Before starting High Five Resolutions, I was a trial lawyer for 32 years with Wadleigh, Starr & Peters, P.L.L.C., of Manchester, New Hampshire, representing clients in personal injury, professional liability, insurance and other civil litigation. As I gained in experience, I began to occasionally act as an arbitrator, as well.  In 1992, the New Hampshire Superior Court began training volunteers for a mediation program. I underwent the training and began serving as a volunteer mediator, devoting four or five days a year to helping lawyers and their clients resolve their cases without the need of a trial.

While with Wadleigh, an increasing share of my law practice became devoted to providing mediation services to litigants, both for a fee and as an unpaid volunteer. I am on the New Hampshire Superior Court Rule 170 lists for both market rate (paid) and volunteer mediators. I am also on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire's Mediation Panel List. As we move further into the 21st Century, budgetary pressures on courts continue to mount, the complexities and costs of civil litigation continue to rise, and the stridency with which positions are often advanced or defended threatens to relegate professionalism to the history books. I have become convinced that the civil justice system, if it is to remain vital, will have to rely more and more heavily on alternative means of resolving legal disputes, such as arbitration and mediation. 

In this day and age, it would be difficult to overemphasize the need for assistance to litigants in resolving their disputes peacefully and economically. Lincoln’s advice to prospective lawyers is as relevant now as it was when given more than a century and a half ago: 

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser — in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.* 

I am now devoting my practice entirely to providing alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services to lawyers and their clients.  My d/b/a, High Five Resolutions, is inspired by a scenic hill top with a similar name** in Deering, New Hampshire, now owned by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. One of the views from the hill is shown in the photo on the right side of the banner at the top of the page and reflected in the logo on the left. Appropriate to the services I offer, it is a place where one may watch the seasons change, put things into perspective, and see both the forest and the trees.

Details about arranging for ADR services are found on the Fees & Terms page. For more information on my background and experience, go to my CV. To get a better idea of my mediation philosophy, read some of my articles on the subject or check out my blog, Mediation Stuff.