Fireside Chat Pt III: Top Ten Rules for Effective Written and Oral Advocacy in the Employment Context (Presented by the Federal Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section)

Hon. Mimi Tsankov (Ret.) | Neutral Strategy

The Honorable Mimi Tsankov (Ret.) is a certified mediator and arbitrator in New York City, currently serving on the JAMS Labor Panel, the American Arbitration Association Labor Panel, and a range of New York State judicial district mediation panels. For nearly two decades, she served as a judge in the federal administrative judiciary, and her career also includes prosecuting cases on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Peace Corps, as well as over ten years in private law practice. A nationally and internationally recognized leader in the legal community, she has held elected and appointed roles for decades in the ABA, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Judicial Council 2, the Federal Bar Association, and the National Association of Women Judges. She has received multiple ABA Presidential Appointments as a UN Representative to the Department of Global Communications and currently serves as Immediate Past Chair of the ABA Judicial Division’s National Conference of the Administrative Law Judiciary. She is on the adjunct law faculty at Fordham Law School and has been on the faculty of Colorado Law School and Sturm College of Law. She completed her J.D. at the University of Virginia School of Law and earned an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Virginia Graduate School of Politics.

• Education & Credentials

She completed her J.D. at the University of Virginia School of Law and earned an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Virginia Graduate School of Politics.

• Recognition & Leadership

She’s been recognized both at the court and throughout various legal organizations for her work as a judge and as a leader in the international legal community, holding multiple elected and appointed roles for decades in leading organizations, including the ABA, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Judicial Council 2 (a national labor organization affiliated with the AFL-CIO), the Federal Bar Association, and the National Association of Women Judges. She’s received multiple ABA Presidential Appointments to the UN Representatives Department of Global Communications, and is currently Immediate Past Chair of the ABA’s Judicial Division’s National Conference of the Administrative Law Judiciary. Throughout her career, she’s received many honors, awards, and citations from the U.S. Department of Justice, the ABA and the FBA, and others.

• Professional Involvement

She’s been appointed to the Board of Advisors at Manifest Law, which handles employment-based visa applications. She’s a Board Member of the City Bar of New York’s Commercial Law Section, and an Affiliate Board Member of its ADR Section. She is a member of multiple chapters of the Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA). In the labor field, she’s contributed to ongoing labor-related discussions by testifying before the Judiciary Committees of both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, meeting regularly with Congressional leaders, publishing numerous articles in legal periodicals and in a variety of law journals, serving on national and international panels (U.S., Canada, and Europe) speaking with members of all major media outlets (print, TV, film, and radio), and by producing podcast stories. To keep the community informed, she’s also provided expert background information for film, museum, and theater releases, explaining the nuances of labor issues in the immigration context.

• Experience

As a Federal Administrative Judge, she presided over cases throughout the U.S., including New York, Colorado, Texas, Nevada, Florida, and California. She’s on the Adjunct Law Faculty at Fordham Law School in New York, and has been on the faculty of Colorado Law School and the Sturm College of Law in Denver, Colorado. She publishes regularly in peer-reviewed and general interest journals.

Hon. Suzanne Mitchell, U.S. Magistrate Judge | U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma

Suzanne Mitchell has served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma since February 1, 2013.

• Education & Credentials

Judge Mitchell earned her Doctor of Law (J.D.) from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

• Recognition & Leadership

In 2020, Chief Justice John G. Roberts appointed her as the Magistrate Judge member of the U.S. Judicial Conference’s International Judicial Relations Committee, where she served through 2025. At the Chief Justice’s request, she began serving on the Board of the Federal Judicial Center in March 2025. Judge Mitchell served as president of the Oklahoma City Chapter of the Federal Bar Association from 2017 to 2018 and as the FBA’s Vice President for the Tenth Circuit from 2018 to 2021. The FBA recognized her service with its Outstanding Chapter Leadership Award.

• Professional Involvement

She also serves on the Magistrate Judge Education Advisory Committee and the Court Administration and Operations Advisory Council. From 2018 to 2023, Judge Mitchell served on—and later chaired—the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts’ Magistrate Judge Advisory Group. She also served on the Human Resources Advisory Council from 2019 to 2023. For 11 years, she chaired the Western District of Oklahoma’s Criminal Justice Act Panel Selection Committee. She also served for 11 years on the Court-Assisted Recovery Effort Program, a trauma-informed federal reentry court that provides intensive treatment and support to help recently released nonviolent offenders reintegrate into society. She presided over the program for five of those years. She remains an active mentor to FBA students in Oklahoma City, chairs the FBA’s Judiciary Division, and serves as the Tenth Circuit representative on the Board of the Federal Magistrate Judges Association. She also works with the Western District of Oklahoma Historical Society’s Federal Judicial Learning Center & Museum and the FBA’s Oklahoma City Chapter on civic-outreach initiatives, high-school programs, mock trials, and law-school programming.

• Experience

Judge Mitchell trains lawyers and judges internationally on advancing the rule of law. In 2022, she worked with the Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training in North Macedonia to train prosecutors and defense counsel on expert-witness issues and cross-examination. In 2023, she traveled to Kenya with Lawyers Without Borders to train resource-support providers and prosecutors on combating human trafficking. She began training judges in India that same year, focusing first on human trafficking and later, in 2024, on transnational crimes—including narcotics and wildlife trafficking—and cybercrime. The CEELI Institute conducted these workshops in partnership with India’s National Judicial Academy. Also in 2024, Judge Mitchell traveled to Uzbekistan with Regional Dialogue to present on pretrial release and probable cause.

Lori G. Adelson, Esq. | Approved Dispute Resolution

Lori Adelson, Esq. is an attorney, mediator, and arbitrator with more than two decades of experience in labor and employment law, business law, litigation, and dispute resolution. She is the founder of Approved Dispute Resolution, where she serves as a neutral in employment, workplace, business, class and collective action, and multi-party disputes throughout Florida, New York, California, and nationwide. Her experience encompasses discrimination, retaliation, wage-and-hour, disability, civil rights, contract, and other complex employment and business matters. Having served as both an advocate and a neutral, Lori brings to the dispute resolution process a practical understanding of litigation, negotiation, and the legal, business, and personal interests that often shape resolution.

• Education & Credentials

She is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil, County, and Appellate Mediator; a Certified Mediator for the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida; a Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator; a mediator qualified under New York Part 146; and an International Mediation Institute Certified Mediator.

Admitted to practice in Florida and New York, Lori is also admitted before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida and the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, as well as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

• Recognition & Leadership

Lori serves as Incoming Chair of the Federal Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section and Chair-Elect of The Florida Bar’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section.

• Professional Involvement

She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Federal Bar Association’s Broward County Chapter and is actively involved in the ADR Sections of the American Bar Association and the Broward County Bar Association. She also serves on the American Arbitration Association’s panels as an arbitrator and mediator and is a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals.

Committed to advancing ADR education within the legal profession and among the next generation of lawyers, Lori works with attorneys and law students to foster a deeper understanding of mediation, arbitration, and other dispute resolution processes, as well as effective advocacy within those processes. She is a frequent speaker on mediation, arbitration, negotiation strategy, and effective dispute resolution advocacy.

• Experience

Lori has served as a neutral in more than 1,500 mediations and over 100 arbitrations.

SESSION 1 – Fireside Chat Pt III: Top Ten Rules for Effective Written and Oral Advocacy in the Employment Context | 2:00pm – 3:00pm

Even the most seasoned litigators can refine how they tell their client’s story. Top Ten Rules for Effective Written and Oral Advocacy in the Employment Context is built specifically for employment lawyers who need to turn messy workplace facts, dense personnel files, and shifting testimony into tight, persuasive cases. You’ll walk away with ten practical, battle-tested strategies to sharpen your briefs, command the room at hearings, and get better results for your clients before judges, agencies, and arbitrators.