Leech Tishman Litigation & Alternative Dispute Resolution Partner Sally Griffith Cimini Selected as an Approved Mediator for Pennsylvania Bar Association Dispute Resolution Program

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Pittsburgh, PA – February 25, 2022- Leech Tishman is pleased to announce that firm Litigation & Alternative Dispute Resolution partner Sally Griffith Cimini was recently selected as an Approved Mediator for the Pennsylvania Bar Association Lawyer Dispute Resolution Program (“LDRP”).

The LDRP, open to all lawyers both PBA and non-PBA members, is a service offered to lawyers that may be engaged in a law firm dispute, dissolution or withdrawal, or in a fee dispute with another lawyer. Through this program, the parties involved may choose one of two procedures to resolve their dispute: mediation alone or mediation followed by binding arbitration.

LDRP mediators and arbitrators represent every region of the Commonwealth and include former judges, lawyer-accountants, law professors, and lawyers who have managed large and small firms and businesses. They are experienced in mediation, arbitration or law practice management and have been trained in accounting, tax, ethics, and other issues involved in law firm and fee disputes. The mediators and arbitrators are chosen from a different geographical area than the disputants unless the disputants stipulate otherwise.

Cimini is a Partner in Leech Tishman’s Litigation Practice Group, where she leads the Alternative Dispute Resolution Group. She is also a member of the Employment & Labor Practice Group, where she leads the Workplace Investigation and Discipline Group. Cimini is based in the Pittsburgh office and is highly regarded for her experience in the areas of alternative dispute resolution and employment and labor law.

Cimini is well-known in the field of alternative dispute resolution, particularly as a mediator, arbitrator, and early neutral evaluator, and has been 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 Cimini 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. Cimini initiated MCWP’s bi-monthly mediation education roundtable program and pioneered its annual Conflict Resolution Day program. For many years, she has served as a planner of the Allegheny Bar Association’s annual Kaplan Lecture on Conflict Resolution.

Cimini was trained in mediation at the Harvard School of Law, and she has mediated hundreds, if not thousands, of cases over the past 21 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. Cimini 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 Cimini privately mediate disputes outside of formal administrative or court processes.

Cimini 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 her 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.

ABOUT THE PENNSYLVANIA BAR ASSOCIATION 

Founded in 1895, the Pennsylvania Bar Association strives to promote justice, professional excellence, and respect for the law; improve public understanding of the legal system; facilitate access of legal services; and serve the lawyer members of the state’s largest organized bar association.

ABOUT LEECH TISHMAN 

Leech Tishman Fuscaldo & Lampl is a full-service law firm dedicated to assisting individuals, businesses, and institutions. Leech Tishman offers legal services in business restructuring & insolvency, corporate matters, employment & labor, estates & trusts, intellectual property, litigation & alternative dispute resolution, and real estate. In addition, the firm offers a wide range of legal services to clients in the aviation & aerospace, cannabis, construction, energy & natural resources, healthcare, and hospitality industries. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, Leech Tishman also has offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Sarasota, Washington, D.C. and Wilmington, DE.