ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Sally is well-known in the field of alternative dispute resolution, particularly as a mediator, arbitrator, and early neutral evaluator. Lauded by members of the bar for her work in the field of alternative dispute resolution, she was named Pittsburgh Mediator of the Year in 2021, 2018 and 2016. In May 2014, the Pennsylvania Bar Association awarded her its annual Sir Francis Bacon Dispute Resolution Award in recognition and appreciation for her pioneering efforts to develop and enhance mediation throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. She is a board member and the past president of the Mediation Council of Western Pennsylvania (MCWP), and for many years chaired the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s state-wide Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee. Sally initiated MCWP’s bi-monthly mediation education roundtable program and pioneered its annual Conflict Resolution Day Program. For many years, served as a planner of the Allegheny County Bar Association’s annual Kaplan Lecture on Conflict Resolution.

Trained in mediation at the Harvard School of Law, Sally has mediated hundreds, if not thousands, of cases over the past 25 years. She regularly serves as a mediator, arbitrator, and early neutral evaluator for the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. She is also a panel mediator on the UPMC Intermediation Panel. Sally has served as a contract mediator for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, American Arbitration Association (AAA), and as a member of the International Institute for Conflict  Prevention & Resolution (CPR) Panel of Distinguished Neutrals. Private parties regularly request that Sally privately mediate disputes outside of formal administrative or court processes.

Sally is often asked by organizations to conduct private internal conflict resolution involving internal disputes between employees, managers, executives, and/or departments. The Association for Conflict Resolution conferred Advanced Workplace Practitioner Status on Sally based upon the depth and breadth of her experience resolving employee/  employer disputes. As a former human resource professional, she has the unique ability to balance practical business considerations with legal considerations, while addressing workplace conflict.

For many years while in law firms, she served as a Management Committee member and chaired Labor & Employment Groups, where she demonstrated her strong leadership skills as a well-respected consensus builder and collaborator.

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EMPLOYMENT & LABOR LAW

A Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, Sally has over 37 years of experience devoted exclusively to counseling and litigating on behalf of private and public sector employers in all aspects of the employment relationship, from hiring through termination. She regularly advises clients on employment discrimination issues, workplace and sexual harassment, disability accommodation, Family & Medical Leave Act compliance, employee handbooks, human resource policies and practices, wage and hour issues, use of temporary/leased/contract employees and independent contractors, performance appraisals, workplace investigations, drug and alcohol testing, workplace privacy issues, disciplinary action and termination, reductions in force, employment-at-will/wrongful discharge, alternative dispute resolution, employment agreements, restrictive covenants and confidentiality agreements, severance agreements, waivers and releases, and unemployment compensation claims.

Sally routinely represents employers in employment discrimination litigation before the federal and state courts, as well as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, Ohio Civil Rights Commission, and City of Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations. She also represents employers in all aspects of labor relations, including collective bargaining, grievances, arbitration, and National Labor Relations Board and Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board proceedings. Sally has extensive experience with wage and hour practice before the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage & Hour Division.

 

Sally has conducted numerous workplace investigations for private and public sector clients, law firms, academic institutions, and health care and senior living institutions. She also has served as an expert witness on employment and wage issues in court and arbitration hearings.
 

During her career, Sally practiced employment and labor law as a partner or shareholder in prominent law firms and served as in-house employment counsel for a major electric utility in Pittsburgh. Her work has always focused on employment and labor matters, prior to, while attending and since graduating from law school. While attending law school, Sally worked as a personnel specialist at Union Switch and Signal and served as a law clerk for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and in the labor and employment department of a Pittsburgh law firm. She held numerous leadership and board positions in the Pittsburgh Human Resources Association and was a co-founder of Tri-State Society for Human Resources Management.

Sally has published numerous articles on alternative dispute resolution and employment law and is a regular speaker on mediation, employment, labor law, and human resources issues for bar associations and human resource groups. She has been a speaker and moderator with panels of mediators and judges for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the Academy of Trial Lawyers, Federal Bar Association, Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI), and MCWP’s Conflict Resolution Day programs. For over 20 years, Sally served on the faculty of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s Employment Law Institute and is also a Course Planner for the organization. She also served on the faculty of other PBI employment and alternative dispute resolution programs. Sally serves on the founding course planning committee for the Allegheny County Bar Association Labor & Employment Law Symposium.

CAPABILITIES
 

Alternative Dispute Resolution

•    Mediation
•    Early Neutral Evaluation
•    Arbitration
•    Internal Conflict Resolution

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Employment & Labor Law

•    Advice & Counsel
•    Legal Compliance
•    Employment Discrimination
•    Disability & Reasonable Accommodation
•    FMLA
•    Legal Representation
•    Collective Bargaining
•    Grievance & Arbitration

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Court Admissions
Pennsylvania

West Virginia* 
Ohio*
U.S. Supreme Court*
U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit*

U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit*

U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit*

U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit*

U.S. District Court, Pennsylvania
U.S. District Court, West Virginia*
U.S. District Court, Indiana*
U.S. District Court, New York*
*Inactive Status

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Academics
J.D., Duquesne University School of Law
Certificate in Personnel & Industrial Relations, University of Pittsburgh
B.A. in Speech Communication & Theatre and Journalism/Public Relations, Duquesne University

Certifications
Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR), Human Resources Certification Institute
Advanced Workplace Practitioner Status, Association for Conflict Resolution
Approved Mediator, Pennsylvania Bar Association Lawyer Dispute Resolution Program
 

Experience
Leech Tishman Fuscaldo & Lampl, LLC
Babst, Calland, Clements & Zomnir, PC

Polito & Smock, PC
Buchanan Ingersoll, PC (now Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC)

Duquesne Light Company (In-House Employment and Labor Counsel)

Baskin, Flaherty, Elliott & Mannino, PC
Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (Law Clerk)
 

Professional Memberships/Honors

College of Labor & Employment Lawyers (Fellow)

American Bar Foundation (Fellow)
American Bar Association (Labor and Employment Law Section; Section of Dispute Resolution)

Pennsylvania Bar Association (Approved Mediator, Lawyer Dispute Resolution Program, Former Chair and Vice Chair, ADR Committee; Member, Labor and Employment Section; Member, Women in the Profession Commission)

Allegheny County Bar Association (Council Member, Labor and Employment Law Section; Member, ADR Committee; Member, Women in the Law Division Model Policy Committee)
Allegheny County Personnel Board (Former Member)

Association for Conflict Resolution
Mediation Council of Western Pennsylvania (Board Member, Past President; Former Program Chair)

Pennsylvania Council of Mediators
Pittsburgh Human Resources Association (Former Board Member; Former Newsletter Editor; Former Membership Chairperson)
Society of Human Resource Management
Tri-State Society for Human Resources Management(Founding Member; Board Member; Former President)

Professional Accolades

Martindale Hubbell
Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated Attorney  
Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers
Best Lawyers in America Mediation (2011-2024), Alternative Dispute Resolution (2015-2017), Litigation- Labor and Employment (2011-2024), Employment Law- Management (2011-2024), Best Lawyers in America: Women in the Law Edition
Mediator of the Year (2021; 2018; 2016), Best Lawyers Pittsburgh

Super Lawyers Top 50 Women Pennsylvania Super Lawyers, Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Magazine (2009-2011) Pennsylvania Super Lawyers, Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Magazine (2005, 2007-2024),Top 50 Pittsburgh Super Lawyers, Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Magazine (2009-2011)

Additional Accolades
Pennsylvania Bar Association Sir Francis Bacon Alternative Dispute Resolution Award (2014)

ADR Training

Harvard Law School, Program on Negotiation, Mediation Workshop (1999), Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
Mediation Council of Western Pennsylvania Training (2000-2024)
The Conflict Lab (2023)
Advanced Mediation Training, Center for Dispute Resolution (2000, 2004, 2015)
Conflict Resolution and Mediation Training, Pittsburgh Mediation Center (1998) AAA Employment Arbitration I & II Training Programs
ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Mediation Training

Publications
List of speaking engagements/published articles available upon request.

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