have experience convening and mediating hazardous waste cases.

It is my passion and belief that my job as a mediator is to be tenacious about the possibility of settlement and to help the parties develop a solution that is in their mutual best interests. When developing settlement options, I only make suggestions if the parties are unable to formulate options themselves. I use different techniques to help parties overcome impasse. My approach in mediation is to help parties candidly evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their case and assess the benefits of settlement, the risks of litigation and the costs of prolonging the dispute. I may suggest a specific solution or give an assessment, so long as it doesn’t impinge upon my duty to remain neutral.

Business and Contracts; Workplace,Employment and Labor; Environmental; Estate and Trusts; Professional Practice disputes; Healthcare business disputes.

Hourly rate plus expenses are usually divided by the parties.

Maryland Council for Dispute Resolution, Maryland State Bar Association, Mid-Atlantic Facilitators’ Network, American Health Lawyers Association dispute resolution roster;Better Business Bureau.

Available upon request to ek@alternativeresolutions.net. Testimonials may be found at https://www.alternativeresolutions.net/conflict-resolution-mediation-service-reviews-testimonials/

Training and Education

I have over 250 hours of advanced and specialized continuing ADR training including the following programs: Harvard Law School Program on Mediation, Basic Mediation Superior Court of the District of Columbia Mediation Program Basic Mediation USPS Transformational Mediation training, Basic and Advanced CDR Associates, Mediating Environmental & Public Policy Disputes International Ombudsman Association, Basic Ombudsman course Mediation of ADA and Rehabilitation Act disputes Child Access and Family Property mediation.

Teach basic mediation to diverse private professionals as well as retired circuit and appellate court and current administrative law judges Teach conflict management, communication and negotiation programs for agencies and private organizations.

  • Council for Scientific & Engineering Society Executives, Keynote address, July 25, 2019
  • Next Horizons, “Turning Conflict into Consensus”, January 29, 2018
  • Association of Medical School Microbiology and Immunology Chairs, January 19, 2018
  • Empire Radio, “Why Hire a Mediator”, June 19, 2017
  • Maryland Mediators Convention, “Ethical Challenges”, December 9, 2016
  • ACR Conference, ACR Careers Workshop, September 28, 2016
  • Capital Speakers Club, “Pay it Forward”, September 27, 2016
  • Rockville Chamber of Commerce, “Listening with your Ears On”, August 19, 2016
  • Montgomery County Bar Association, “Ethical Issues in Settlement Negotiations and Mediation”, April 12, 2016
  • Northern Virginia Leadership Breakfast, “The Leader as Mediator:  A New Model of Collaborative Leadership”, January 29, 2016
  • Maryland Leadership Breakfast,”The Leader as Mediator: A New Model of Collaborative Leadership”, August  7, 2015
  • Catholic Business Network, “Turning Conflict into Consensus:  Building Collaboration @Work”, June 12, 2015
  • Greater Washington Society of CPAs,”Turning Conflict into Consensus: Building Collaboration @Work”, December 17, 2014
  • Center for ADR Conference, “Walking Our Talk:  Maryland Mediator Pilot Project”, June 26-27, 2014
  • Montgomery Medical Society, “Collaboration @Work:  Turning Conflict into Consensus”, April 22, 2014
  • Payroll Network, “How to Resolve Disputes More Effectively”, September 18, 2013
  • American Society for Appraisers,  “Turning Conflict into Consensus:  Tips for Effective Management”,  May 2, 2013
  • Frederick County SHRM, “Overview of ADR”, April 25, 2013
  • Virginia Society of CPAs, “Building Collaboration @ Work”, November 5, 2012
  • Charter 100, “Understanding Conflict Strategies”, June 19, 2012
  • George Washington University, Women’s Leadership Conference, “Negotiate!!!”, March 30, 2012
  • Society for Toxicology Annual Meeting, “Negotiation for Scientists”, March 13, 2012
Publications

Blog, Diverse business publications

Mediation for Estate Planners:  Managing Family Conflict, Susan N. Gary, Ed, 2016 American Bar Association

See http://www.alternativeresolutions.net/conflict-resolution-publications/ for most current list.

Compliance

American Arbitration Association, Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators; Association for Conflict Resolution, Standards of Practice; Maryland Standards of Conduct for Mediators, Arbitrators and ADR Practitioners.

I am a member of the Maryland Program for Mediator Excellence (MPME) which has an ombudsman program for handling complaints against mediator members of MPME.

Professional liability insurance through the Association of Conflict Resolution. Columbia Casualty Insurance, $500,000/$1million.

Contact
Ellen Kandell
President
Alternative Resolutions, LLC
United States
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