Bette Roth has mediated or arbitrated more than 750 cases over the past 17 years, involving a wide range of commercial, securities, employment, construction, real estate, and discrimination disputes.  Ms. Roth is routinely engaged by both the plaintiffs' and defendants' bars, and settles more than 93% of the cases she mediates for her clients. 

   Ms. Roth teaches mediation at Boston University School of Law. 

   Bette Roth is the primary editor and author of the national two-volume text, The Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Guide,  a finalist for the 1994 CPR book award.  She publishes the yearly updates for this book, which is now a staple in most law libraries.     

       Bette Roth has been recognized as a Super Lawyer in New England and Massachusetts in the field of ADR by Boston Magazine and Law & Politics Magazine since 2006.  She is internationally certified as a mediator by the International Mediation Institute (IMI) in the Hague.

        Roth was the co-chair of the ADR Committee of the Boston Bar Association's Litigation and International Law Sections from 2006-2008.        

Background  

       In addition to mediating and arbitrating cases since 1992, Ms. Roth also served as the Executive Director of the Middlesex Multi-Door Courthouse (“MMDC”), a non-profit dispute provider of resolution services in Cambridge, Massachusetts for several years.  

       Prior to 1992, Ms. Roth was a litigator for several years, working with the San Francisco law firms of Farella, Braun & Martel and Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison.  Prior to private practice, Ms. Roth worked as an enforcement attorney with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Los Angeles.       

Neutral Panel Memberships     

       Bette Roth mediates and arbitrates both directly and through several private providers, including:

• CPR Panel of Distinguished Neutrals
• AAA (American Arbitration Association) mediation and arbitration commercial and employment panels
• REBA (Boston's Real Estate Bar Association)
• FINRA (formerly National Association of Securities Dealers (“NASD”) (mediation only))
• Case Closed
• Resolute Systems, LLC

       Ms. Roth is listed with the Massachusetts Superior Court as a “Qualified Neutral” and a Special Master, Receiver & Arbitrator.  From 2001-2007 she was also one of the 3 per diem mediators for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and one of the 14 per diem mediators for the Massachusetts Appeals Court.

 Substantive Areas 

       During the past twenty five years of practice in litigation, arbitration, mediation, and conciliation, Ms. Roth has handled the following types of cases:

• Accounting
• Administrative (federal, state, municipal)
• Bankruptcy
• Business (contract and torts including taxation issues)
• Civil rights (see discrimination)
• Closely held corporations (freeze-out, severance, stock valuation)
• Commercial (UCC and common law)
• Construction (residential, commercial, and municipal)
• Contracts (commercial, business, employment, construction, international)
• Consumer (93A)
• Defamation (employment, business)
• Discrimination (age, gender, disability, racial, place of origin, religion)
• Education (professor, teachers, and student claims)
• Employment (wrongful termination, independent contractor, non-compete)
• Environmental (superfund, disposal, drainage) 
• Family (property, support, CHINS, family business)
• Franchise
• Health care (clients, service providers, employment)
• Housing (landlord-tenant, discrimination, lead paint)
• Immigration
• Insurance
• Intellectual property
• Joint venture
• Land use (residential, city, adverse posession, zoning)
• Leases (commercial equipment, property)
• Malpractice (professional)
• Partnership
• Personal Injury
• Real estate (sales, commissions, contract, title claims, torts)
• Securities (customer, fraud, negligence, suitability, churning, unauthorized trading, intra-industry, shareholder class action)
• Sexual harassment
• Taxation
• Torts (business, personal injury)

Awards, Distinctions and Publications

-Awards & Distinctions  

• 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006: New England Super Lawyer in the field of ADR by Boston Magazine and Law & Politics Magazine
• Certified as an international mediator by the International Mediation Institute (IMI) in the Hague.
• 2001 John Dunlop Dispute Resolution Award for Innovative Systems Design from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

-Books           

• The Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Guide* (national 2-volume text with annual updates, copyright © 1993-2009 Thomson/West)  (editor, co-author)
• Arbitration Practice and Update 2007 (MCLE 2007) (editor, co-author)
• Court Mandated Basic Training for Arbitrators (MCLE 2005) (editor, co-author)
• What Every Lawyer Should Know About Arbitration  (MCLE 2004) (editor, co-author)
• Arbitration Practice and Update 2002 (MCLE 2002) (editor, co-author)
• Securities Arbitration: Special Report (Wiley Law Publications 1989) (co-author)
• Securities Litigation: State and Federal (CCLE 1988) (contributor)

*1994 CPR Book Award Finalist

-Articles

• "Class Action Arbitrations: A First Circuit Update" (Boston Bar Journal, March/April 2008) (co-author)
• “Litigation Tactics in Mediation: Are They Ethical?” (Mass. Lawyer’s Weekly, February 2005)
• “Ethical Considerations for Advocates in Mediation” (Boston Bar Association, October 2004)
• “Ten Suggestions for Negotiation in Employment Mediation” (The Practical Lawyer, ALI-ABA, Oct. 2004, reprinted at the request of the AICPA for the 2006 edition of Selected Readings by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.)
• “Mediating Your Securities Disputes Successfully” (NSCP Currents, Winter 2004)
• “Maximizing the Potential of Mediation” (Mass. Lawyers Weekly, April 2004) (co-author)
• “Selecting the Right Organization and the Arbitrator” (Mass. Lawyers Weekly, February 2003) 
• "Per Se Legality of Some Naked Restraints: A [Re]Conceptualization of the Antitrust Analysis of Cartelistic Organizations” (The Antitrust Bulletin, July 2000) (co-author)

Speaking engagements & ADR instruction       

     Ms. Roth teaches mediation at Boston University School of Law.

     -CLE, Training, and Bar Association Programs

      Ms. Roth speaks frequently at CLE and Bar Association programs, either as a chairperson or moderator, or as a faculty member.  Among others, she has participated in the following programs: 

• "Securities Arbitration and Mediation" (faculty, Boston Bar Association, 2009)
• "Med-arb, Arb-med, Binding Mediation, Mediator’s Proposal, and other Hybrid Processes" (faculty, AAA Advanced Mediator Training, 2009)
• "Choosing the Right Dispute Resolution Process and Neutral" (faculty, MCLE 2009)
• "Resolving Neighbor Disputes" (faculty, MCLE 2009)
• "Resolving Closely Held Corporation Disputes", (faculty, MBA 2008)
• "Arbitration Practice and Update 2007" (chair, MCLE 2007)
• "Arbitrator Training (8-hours, co-chair, MCLE 2005)
•  Numerous brown-bag lunch programs on mediation and arbitration as co-chair of ADR Committee (moderator, faculty 2005-2008)
• “Mediating Employment Cases” (faculty, BBA 2004)
• “What Every Lawyer Should Know About Arbitration” (chair, MCLE 2004)
• “Arbitration Practice and Update 2002” (co-chair, MCLE 2002)

Ms. Roth also helps to train students and other youths through Framingham Court Mediation Services, PAWS at Newton North High School, and Boston's Summer of Opportunity.       

Mediation Style

       Ms. Roth starts the process for each case by preparing for the mediation.  This typically involves conferencing with counsel before the session, identifying materials to review, and reading the materials they submit. 

        Every mediation is unique.  Between the parties, the facts, the law, the personalities of counsel, and the history of their negotiation, each  mediation session involves a delicate balance of interests.  Many parties feel the need to be heard in order to put the dispute behind them.  At the same time, their only alternative to settlement is adjudication.  For these reasons, Ms. Roth combines facilitative and evaluative techniques to keep the process moving forward and the parties focused on settlement.  She brings to the table her years of experience as a litigation attorney and as an arbitrator to credibly help the parties identify their interests, consider their case strengths and weaknesses, explore various outcomes, evaluate and fashion proposals, and move toward resolution. 

       In those cases in which the mediation does not conclude during the scheduled session, Ms. Roth always follows up with counsel and/or parties, typically by telephone, until a resolution is reached.   The result is settlement in at least 93% of the cases she mediates.

ADR training

       Ms. Roth has had extensive training in dispute resolution:

• 2008: AAA continuing education training on award writing
• 2007: AAA continuing education training on chairing a panel
• 2006: AAA continuing education trainings on pro se arbitration
• 2005: AAA Arb. II training
• 2005: Superior Court conciliation training
• 2003, 1991 AAA  Arb. I training
• 2001: FCMS advanced mediator training for housing disputes
• 2000: MCLE/MCAD discrimination prevention training certification (24 hrs)
• 1998: AG Office training in peer mediation trainer training
• 1997:  FCMS basic mediation certification (35 hours)
• 1995-1996:  mediator training/apprentice with Randy Wulff

Education                

• 1984: J.D., University of Wisconsin Law School (editor of The Wisconsin International Law Journal)
• 1981: B.A., Economics, cum laude, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• 1981: “Certificat de Langue Français”, University of Paris, Sorbonne

Bar and professional memberships        

• 2006-2008: Co-Chair, ADR Committee, Litigation and International Sections, Boston Bar Association
• 1985: Massachusetts State Bar
• 1984 California State Bar
• 1984: Wisconsin State Bar
• Massachusetts Bar Association
• NEACR (New England Chapter for the Association of Conflict Resolution)

Community service

       From 2001-2002, Ms. Roth was the co-president of the Zervas Elementary School Council, and an elected member from 1999-2001.  She served on the board of directors for the Hyde Community Center from 1997-2003, and was an elected member of the Newton Highlands Neighborhood Area Council from 1998 -2001.  She contributes time each year since 1997 to city service for garden and building maintenance and holiday projects.  Ms. Roth has mediated on a pro bono basis neighbor and family disputes for FCMS since 1997, and has served as a judge for moot court competitions.  In 1998, she led volunteers in her community to fund, design, and build a memorial playground.

Lawyers' written statements (unsolicited)  

       "Let me say at the outset how pleased I was to work with such a terrific mediator..."

       "I must admit that… I did not enter the mediation with any expectation of success in bringing the matter to a resolution.  However, to my astonishment… the parties were able to reach an acceptable settlement in this most difficult case.  Ms. Roth’s professionalism throughout the painstaking, three hour mediation, enabled both sides not only to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of each others case, but also enabled the parties to creatively craft a compromise that seemed impossible at the outset."

       "…I will certainly utilize your services on behalf of [other] clients.  I found your work on the matter we worked on together to be extremely caring and quite productive."

       "I just wanted to thank you for your generous assistance and good work at the mediation today.  All too often I’ve had the experience of attempting to find a resolution of a case around or through the mediator; it was a relief to know that the process today was in such capable hands.  And it’s a terrific outcome for all of the parties.  Thanks again for helping to make it happen."

       "…. At the outset of the mediation, it was clear that the respective parties had diametrically opposed views of the relevant facts.  However, utilizing both her legal and negotiation skills, a compromise resolution was achieved.  Throughout the duration of the mediation, Ms. Roth impressed me as being a very dedicated, hard working individual who was both motivated and extremely conscientious and aware of her obligations as a mediator to bring about a resolution.  I sincerely believe that without her intervention in this case, it would never have settled."

       "You did a great job on my mediation, which was a tough one."

       "I appreciate your hard work at yesterday's mediation.  In several respects, it was a tough case to mediate, and you handled it professionally and skillfully.  Thanks again."

       "Thank you Bette for smoothly handling the complexities of yesterday's mediation.  Nancy and I look forward to working with you again."

       "Thanks again for your very talented and successful mediation efforts in this case."

References from counsel or parties are available.

Home