700 East High Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434-960-8848
dittmarjane@gmail.com
Jane Dittmar is a co-founder of Positive Solutions Group and a business consultant specializing in meeting facilitation, board governance and strategic planning. She owned and worked with many businesses in the Commonwealth, particularly when she served as President of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Dittmar’s mediation practice includes resolving business-consumer, real estate, construction, and landlord-tenant disputes; and reducing or eliminating organizational conflict using mediation and team building for boards of directors, public sector bodies, neighborhood associations and church groups. She trains individuals and groups in alternative dispute resolution techniques and she is certified to mentor new mediators for the Supreme Court of Virginia.
In addition to private practice, Dittmar mediates court-referred cases and is certified through the Supreme Court of Virginia to practice as a mediator in General District and Circuit courts in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Dittmar began public service with her election to the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. During her tenure she chaired the Board and led efforts to improve public infrastructure such as resolving the 29N-Western Bypass dispute and increasing investment in affordable internet and cell service in the county’s rural areas.
Other public service includes serving as Chief of Staff for the Minority Leader in the Virginia General Assembly, Del. David Toscano (VA-57), and as Deputy Secretary of Labor for Governor Ralph Northam.
She is a graduate of the University of Virginia where she earned her Economics degree and attended the UVA Darden School’s Executive Program. Additionally, she holds seven professional certifications.
Jane Dittmar and her husband, Frank Squillace, reside in Albemarle County, Virginia. Together they raised six children.
700 East High Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434-979-0821
434-977-0479
Email Phil
Philip S. LaMar is a principal in Positive Solutions Group, LLC.
He is a mediator certified, with Mentor status, by the Supreme Court of Virginia to mediate General District Court Cases, Circuit Court Civil and Circuit Court Family Cases. In 2019 the Judicial Council of Virginia certified Phil as an Appellate Mediator for mediating Court of Appeals cases.
Phil serves on the Mediator Panel of the Virginia State Bar’s Fee Dispute Resolution Program mediating disputes between attorneys and their clients.
Phil specializes in Family Mediation cases including those disputes related to Divorce, Separation, Equitable Division of Property, Child Support, Spousal Support, Parenting (Custody and Visitation) and the preparation of Separation Agreements. Also included within the scope of family mediation are disputes related to Estates and Wills such as those arising among adult children concerning disposition of their parents’ estate.
Phil’s Business Mediation cases have included those involving issues of construction, intellectual property, insurance, consumer-business matters, contracts, landlord-tenant and employment. To business mediations he brings years of successful business experience which includes serving in many executive positions, including General Manager, at the Michie Company, (now Lexis Nexis), operation of his law practice and being a principle in Positive Solutions Group, LLC.
In addition to his role as mediator, Phil currently practices law in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a member of the Virginia State Bar, the Charlottesville Albemarle Bar Association, the Virginia Alternative Dispute Resolution Joint Committee, the Virginia Estate Planning Council and the Virginia Mediation Network.
700 East High Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434-996-9471
434-977-0479
Email Robin
Robin Miksad has provided mediation services for the greater Charlottesville area for twenty years, successfully mediating both private and court-referred cases.
Robin’s mediations have involved family matters including: Child custody and visitation arrangements, Couple’s separation (both married and unmarried couples), Division of property and divorce, Contested wills or unclear provisions in a will, and Managing shared care of a family member.
Robin’s mediations concerning workplace conflicts and commercial/business disputes have addressed issues including: Leadership and goal setting, Employer/employee conflicts, Landlord/tenant issues (such as unpaid rent, return of security deposit and other breach of lease issues), Dissolution of partnership, and Disputed property ownership.
Because mediation is really a guided conversation, participants learn more about the needs, feelings and expectations of the other party which can help parties really hear each other and help them negotiate a resolution. Many times, after a mediation session folks who came to mediation bitter and angry or stuck in a “position” (unwilling to give an inch), leave saying that it was the best conversation they had had with other party in a long time. The final product of mediation is a legally binding contract.
Prior to becoming a mediator, Robin held administrative positions at two major universities; taught business courses at the college level; and served on several boards of professional and non-profit organizations including the local chapter of Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, and Friends of the UVA Library.
Her education includes an MBA (Organization Development) from Sloan School, MIT and an AB (Biology) from Harvard University.
700 East High Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434-293-1200
434-977-0479
Email Donald
Don Morin is certified by the Supreme Court of Virginia to mediate general district court and circuit court cases. He was a partner with the law firm of Morin & Barkley LLP until he retired in June 2020. In addition to being a mediator, he also represented parties in mediation as part of his law practice. He specializes in mediating personal injury and commercial cases.
Mr. Morin has successfully mediated medical malpractice cases, significant personal injury cases, real estate transaction litigation and land use disputes between neighbors and commercial disputes. His law practice focuses on medical malpractice defense, health professional representation and counseling, other professional liability defense, personal injury defense including claims of catastrophic injury, commercial litigation, and significant personal injury claims.
Mr. Morin has served as the President of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Bar Association and the Thomas Jefferson Inn of Court as well as a Director of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys. He has been named as one of the Best Lawyers in America, 2013 to 2019, and a Super Lawyer in Virginia, 2007 to 2019.
In 2007, Mr. Morin was elected to membership in the American College of Trial Lawyers. Membership in the ACTL is considered for those lawyers who are outstanding and considered the best in their state. From 2014 to 2016, he served as the Chair of the Virginia State Committee of the American College of Trial Lawyers and currently serves on the College’s National Trial Court Competition Committee.
Eric Paltell is a partner in the law firm of Kollman and Saucier, P.A. Mr. Paltell has practiced law since 1987, concentrating in the representation of individuals and employers in all aspects of labor and employment law. Mr. Paltell is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Virginia, where he received a B.A. (with High Honors) in 1983 and a J.D. in 1987.
In additional to his law practice, Eric spends a substantial portion of his time mediating employment law disputes. Eric has been mediating with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission since 1998, and he has the highest success rate of any pro bono mediator in the Commission’s Baltimore Office. He is also a member of the panel of pro bono mediators in the EEOC’s Richmond and Norfolk offices, and serves as a trainer for other EEOC mediators.
Mr. Paltell has received a number of awards for his expertise in employment law. Best Lawyers in America named Eric the “Lawyer of the Year” for Labor and Employment Law in Baltimore in 2014, 2015, 2018,and 2020, and Super Lawyers has named him one of Maryland’s Top 100 Lawyers each year since 2012. In 2014, Eric was elected a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, an honor reserved for the leading practitioners in the field nationwide.
Mr. Paltell is co-author of the Employment Law Handbook, has published one of the leading articles on the Family & Medical Leave Act, and is a contributing author to CCH’s Wage & Hour publications. Mr. Paltell also publishes the Virginia Employment Law blog at http://www.kollmanlaw.com/category/virginia-employment-law.
Eric is an active member of the Virginia Mediation Network, and he is certified through the Supreme Court of Virginia to practice as a mediator in General District and Circuit Courts in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Additionally, Eric continues to serve as a guest lecturer in Employment Law at the University of Virginia School of Law.
