About Us

We each felt the pain. So we built the solution.

Traditional dispute resolution processes aren’t working for organizations or individuals.

The Cost Of A Dispute Is Growing

That cost — in money, in time, and in attention — makes it hard for organizations and individuals to focus on the things that really matter. This is why we built New Era ADR.

Median Average Spend on Litigation Costs

Months on average to resolve disputes

%

Increase in Companies spending more than $1M in litigation

Civil disputes filed each year in US courts and traditional arbitration

The Challenge

Our origins begin in the aftermath of a dispute.

“After six years in litigation — over 80 hearings and $1.2M in legal fees — a former client of mine settled his dispute with a business partner on the day of trial for just $30,000.

For anyone in law, this story isn’t shocking. If anything, it’s shockingly common. What struck me was when he called after it was all done and told me:

‘No one’s happy about spending over $1M in legal fees, but the worst part of this whole thing is that at no time over 6 years and 80+ hearings did I ever get a chance to simply share what happened. I know I wasn’t totally right, but I also know I wasn’t totally wrong. All I ever wanted was to look the judge in the eye, tell my story, and have them just tell me whether I was right or wrong. There’s something really wrong with this system, and I needed you to know’

We know it. We’ve each lived it and breathed it. So, we decided to do something about it.”

Collin Williams – Founder and Chairman, New Era ADR

The Solution

Tell your story, know that you’ll get a resolution, then get back to your business.

Our digital ADR platform makes dispute resolution efficient and effective.

Courts and traditional ADR forums are steeped in decades of protocols and procedures, built to address every nuanced situation. In practice, this means lengthy, expensive litigation that makes resolution a faraway and nearly inaccessible outcome.

Our platform is designed to address this disparity and get you to a fair, high-quality resolution fast. This is advanced dispute resolution.

Make It Efficient

We designed an intuitive, easy-to-use ADR platform to simplify all the hardest, most onerous parts of dispute resolution for parties, attorneys, and neutrals.

Make It Cost Less

We optimized the ADR process to help people and businesses reduce litigation costs and to help attorneys better resolve their clients’ issues.

Make It Secure

From encryption to identity management and beyond, we constantly evolve and improve our security measures to protect your privacy and confidential information 

Make It Fair

Our promise — to every customer we serve and to our communities — is to build a world in which the law is accessible and fair to everyone.

Meet The Team

The New Era Team

We’re a team of experienced technology industry operators, former general counsels and corporate and litigation attorneys, and the best and brightest technologists and engineers, who share a passion for improving access to justice and making dispute resolution efficient and amicable for everyone.

Collin Williams

Founder and Chairman

Rich Lee

CEO & Co-Founder

Michelle Tyler

Co-Founder & Head of Operations

Shane Mulrooney

Co-Founder & General Counsel

Alexis Perlmutter

Head of Product

Kevin Drost

Chief Financial Officer

Shelby Ruettiger

Engineering Lead

John Kerkstra

Engineering Lead

Heidi Fleck

Product Design Lead

Tam Dang

Senior Software Engineer

Alexandra Hinton

Demand Generation Lead

Rebekah Lear

Program Manager, Operations

Anthea Spires

Customer Success Manager

Our Advisory Council

We get advice from the brightest minds.

Yes, it’s a big group, but we’re on an ambitious mission tackling a massive problem that leaves no industry untouched. We’re fortunate to have a group of leaders across multiple industries and disciplines who are as dedicated as we are to changing the legal paradigm and who challenge us constantly to deliver the best possible product, ADR process, and customer experience.

David Kalt

Former Founder & CEO of  OptionsXpress (acquired by Schwab) and Reverb (acquired by Etsy)

Pete Kadens

Chairman, HOPE Chicago; Former CEO + Co-Founder, Green Thumb Industries

Anthony Casey

Deputy Dean, University of Chicago Law School

 

 

Dan Melnick

Former Co-Founder, CTO & CPO, Reverb (acq’d by Etsy)

Sean Chou

CEO & Co-Founder, Catalytic (acquired by PagerDuty);  Former CTO & Co-Founder, Fieldglass (acquired by SAP)

Ed Sohn

SVP, Product & Solutions, Factor

Jae Um

Founder & Executive Director, Six Parsecs

Damien Riehl

VP, Litigation Workflow & Analytic Content, Fastcase

Lisa Young

General Counsel, LendingTree, Inc. 

Cara Hardin

Deputy Title IX Coordinator, Marquette University

Michael Perich

VP, Head of Litigation Insurance, Lockton Companies

Chris Shulman

President, Shulman ADR Law, P.A.; NADN Member

Shawn Aiken

Owner, Shawn Aiken, PLLC; NADN Member 

Kevin Sherlock

General Counsel, SpotHero

John Higginson

Chief Technology Officer, Chief

Leslie Vickrey

Founder & CEO, ClearEdge Marketing

David Mandelbrot

CEO, Reverb; Former CEO, Indiegogo

Justin Steffen

Partner, Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP

Chris Gibson

Professor of Law & Director of ADR Program, Suffolk University Law School

Brad Serot

Vice Chairman, CBRE

Alex Green

General Counsel, Primient

Dan Abel

CEO & Co-Founder, Pilot Project Brewing

Mark Partin

Chief Privacy Officer, Oracle, Inc.

Charlie Phillips

Vice President, Phillips Brothers Insurance
We’re grateful to have the support of passionate and committed investors.

OUR INVESTORS

We’re backed by leading operators and investors.

We’re grateful to have the support of passionate and committed investors. They share our vision of reducing the massive burden disputes pose to businesses, and they include leading VCs, angels who’ve founded, built, and sold some of the most successful companies in Chicago, leaders from a diverse array of industries, General Counsel from some of the most recognized companies in the United States, partners from leading law firms, and some of our country’s most respected litigators.

The Neutrals

Leading voices in objective, neutral resolution.

Retired judges, arbitrators, and mediators find a home at New Era ADR. The fully digital ADR platform makes case management simple and helps Neutrals focus on the merits of each case.

At the end of the day, dispute resolution can’t happen without these skilled, experienced mediators and arbitrators, ready to step up and help provide clarity in the midst of chaos.

Meet The Neutrals

Our closing argument.

New Era is advanced dispute resolution.

Incumbent dispute resolution forums are bogged down in decades of protocols and procedures, built to allow for every minor argument. In practice, this means lengthy, expensive, and highly distracting litigation that makes resolution a faraway and, oftentimes, inaccessible outcome.

Our platform is designed to address this problem. As the true alternative dispute resolution, the New Era platform resolves your disputes more efficiently and cost-effectively with the same or better quality mediators and arbitrators than the judges or neutrals you’d find in courts or incumbent forums.

Get Resolution Fast

You deserve to tell your story. You deserve to be heard by an experienced neutral. You deserve easy access to mediation and arbitration and a fast resolution. With New Era ADR, nothing gets in your way.

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New Era Blog

Read the latest insights and resources.

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Title IX Coordinators use a highly prescriptive intake process. It’s formulaic, fact-based, and to the point.  You welcome the reporting person into your office. You cover all case elements: informal and formal options, equal rights of the complainant and respondent,...

50 Years of Title IX: Where Do We Go From Here? 

50 Years of Title IX: Where Do We Go From Here? 

If you’re a Title IX Coordinator, you know two things for sure:  You are the point-person for federal compliance.  And, that compliance is always changing. When interviewing for my Title IX Coordinator role I was told over and over again that the position came with...

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