Professor Sarah R. Cole Honored as Squire, Sanders & Dempsey Designated Professor
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| Professor Sarah Cole with husband Doug Cole (former professor and current Ohio State Solicitor) and sons Joshua and Samuel |
Professor Sarah
Cole's selection as Squire, Sanders & Dempsey Designated Professor
was announced in June. She became interested in alternative dispute resolution
(ADR) while in law school at the University of Chicago, when her journal
published an issue on ADR--then an emerging phenomenon. “I thought
it amazing that so many people used arbitration and mediation in order
to avoid the courts,” Sarah says. “But, I learned that as
these mechanisms became popular, parties began to misuse the processes
to gain advantages. As a result, the court system became more involved
in regulating their use. So, I started examining the interrelationship
between the courts and dispute resolution and, fortunately, that has kept
me very busy ever since.”
What makes the Moritz College’s
ADR program unique? For one, says Sarah, the faculty engagement, “Our
main competitors focus on LL.M. students rather than law students, and
regularly use adjunct professors to teach ADR classes. At Moritz, we commit
full-time faculty to both the study and teaching of dispute resolution
processes, such as mediation and arbitration. Our students are taught
by people who are fully engaged both as scholars in the field and as teachers.”
During the seven years that it has been offered to students, the ADR certificate
program has grown at a rapid rate. “We imagined that we’d
see interest from 5 to 10 students each year,” Sarah notes. “Instead,
we’ve seen a much stronger demand. This year’s class is the
largest ever, with 29 students receiving certificates at graduation.”
Moritz’ program has been among the top four in the country since
U.S. News & World Report began ranking ADR programs.
In addition to Sarah, ADR faculty members include Program Director Joseph
B. “Josh” Stulberg, Professor Amy
Cohen, Professor Ellen
Deason, Professor Christopher
Fairman, Professor John
Quigley, Professor Charlie
Wilson and Dean
Nancy Rogers. To meet increasing demand from students, this core group
has expanded mediation practicum offerings to three sections for next
year, and has raised the maximum number of participants for the negotiation
class.
“Students enjoy mediating disputes,” Sarah says. “They
see mediation used frequently in the courts now, and feel the need to
be prepared.” In the mediation practicum that Sarah runs with the
help of clinical professors Amy
Cohen and Carole Hinchcliff, students train to be mediators at the
Franklin County (Ohio) Municipal Court. On Thursday nights, students mediate
disputes before they are filed. These "pre-filing" cases settle
at a high rate, resulting in fewer court appearances. Students also participate
in day-of-court mediations, when judges decide to send some cases to mediation
rather than a hearing. Students help the court achieve a 50-60% settlement
rate.
Sarah’s focus area is arbitration. Traditionally used in relationships
in which the power is fairly evenly balanced between the parties, arbitration
is now being widely used in the non-union sector in disputes between employers
and employees. In some companies, employees must agree to binding arbitration
in their employment contracts. That can be tricky because, Sarah explains,
“In these situations the employer generally has much more power
in the relationship than the employee, and can skew the process in their
favor.” Such controversy provides ample fodder for Sarah’s
writing and teaching.
Drawing on her previous experience mediating in federal courts and at
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Sarah serves as co-author
for the leading treatise in the field, Mediation: Law, Policy and
Practice (2d. ed. 1994), with Dean Nancy H. Rogers and Bowdoin Dean
Craig McEwen. The treatise is updated annually with new law and policy
developments in mediation. She has also partnered with Dean Rogers as
a co-author for Dispute Resolution: Negotiation, Mediation and Other
Processes (4th. ed. 2003), one of the leading ADR casebooks in the
country.
That Squire, Sanders & Dempsey chose to honor her teaching and scholarship
with a designated professor gift is a true honor for Sarah. Designated
professorships are designed to provide recognition and enhance financial
support to outstanding scholars, which helps Moritz Law retain promising
mid-level professors, many of whom are routinely approached by other law
schools. “The firm has an outstanding national reputation,”
she says proudly. “They hire terrific top students--many of my favorite
students have gone on to work for Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. It’s
a privilege to have my name associated with theirs.”
The firm is equally happy with its choice. Managing Partner Alex Shumate
says, “We believe this is a great opportunity to support the Moritz
College of Law by helping it retain top quality faculty members, while
making an important statement about the role of Squire, Sanders &
Dempsey in promoting excellence in the legal profession.”
After spending time in a labor and employment law practice, Sarah taught
torts and dispute resolution early in her teaching career, beginning at
Creighton University. After a year of teaching at Oklahoma, Sarah arrived
at the Moritz College of Law in 1998, thanks to an OSU enrichment grant
given to the College to hire ADR faculty. Sarah feels lucky to have come
to Ohio State, and considers Columbus a great place to work and to raise
a family. The Moritz family is lucky to have her.
