John Paul Jones

ADR Specialist: His familiarity with ADR processes spans over 30 years and for the last 10 years he has limited his practice to mediation and ADR.  He is a Certified Circuit Civil Mediator in Florida and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. He mediates on a national basis, encompassing a wide range of cases that includes complex and multiparty cases and in the subject matter areas of employment, commercial litigation, medical malpractice and toxic torts.

He has designed ADR programs for the management of backlogged toxic tort cases and has served as a court-appointed Special Master for ADR in the administration of a broad ADR program to provide mediation and ADR for 2,000 asbestos-related cases

He was selected as one of the mediators for a mediation program growing out of the settlement of a nationwide lawsuit filed against Merrill Lynch.  Counsel for the class action plaintiffs and Merrill Lynch jointly selected mediators from throughout the country.  He has also served as neutral reviewer in a nationwide program involving the resolution of life insurance claims.

Training: He is a faculty member at The National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada, where for the last eight years he has taught a forty-hour civil mediation course to judges from throughout the country.  For the last several years, he has regularly taught mediation, negotiation and communication in South Africa, and has served as an adjunct professor of ADR at Stetson University College of Law in St. Petersburg, Florida.

He has authored a number of articles in the areas of mediation and ADR, including Legal Ethics and ADR, , Mediation Advocacy: Seven Steps for Effective Preparation and Summary Jury Trial.  He is a Chief Justice appointee to Florida’s initial Mediator Qualifications Board of which he is a past chair and continues to serve as a member.  He is a member of SPIDR, the American Bar Association and its ADR Section.

He is a certified practitioner in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), a discipline that relates to precise and effective human communication.   With his extensive and intensive study of human communications he brings to mediation or ADR processes keen and insightful facilitation skills to maximize the chances of resolution. 

Further information available by contacting him at johnpaul@jpjgroup.com

Nancy Neal Yeend

Practice Areas and Specialization

Nancy Neal Yeend, national dispute management specialist, maintains a bi-coastal dispute prevention, resolution and management practice. Combining nearly twenty years of mediation background with entrepreneurial experience, Nancy brings extensive insight and wisdom to her profession. She manages the West Coast Regional Office of The John Paul Jones Group.

Problem Resolver: As a mediator and arbitrator, Nancy facilitates settlements and decides issues involving real estate, construction, partnership, employment and a variety of contract and civil matters. Comfortable with disputes between two individuals or large, complex, multiparty cases, Nancy has mastered the skills necessary to manage effectively a variety of ADR processes, enabling participants to resolve their differences with satisfying, creative and lasting agreements. She mediates for courts, including trial and appellate, and for governmental entities including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Trainer, Author and Researcher: She designed more than eighteen different courses that provide participants with skills enabling them to prevent or constructively manage controversies. Nancy is a popular faculty member of The National Judicial College, at several colleges (including San Francisco Law School, Franklin Pierce Law Center and Stetson University College of Law) and for public and private organizations. With many articles to her credit, including Legal Ethics and ADR, How to Make Your Mediation Practice a Successful Business, Mediation Advocacy: Seven Steps for Effective Preparation, and Summary Jury Trial, Nancy wrote three chapters for California ADR Practice Guide. Her research, State Appellate ADR: National Survey and Use Analysis with Implementation Guidelines, is the first comprehensive national review of state-courts.

Strategist: Her dispute management experience is extensive, ranging from the design of an international institute for resolution of intellectual property matters to development of a computer-based dispute management system for an on-line marketplace. Nancy designed strategies for complex litigation management and the prevention of workplace controversies. Combining critical thinking and strategic analysis, with practical, hands-on business experience, she is quick to grasp the important aspects of a problematic situation, and to insightfully design ways to prevent future controversies while constructively managing existing difficult situations.

For résumé, please send request and identify the type of case or problem needing resolution to: nancy@jpjgroup.com