John Van Winkle and Bill Baten, litigators in Indiana and Washington, D.C., independently developed their interests in ADR and Mediation in the late 80’s and early 90’s. They met when Bill, who was national coordinator for a group of mass tort cases, retained John, who had begun a mediation practice within his law firm, to mediate a case.
John and Bill left their respective law firms in 1995 to become full time professional neutrals, and created the first firm in Indiana devoted exclusively to Mediation and Arbitration. Now in their 28th year together, John and Bill have developed their skills by mediating and arbitrating hundreds, and eventually thousands, of every type of civil matter that could find its way into court. Additionally, they have participated in so many mediation seminars, programs, trainings and organizations that they’ve accumulated enough CLE credits for several lifetimes.
John and Bill were initially associated with the national alternative dispute resolution firm JAMS/Endispute, a relationship that jump-started their understanding and appreciation of the multitude of practice, business and process issues involved in a professional neutral practice. Bill also developed an ADR practice with Jonathan Marks, one of the founders of Endispute, and continuees to be associated with Jonathan’s Washington D.C. office. John worked with the other founder of Endispute, Eric Green, as co-mediator in the HealthSouth Matter in Alabama. Former Marion County Superior Court Judge David L. Rimstidt was also a mediator and arbitrator previously with John and Bill until his departure in January 2011 to join former colleague, Terry Curry, in the Marion County Prosecutor’s office.
John and Bill focus their practices on complex and multi-party matters, and their web site pages provide a representative sample of the wide array of matters they have resolved in most substantive areas of the law.
Yana Bray, Cynthia Baten and Margy Van Winkle manage the ADR practice, and are dedicated to customer service. Their goal is to provide whatever information and support is needed to schedule your matter quickly and efficiently. Their work often includes coordinating schedules among multiple parties and counsel, including persistence in the difficult task of coordinating the schedules of multiple counsel and parties.
Most of the mediations are conducted in our Carmel office in the Indianapolis Metropolitan area, using two large joint session and hearing rooms and three breakout rooms. John and Bill conduct mediations in the Indianapolis Metro area and across the country – between them having mediated in most states in the continental U.S. For mediations conducted in the Indianapolis metropolitan area, our office is located at 255 East Carmel Drive – Suite B, Carmel, IN 46032 and can accommodate sessions of up to 30 people and multiple parties, utilizing both large conference rooms and smaller breakout rooms.