Cranfill Sumner LLP

Our attorneys educate and counsel clients on creative and cost-effective ways to resolve their disputes, including alternative dispute resolution (ADR) options like mediation and arbitration.

The ADR Practice Group is chaired by Richard Boyette, recognized as a well respected mediator in North Carolina. He developed an active mediation practice in the early 1990s and has mediated more than 1,600 disputes in a broad range of subject matters.

CSH attorneys from all practice groups work to help clients avoid litigation through various ADR methods.

• Our Business Law Practice Group counsels clients on the inclusion of arbitration and mediation clauses in key contracts.
• Our attorneys are often asked to serve as arbitrators or mediators to settle disputes.
• Ten of our attorneys are North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission-certified mediators, including Richard Boyette, Buck Copeland, Dan Hartzog, Dawn Lane, John Ong, Amy Pfeiffer, Russell Racine, Benton Toups, Nick Valaoras, and J. Greer Vanderberry, Jr., and David Ward.

The ADR Practice Group also includes Collaborative Law. The firm’s Collaborative Law practice is led by John Ong who, in addition to serving as a mediator, is a member of the Collaborative Law Committee of the North Carolina Bar Associations’ Alternative Dispute Resolution Section and is a leader in the initiative to bring Collaborative Law to the resolution of Civil Cases and Construction Disputes.

Collaborative law provides our clients with another alternative to traditional legal dispute resolution that is fast, confidential, cost effective and that keeps the client directly in control of the matters most important to them.

The principles of Collaborative Law include:

• The parties and counsel sign a Collaborative Participation Agreement
• Open and transparent disclosure of all relevant information.
• Negotiation based on needs and interests and without the threat of litigation.
• Parties sitting down face to face, with counsel, to work through their dispute.
• Privacy and confidentiality.
• Shared use of neutral experts to provide information.
• Mandatory attorney withdrawal in the event of impasse.

Cranfill Sumner & Hartzog is committed to a work environment that welcomes, nurtures, and honors the contributions of individuals who bring a variety of talents, experiences, and backgrounds to our firm.  We believe we work best with clients, judges, juries, other attorneys, and each other when we reflect the richness of our community and world.

• Our Diversity Committee meets regularly to assess our diversity efforts and create new initiatives. The committee is made up of partners, associates, and staff from our three offices, and includes representatives from the Management Committee, Human Resources, and Recruiting.
• We are committed to recruiting attorneys and staff through minority job fairs and at historically black colleges and universities, and by identifying and participating in other programs in the legal community designed to increase minority hiring.
• Our firm is an outstanding place for women to practice law.  Our female attorneys constitute 30% of our partners and 54% of our associates, and women fully participate in all aspects of firm leadership. 
• Our training and mentoring is designed to develop and support attorneys and staff and encourage an environment of inclusivity and sensitivity.
• We make work/life balance a priority and recognize that excellence is not compromised by flexibility and innovation.
• Our employees are active and engaged in their communities through volunteer activities, charitable giving, and pro bono projects.

1. To recruit, hire, train, mentor, and develop attorneys and staff who reflect the richness and diversity of the world we live in and the communities we serve.
2. To foster a work environment where all individuals are supported and valued.
3. To increase awareness of, and sensitivity to, the differences in the cultures, backgrounds, and experiences of our employees, clients, and colleagues.  
4. To engage in a coordinated program of civic activism, charitable giving, and pro bono projects that focus on improving and strengthening our community.