The instructors in our programs are highly experienced practitioners and trainers who bring a deep understanding of theory combined with real world experience to deliver highly interactive trainings and workshops.
Faculty: Bill Logue Loraine Della Porta Melinda Gehris Carrie Kaas Lauren Adams Greg Eaton
William DeVane Logue
Bill Logue teaches negotiation as an Adjunct Professor at Quinnipiac Law School where he is also Senior Fellow and Director of Training Programs and co-director of the Connecticut Agricultural Mediation Program. He is also a West Hartford based independent mediator, facilitator, consensus builder, trainer and consultant to individuals, groups, associations, corporations, law firms, foundations and public organizations. He has helped creatively craft agreements that build relationships and promote practical solutions to difficult problems. Bill has worked in the field of conflict resolution since 1986 in the public and private sector. He is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Connecticut School of Law and is admitted to practice law in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Bill’s public policy consensus building and facilitation work has included projects with for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority/US Department of Energy, the Long Island Sound Study and the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary, and the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management.
Bill frequently mediates employment, workplace, commercial, construction and other matters. He has designed and led mediation, negotiation and conflict resolution training programs for organizations including the Connecticut Judicial Branch Judges and the Housing Mediation Unit, the Connecticut CHRO, Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation and Department of Capital Asset Management, and the National Association of Attorneys General, health care, financial and other industries in the private sector. Bill contributed three chapters to the Mediation Practice Book published in 2001 and was a regular contributing columnist on ADR to the Connecticut Law Tribune for several years. Bill is past chair of the Connecticut Bar Association ADR Section and past Co-Chair of the Standing Committee on Dispute Resolution in the Courts, he is a past President of the New England Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution, a panelist with the Connecticut Department of Education, the US Postal Service and a Senior Affiliate Practitioner with the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration. He is past Chair of the Connecticut Bar Foundation James Cooper Fellows and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Loraine M. Della Porta
Loraine’s public sector career spans over 25 years and reflects extensive experience in public engagement, organizational development, dispute systems design and training. She is a trained lawyer and experienced mediator, facilitator and dispute systems designer.
Prior to establishing her own firm and working with The Logue Group, Loraine served for 12 years as the Deputy Director of the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC), a free-standing institute of the University of Massachusetts Boston which serves as a neutral forum and state/regional-level resource to assist public entities in resolving conflict and collaborating on important policy issues within government and across sectors. During her tenure, she played a major role in designing dispute systems and delivering training and capacity-building programs for federal, state and municipal officials, including for the Governor’s Executive Leadership Academy, the MA Department of Revenue, MA Department of Corrections and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Loraine also served as the director of UMass Boston’s Kettering Public Policy Institute, which provided a vehicle for communities to engage in deliberative dialogue and civil discourse, and public policy issues such as immigration, affordable health care, land use/environmental issues, racial/ethnic tensions and youth violence.
Loraine graduated with honors from Providence College and Roger Williams University School of Law. She is certified by the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) and assists government entities and other organizations (domestic and foreign) in framing issues for public dialogue and deliberation. Loraine is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Peace, Democracy and Development and the University of Massachusetts Boston and where she currently teaches Advanced Intervention Techniques for Public Disputes for the Graduate Programs in Conflict Resolution. She also teaches mediation at Roger Williams University School of Law.
Melinda Gehris
Melinda Gehris has been mediating professionally since 1994. Her practice includes both private clients and work for the New Hampshire Probate and Superior Courts, the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire, the EEOC and the Human Rights Commission. Melinda has facilitated the resolution of many types of disputes involving family and divorce, probate, trusts and estates, real estate, landlord tenant, personal injury, collections, employment, contract interpretation and disputes between business owners. Melinda is a New Hampshire Certified Family Mediator.
Melinda is an experienced trainer, developing and leading programs in dispute resolution from basic mediation skills to advanced, specialized dispute resolution training and negotiation. She especially enjoys assisting students as they become comfortable with complex tools for working with others, either in negotiation, arbitration or mediation. Melinda studies and teaches ethics for dispute resolution professionals. She is trained in Powerful Non-Defensive Communication (PNDC). She teaches Dispute Resolution at the University Of New Hampshire School of Law.
Melinda also designs and implements conflict management systems for businesses and other organizations. She is adept at assisting individuals and work groups as they identify ways to develop tolerance and cooperation in the workplace.
Melinda has written and published several articles on dispute resolution topics. She has been named to Woodward and White’s Best Lawyers in America in dispute resolution since 2007. She has previously been named Best in Dispute Resolution by New Hampshire Business Magazine and one of the Top Lawyers in Dispute Resolution by New Hampshire Magazine. Melinda was appointed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court Committee on Dispute Resolution. She is the past President of the Board of the New Hampshire Conflict Resolution Association and a member of the New Hampshire Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Committee and the New Hampshire Bar Association ADR Section. Melinda is the President of The Non-Defensive Voice International and a Board Member of The Non-Defensive Voice, Inc.
Melinda received a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law and also earned a Certificate in Dispute Resolution from the University of Massachusetts.
Carolyn Wilkes Kaas ("Carrie")
Wilkes Kaas is an associate professor of law at Quinnipiac University School of Law, and is the co-director of theCenter on Dispute Resolution. Kaas also serves as the director of clinical programs, as well as the director of the School of Law's concentration programs in family law and civil advocacy and dispute resolution. Professor Kaas taught for 20 years in the in-house Civil Clinic, supervising students in a variety of civil and family matters.
She is currently teaching a wide range of field placement courses including a Mediation Externship. She also teaches negotiation, and is the lead professor for the clinical prerequisite course "Introduction to Representing Clients," which focuses on interviewing, counseling and negotiation skills.
Kaas has served on several committees and boards, including the national Clinical Legal Education Association and the Connecticut Bar Association Standing Committee on Professionalism. In 2011, she served on the Chief Justice's Commission on Civil ADR in the Courts. She is studying non-defensive communication and its application in law and mediation, and is a founding board member of the Canadian and the international non-profit "The Non-Defensive Voice." She also serves on the boards of Connecticut Council for Non-Adversarial Divorce, Connecticut Legal Services, and is a founding member of the Connecticut Mediation Network.
Kaas graduated from Cornell University in 1976, from University of Connecticut School of Law in 1983, with highest honors, and clerked for the Honorable Ellen Bree Burns from 1983-85, at the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut. She was an associate with Wiggin and Dana before joining the faculty at the law school.
Lauren Girard Adams, Esq.
Lauren's practice at Hess Gehris Solutions focuses on helping clients move through conflict and enhance communication, collaboration and productivity in the workplace.
As a mediator, Lauren leverages her background in alternative dispute resolution to help clients resolve matters related to employment, personal injury, divorce, property and a wide array of business disputes.
Lauren has designed, co-created, and led trainings for clients throughout New Hampshire, as well as in Massachusetts and Vermont. Lauren leads trainings focused on teambuilding, cultural transformation, workplace conflict management, having difficult conversations, sharing and receiving feedback, and constructively managing difficult employees.
Prior to joining HGS, Lauren served as a co-chair of the Children’s Rights Litigation Committee of the ABA’s Section of Litigation. Lauren was also a Clinical Assistant Professor of Law at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.
Lauren received a J.D., cum laude, from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in Chicago, IL, and has completed mediation programs through Champlain College in Burlington, VT and RoundTable Mediation in Bedford, NH.Lauren also is trained in Powerful Non-Defensive Communication, Reflective Structured Dialogue and Success Counseling.
Greg Eaton, Esq.
Greg Eaton brings years of experience as a trial lawyer and mediator to his work helping people resolve disputes. Greg has worked as a mediator in Vermont and New Hampshire for over 20 years and has the skills and insight needed to help people resolve all types of disputes. Clients appreciate the judgment and empathy Greg brings to his work. Greg is committed to supporting clients in a process where they take control of conflicts and actively work to manage them through open and honest communication.
In his years as a trial lawyer Greg developed a strong ability to empathize and communicate with different types of people and personalities. In his work as a mediator, he strives to create an atmosphere of respectful communication so parties can resolve conflict. Greg enjoys using the skills he has developed over the years to help people deal with workplace conflicts and develop sustaining relationships going forward.
Greg has received many hours of mediation training, and training in Powerful Non-Defensive Communication. Greg is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and teaches Dispute Resolution at the University of New Hampshire School of Law.