Bio

Nancy Lesser is the principal of Pax ADR LLC, an alternative dispute resolution firm headquartered in Washington D.C. Ms. Lesser offers mediation and arbitration services to individuals, not-for-profits, corporations, and government agencies. She also conducts independent fact-finding and internal investigations.

Ms. Lesser brings to her conflict resolution practice skills honed over two decades as a former partner with the distinguished law firm of Williams & Connolly, where she specialized in complex commercial and employment cases. Ms. Lesser also served as Senior Counsel to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, gaining expertise in government processes and decision-making -- invaluable experience when a dispute involves a governmental agency. She has mediated successfully with the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. General Services Administration, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the District of Columbia, and the City of New Orleans.

Ms. Lesser specializes in mediating and arbitrating complex disputes, including:

• Government and private contract and joint venture disputes
  
  
• Workplace claims, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation, whistleblower, and equal pay disputes
  
  
• Securities claims, including shareholder class actions, SEC enforcement proceedings, and NASD broker-dealer complaints
  
  
• Consumer financial services class actions
  
  
• Personal injury claims, including medical, legal and accounting malpractice actions, and insurance coverage issues
  
  
• Intellectual property claims, including patent and copyright actions

Clients look to Ms. Lesser for assistance when they face complex and critical disputes. They turn to alternative dispute resolution as a highly efficient process for resolving disputes that otherwise would involve the enormous expense, frustration, and delay of traditional litigation.

• Large Complex Case Arbitration and Mediation Panels, American Arbitration Association: www.adr.org
  
  
• Commercial, Employment, and Banking, Accounting and Financial Services Panels, CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution: www.cpradr.org
  
  
• Mediator Roster, National Association of Securities Dealers
  
  
• Panelist, Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel, Library of Congress
  
  
• Chair, Amtrak National Arbitration Panel, which adjudicates disputes arising between Amtrak and freight railroads around the country
  
  
• Panel of Neutrals, U.S. District and Bankruptcy Courts for the District of Columbia and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
  
  
• Panel of Neutrals, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland
  
  
• Certified Mediator, International Mediation Institute (profile and evaluations may be viewed at www.imimediation.org)

Ms. Lesser serves as a Mediation Trainer for the U.S. Department of Justice in its ADR training programs for staff attorneys. She is an adjunct professor teaching negotiation and mediation at the Georgetown University Law Center. Ms. Lesser also lectures on alternative dispute resolution and conducts mediation training for private groups, including the International Trademark Association. She serves as co-chair of the Standing Committee on Ethical Guidance for the ABA's Dispute Resolution Section.

Ms. Lesser holds a J.D. degree from the Georgetown University Law Center (magna cum laude 1981) and a Masters Degree in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia (2000). She graduated summa cum laude from the City College of the City University of New York ( B.A. 1972).

• Committee Issues Ethics Opinions on Mediator Conduct
  Conflict Management, ABA Section of Litigation Newsletter,
  Spring 2009, Volume 13, Issue 2
  
  
• Mediation Ethics: A Need for Guidance Now Met
  Conflict Management, ABA Section of Litigation Newsletter,
  Summer 2007, Volume 11, Issue 2
  
  
• How Much Confidentiality Does the UMA Provide?
  National Law Journal, April 11, 2005

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