This program is eligible for 2 hours of CLE credit in 60-minute states. In 50-minute states, this program is eligible for 2.4 hours of CLE credit. Credit hours are estimated and are subject to each state’s approval and credit rounding rules.
Overview
Please join us for a two-hour CLE providing tips from Mediators and Arbitrators from around the Commonwealth designed to improve your chances for success.
During the first hour, Attorney Daniel E. Cummins and Attorney Paul T. Oven, two Federal Middle District Court certified Mediators will provide tips and guidance for members of the bar on how to prepare for an ADR proceeding and how to effectively represent one's client at an ADR proceeding, whether one is on the defense side or the plaintiff's side.
During the second hour noted Mediators/Arbitrators, Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie and Attorney John Noble, will provide additional tips and guidance designed to assist plaintiffs counsel and defense counsel in navigating ADR proceedings with an eye for securing the best result possible for one's client.
Recorded in November 2024.
Faculty
John M. Noble, Esq.
Mr. Noble is the principal of noblemediation, LLC, serving throughout Pennsylvania and beyond as a full-time Mediator and Arbitrator – over 5,200 civil matters since 2003 – including 1,200+ remote sessions in the Covid era. Achieving $320M in settlement dollars in 2023, Mr. Noble’s historical mediated settlements exceed two and a half billion dollars. A 1982 graduate of the Duquesne University School of Law, he received his undergraduate degree with Honors from Washington and Jefferson College, where he twice received All-Conference varsity football honors as well as being a four-year starter on the varsity wrestling team as a three-year team captain and Most Valuable Wrestler. A recent Past-President of the Westmoreland Bar Association, he was previously associated with the Pittsburgh-based civil litigation law firm Meyer Darragh Buckler Bebenek and Eck from 1979 to 2009, having served both as a Senior and Managing Partner. While a frequent ADR speaker, guest lecturer and author, Mr. Noble is also well-known in the Westmoreland Arts community, performing on local stages in over 150 musicals and raising $400,000+ for Westmoreland County High School Musical Theatre programs through his “Westmoreland Night of the Stars” Palace Theatre showcase established in 1997. In his “spare time”, Mr. Noble has publicly performed with the Murphy’s Music Center’s Big Band over the past 9 years via his alter ego, “almost Sinatra…..”
Daniel E. Cummins, Esq.
Daniel E. Cummins, Esquire is the founder of the Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania law firm of Cummins Law, which he opened in 2019 with his nearly 30 years of experience in insurance defense litigation. His practice centers around defending against automobile accident claims and premises liability cases along with the defense of products liability and medical malpractice matters. Attorney Cummins also handles insurance coverage and insurance subrogation claims as well. Attorney Cummins also serves as a Mediator and helps litigants bring their matters to a close through Cummins Mediation Services and as a certified Mediator for the Federal Middle District Court of Pennsylvania. He is also part of the Monroe County list of Mediators. Attorney Cummins has been granted a Pre-Eminent AV rating by Martindale-Hubbell, which is the highest rating possible in that directory’s peer review system for lawyers. In 2014, Mr. Cummins was awarded the “Distinguished Defense Counsel of the Year” honor by the Pennsylvania Defense Institute for excellence in defense litigation and service to the bar. Since 2015, Attorney Cummins has also been annually selected in the Best Lawyers in America Directory under the category of attorneys who practice Personal Injury Law – Defense. In 2023, his law firm Cummins Law was also selected to appear in the Directory as one of the Best Law Firms in the Country. Attorney Cummins is a graduate of Villanova University (’90, B.A., cum laude, English) and The Dickinson School of Law (Carlisle, PA) (’93, J.D.). He completed his law school studies at the University of London, Faculty of Laws in London, England. After graduating from law school, Mr. Cummins served as the Senior Law Clerk for the Honorable Harold A. Thomson, Jr. in the Pike County Court of Common Pleas. After the completion of his two-year clerkship, Attorney Cummins went into private practice in 1997, practicing ever since in the insurance defense field. In addition to being an insurance defense litigator, Attorney Cummins also serves as a frequently contributing columnist with the Pennsylvania Law Weekly and other publications covering emerging trends in civil litigation in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Over the course of his career, Cummins has published over 190 articles. Attorney Cummins is also the sole creator and writer of an award-winning legal blog entitled “Tort Talk” which can be viewed at www.TortTalk.com. The blog, which was created 15 years ago in May of 2009, provides updates on important cases and trends in Pennsylvania civil litigation law. Over the years, the Tort Talk blog has been selected and honored by both the ABA Law Journal and LexisNexis as one of the Top Insurance Law Blogs, as well as one of the Top Tort Law Blogs in the entire United States. Tort Talk was also recently recognized as one of the Top 15 legal blogs in the entire world by www.Feedspot.com. Attorney Cummins has also served as an Attorney Advisor for the Abington Heights High School Mock Trial team in 1999 and again from 2016 to the present, during all of which years one of his three sons was on the team. The Abington Heights High School Mock Trial Team has won the Pennsylvania State Championship 3 out of the last 4 years and was the National Mock Trial Team in 2024.
Paul Oven, Esq.
Paul started as a Law Clerk with Dougherty Leventhal & Price, L.L.P. while attending the University of Scranton in 1990. After completing law school in 1995, he started as an Associate in the Scranton/Moosic office immediately and became a Partner in 2000. He focuses his practice on complex civil litigation including medical malpractice, product liability, insurance bad faith and automobile/trucking cases. Paul has served extensively as both a Mediator and an Arbitrator in both State and Federal actions. Having started his career working for Defendants and liability insurance carriers before moving to primarily Plaintiff work in 2005, he’s been retained by Plaintiff lawyers and most liability insurance carriers in the State to resolve matters they cannot resolve themselves. He’s been retained to resolve matters throughout Pennsylvania and has nearly a 100% success rate for mediations. He is a Certified Mediator within the United States District Court for the Middle District of PA. He has been named a Board Certified Civil Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy since 2003 and was recognized as a “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer Rising Star” each year between 2005 and 2010. He has been named a “Pennsylvania Super Lawyer” every year since 2011. He is also a Fellow in the Litigation Council of America which is a Trial Lawyer honorary society composed of less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers. He was most recently selected by the National Trial Lawyers as a Top 100 Trial Lawyer every year since 2012. Membership into this organization is by invitation only and is extended to those individuals who exemplify superior qualifications, trial results and leadership in their respective State. Paul has lectured extensively for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Pennsylvania Association of Justice, Defense Research Institute, Dispute Resolution Institute, Lackawanna County Bar Association, Luzerne County Bar Association, Monroe County Bar Association, National Business Institute, Tort Talk Legal Blog, Committee for Justice For All, Northeast Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association and American Board of Trial Advocacy. He is a member of the NEPA Trial Lawyers’ Association, American Association of Justice, Pennsylvania Bar Association and Lackawanna County Bar Association. The Northeast Business Journal named Paul as one of Northeast PA’s Top Twenty Under Forty for 2008
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