By: WAMS Staff

“Navigator” is a word Michelle Corsi often uses when describing her role as an actively practicing trial attorney and member of the WAMS mediation and arbitration panel. With a practice focus that professional liability, employment and personal injury, Michelle’s commitment to clients and effectiveness over her 20-year legal career have earned her top honors and distinguished recognition among her peers. She finds it personally rewarding and challenging to help clients navigate the litigation process which, for most, is their first and only experience with the law.

As a mediator, Michelle uses her perceptiveness and communication skills as navigational tools to help guide parties through mediation to resolution. She sees mediation as a conversational forum in which participants are encouraged to tell their stories and be heard by a neutral, compassionate listener. She prepares herself well in advance of the mediation by reading submissions, contacting counsel with questions as needed, then listening actively to discover the respective parties’ motivations and goals to establish a course for resolution. Michelle’s practical experience as a trial lawyer makes her a relevant guide, as she is current in litigation trends and knows what courts and juries are doing. Michelle says, “I believe that most cases have a resolution point and it is always worth the effort to find it.”

Following a family tradition, Michelle earned her undergraduate degree at WSU, where she, her brothers and cousin often play intramural softball and flag football teams. An English major, Michelle pursuing a legal career after completing a course in Constitutional Law. While at Willamette University College of Law, she earned a Certificate of Dispute Resolution and volunteered in a legal clinic run by local attorneys.

After receiving her law degree from Willamette in 1994, she clerked for a Snohomish County judge before receiving an invitation to join the Lee Smart firm in Seattle, where she is now a shareholder. Years of positive experiences with WAMS rekindled her interest in becoming a mediator was welcomed to our mediation and arbitration panel in 2013 after completing the University of Washington’s Professional Mediation Course and WAMS Advanced Mediator training.

Michelle’s navigational skills are also instrumental in her private life. As parents of two sports Michelle and her husband are fully involved with community events and youth activities in They both serve on the Board of Directors of Pacific Little League, an organization serving 800 and girls playing baseball and softball between the ages of 5 and 18. As a board member and “player agent,” Michelle forms the baseball tea games and organizes the all is also a team coach and last summer coached the team that represented the entire Northwest Region at the Little League World Series in Will Pennsylvania. During winter, the whole snowboarding and skiing at Stevens Pass and Whistler.

Michelle’s personal and professional experience, knowledge and commitment to the mediation process make her an effective navigator for clients and a valuable addition to the WAMS panel.

By: Penny Gans, WAMS Staff

John Cooper, a senior member of the WAMS mediation and arbitration panel, is best described by these words of a frequent WAMS client: “John Cooper is a ‘closer’. He evaluates cases well…gets to the point in negotiations and when he feels that a settlement can be had, he closes the case. If the parties are negotiable, John always gets it done.”

During his distinguished career, John has worn many hats. Not only has he been a member of the WAMS mediator panel since 1989, but he has also been a Washington State Court of Appeals law clerk, law firm partner, solo and swing arbitrator, private judge, seminar presenter and author. He has also earned high honors on the golf course and in the kitchen.

John grew up in Seattle and the San Francisco Bay area. He started college at Whitman and transferred to UC-Santa Barbara to take advantage of the very low in-state tuition while he worked his way toward a degree in Economics with high honors. He returned to Seattle and earned his law degree at the UW and spent a year clerking for the Honorable Jerome Farris at the Washington State Court of Appeals. He then joined the Seattle law firm that subsequently became Stafford Frey Cooper. As a practicing attorney, John represented plaintiffs and defendants in a wide range of cases, including negligence and product liability, insurance coverage, commercial, maritime, fidelity and surety law. Because of his experience on both sides of the legal fence, he is often asked to be the neutral or “swing” member of an arbitration panel. In 1989, John represented a client in a WAMS mediation and was subsequently invited to a mediation training session. After joining the WAMS mediation and arbitration panel, his activities as a WAMS neutral soon accounted for nearly 70% of his practice. John changed his relationship with his law firm to “Of Counsel” and became a full-time WAMS mediator/arbitrator.

John’s continued success is based on thorough preparation and his ability to listen carefully to all parties and let them know that he understands their positions. He particularly enjoys the psychology of mediation: reading the participants and “reframing” and delivering messages between them so that progress in the negotiations can continue. John welcomes challenging medical negligence and employment cases because of the interesting legal issues and high caliber of counsel. He thrives on hearing that “You’ll have your work cut out for you on this one!”. As a former trial lawyer, he feels strongly that a successful mediation can be especially therapeutic for the plaintiff, ending the necessity of reliving an unpleasant experience many times to attorneys, doctors and a jury. In John’s words, “I doubt any trial lawyer has ever had a client describe the trial experience as ‘a lot of fun’”. His goal is for all parties to be able to look back at the results of the chosen resolution process and say “that was a good thing.”

Away from WAMS, John and his wife Barbara enjoy traveling to Palm Springs and Hawaii in the winter, as well as taking trips with their eleven-year-old grandson Zach (who has accompanied them to Italy and the East Coast). John’s golf handicap is in the lower double digits, so when the WAMS calendar shows him as “N/A”, it likely means he’s on a golf course somewhere warm (although he also has an annual January golf outing at Bandon Dunes in Oregon.)

To recuperate from the stresses of work and golf, John enjoys spending time in his Bainbridge Island garden and creating delicious meals with his harvest and other local delicacies. A quick and tasty recipe ala John Cooper: Sauté a bit of diced pancetta and finely chopped shallots briefly in olive oil, then add bay scallops for 2-3 minutes; remove, reduce the pan juices with a bit of white wine, and serve with John’s garlic rosemary foccacia bread (recipe provided elsewhere in the newsletter).

John Cooper is truly a multi-faceted man for all seasons and cases and a highly valued asset to WAMS and our clients.

By: Penny Gans | WAMS Staff

In her 20+ years as a mediator and arbitrator with WAMS, Michele Sales has earned the respect of plaintiff and defense counsel alike for her understanding of legal issues, her ability to put injured parties at ease in highly stressful situations, and her diligence in following through after the mediation to resolve any remaining issues. As one of her long-time clients puts it, “Michele does more to get a case settled than any other mediator I have ever worked with.”

Michele believes that “most cases should settle, and sooner than a week before the trial.” She values the mediation process for “forcing people to talk to each other sooner than they otherwise might and for helping attorneys settle cases without risking being seen as weak.” She believes successful mediation requires the mediator to have experience in the subject area and come to the table thoroughly prepared. Michele says that although the mediator can’t know everything about the case, it is important to demonstrate to both client and attorney that she is engaged and actively listening. Settlement may depend on the financial situation of the parties, the influence of another similar case, relationships, desire for confidentiality, or other issues that are not initially evident to the mediator. Michele is known for her persistence and encouragement of clients to keep working toward settlement if the case doesn’t resolve at mediation. As the complexity of her mediation practice has grown in recent years, Michele has often found herself without enough time to fully resolve all issues requiring attention. As a result, she decided in 2011 to require clients scheduling with her to devote a full day to the mediation. Michele understands that some of her clients may not require a full day for all of their cases, but she is confident that most of the cases she mediates will benefit from having the additional time allocated.

Michele grew up in El Paso, Texas, polished her “convincing” skills in high school debate, and completed undergraduate and law school at Duke University. An active Duke alumna (particularly during college basketball season, when she “bleeds Duke Blue”), she has served as president of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and as a member of the University Board of Trustees. Duke Law School has asked her to serve as Referee and mediator for major medical product liability class action suits, as well as gender discrimination and sexual harassment class actions against national firms. On a lighter note, it was at Duke that Michele took her first golf lesson, beginning a lifetime of joy and frustration. Michele met Chris, her future husband, while he was a Naval officer stationed in California. His transfer to Italy during her last two years of law school meant summers and Christmas in Italy and an opportunity to spend time in the Navy’s Legal Service Office, assisting with courts-martial. After a move to Seattle in 1981, Michele joined the Oles Morrison firm and spent the next few years handling personal injury, insurance, and employment defense matters, plus “any case that needed a woman”. She became a partner in 1989, then left to establish Steele and Sales with Katherine Steele in 1990, specializing in asbestos litigation. Although Michele had been a WAMS neutral since 1988, it was in 2001 that she became a full-time mediator, focusing on employment, product liability, personal injury, and other areas involving complex legal issues.

Among the many community activities she has enjoyed, Michele singles out her involvement as a member of the Navy League committee to commission ships accepted into the Navy, a ceremony known as “bringing the ship alive”. In addition to working locally on the commissioning of the USS Shoup in 2002, Michele attended the commissioning of the USS Ronald Reagan in Norfolk, VA in 2003, watching Nancy Reagan formally bring the ship into the U.S. Navy. Through her association with the Navy League, Michele became involved with Seafair and served on its Board of Directors from 2002-2009. As Chairman of the Board in 2009, she delighted the friends and colleagues watching her waving graciously to the Seafair Parade crowds from the back of a bright yellow Corvette convertible.

Chris and Michele enjoy cruising in the San Juans and have recently traveled in Spain, Argentina, and New Zealand, sharing their highly entertaining travel blogs with friends and associates. They also try to attend the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas as often as possible – Michele is a Texas gal, after all!

By: Natalie Snyder | WAMS Staff

The path to becoming a professional mediator is somewhat unique for each member of the WAMS mediation panel. In the case of Pat Duffy, the opportunity to become a mediator came from WAMS in 2001, in the form of a request that he consider being trained to join the panel. Pat practiced plaintiff’s personal injury law in Tacoma from 1975-1992, then moved his practice to Sumner in 1992. He utilized mediation in his own law practice before ever becoming a mediator.

“Pat Duffy had been a WAMS client for many years, so the staff and mediators at WAMS had numerous opportunities to see first-hand what an exemplary lawyer and person he is. He always treated his clients, colleagues and support staff with the utmost respect and courtesy, so we hoped he would become a WAMS mediator as soon as possible,” according to WAMS President and House Counsel, Diane McGaha. “He’s just the kind of person you enjoy being around,” she says.

“Bringing people together” is what mediation is all about for Pat Duffy. As Pat says, “I like people, I like stories, and I’ve heard many good ones over the years. I guess that is part of my Irish heritage.” Pat got much of his professional inspiration from his father, a family doctor who practiced medicine for many years in Pierce County. Pat says his father encouraged him as a young man in ways that made him want to be a person who makes a difference. “I like to learn a little bit about the plaintiff and often ask about their background, family, education and work. This helps to put the person at ease, since walking into a formal office setting and meeting new people can be an intimidating experience for some.”

The challenges of the adversarial process and the different approaches taken by plaintiff and defense counsel are what keep Pat enjoying his mediation work. “I try to understand the issues and hopefully identify areas of agreement in order to resolve the dispute.” Pat’s favorite aspect of the mediation process is that “the result of a mediation is more predictable than a jury verdict.” As a mediation client himself, he also understands that “there are benefits to the clients and attorneys – one of which is minimizing the expense” of litigation.

During his off time, Pat enjoys traveling with his wife (Karen) to a warm spot to play golf. Pat and Karen have three adult daughters, Deirdre, Clare and Tory, who still live in the Puget Sound area. As an active member of the Sumner Rotary Club, Pat also enjoys being involved locally and internationally in support of schools and food programs.

Pat Duffy serves as a WAMS mediator and arbitrator with expertise in the areas of serious personal injury, employment, auto accidents and UM/UIM arbitrations.

“I like people, I like stories, and I’ve heard many good ones over the years. I guess that is part of my Irish heritage.” – Pat Duffy