370 Lexington Avenue
Suite 702
New York, NY 10017
(212) 967-6799 (ext. 125)
- Over twelve years of experience successfully mediating a wide array of civil and commercial disputes concerning litigation pending in federal and state courts, as well as in arbitration proceedings.
- Extensive experience in complex insurance coverage issues arising from first party and third party claims, including D&O, E&O, EPL, CGL and Rep & Warranties policies, as well as issues relating to multiple insurers and towers of insurance, and reinsurance.
- Broad experience concerning contract interpretation and enforcement disputes involving domestic and cross-border transactions.
- Significant experience mediating workplace and employment disputes.
- Since 2013, has taught and mentored law student-mediators as an Adjunct Professor in the mediation clinic programs at Brooklyn Law School and CUNY Law School.
Representative Matters
- Mediated multiple contractual disputes concerning domestic and cross-border commercial transactions including allegations of breach of contract, breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing, breach of warranty and fraud. Cases have involved governing law and jurisdictional issues in connection to common law and civil law jurisdictions.
- Mediated a highly sensitive lawyer-client dispute relating to workplace sexual misconduct actions in the cable news industry.
- Mediated dozens of labor and employment matters, including age, race, and gender discrimination actions, harassment claims, wrongful termination, noncompete and restrictive covenants, as well as wage and hour litigation (FLSA, NYLL) brought as individual, collective and class actions.
- Mediated multiple trademark infringement disputes involving the tech, entertainment and fashion industries.
- Mediated a contractual dispute concerning a large web development project involving issues concerning proprietary technology for a financial services and insurance business.
- Co-mediated a construction dispute concerning the installation of wind turbines in a $300 million wind farm project.
- Part of the team that mediated claims brought by creditors of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP against its former chairman in the firm’s Chapter 11 proceedings.
- Part of the team that mediated shareholders class actions and financial disputes arising out of the 2007/2008 financial crisis.
- Part of the team that mediated US litigation brought by Parmalat’s trustee appointed by the Italian Government to pursue claims relating to the company financial collapse and its founder’s 16 Billion Euros fraud.
- Part of the team that mediated litigation matters arising from the Adelphia Communications Corporation bankruptcy.
- Part of the team that mediated a complex patent dispute concerning the development of microchip technology involving the research institute of a preeminent university and a multinational computer manufacturer.
Background & Education
- Principal, Zanolla Mediation, 2015-Present
- Of Counsel, Thompson LLP, 2015-Present
- Adjunct Professor, CUNY Law School, 2016-Present
- Mediator, Weinstein Melnick LLC, 2014-2015
- Supervising Attorney, Mediation Clinic, Brooklyn Law School, 2013-2017
- Attorney, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, 2011-2013
- Assistant Mediator to Judge Daniel H. Weinstein (JAMS), 2007-2011
- Independent Legal Consultant (USA/ITA), 2006-2010
- International Project Officer, ADR Center SpA (Rome, ITA), 2005-2006
- Associate Attorney, Studio Legale DeBenedittis (Gorizia, ITA), 2003-2005
- LL.M., Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, ADR Concentration, 2010
- Visiting Research Scholar, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, 2009
- Graduate Diploma, International Business Transactions and ADR, Univ. of Rome
- J.D., Faculty of Law of the Univ. of Parma (Italy), thesis dissertation on arbitration
law, 2003
Sapienza, Hamline Univ. School of Law, ADR Center SpA, (Rome, ITA), 2005
Honors, Memberships & Professional Activities
- Weinstein JAMS International Fellowship, 2008
- Faculty, Claims College, CLM Alliance, 2015-Present
- Faculty, Litigation Management Institute, CLM Alliance, 2018-Present
- Member, Mediation Panel, District Court for the Southern District of New York
- Member, Mediation Panel, District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- Member, Panel of Distinguished Neutrals of the International CPR Institute
- Member, Joint Panel of Bilingual Mediators, CPR-CAM
- Member, American Arbitration Association
- Member, International Panel of Mediators of the Scientific and Methodological Center for Mediation and Law (Moscow, Russia)
- Arbitrator, FINRA
- Member, New York State Bar Association, Dispute Resolution Section
- Member, American Bar Association, Dispute Resolution Section
- Member of The Mediation Clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
- Dean’s Merit Scholarship recipient, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Recent Presentations
- Speaker: Reading the Tea Leaves – Ensuring the Fruitful Mediation of Disputed Claims, RIMS 2019 Conference, Boston, MA, April 30, 2019.
- Speaker: Effective Use of Mediation for Claims Resolution, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance Annual Conference, Orlando, FLA, March 13-15, 2019.
- Speaker: Resolution Strategies & ADR, Litigation Management Institute (LMI), Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, Chicago, IL, Oct. 18-21, 2018.
- Faculty: School of Claims Mediation, Claims College, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
- Speaker: There is More Than One Way to Mediate: Considerations for Improving Mediation Results, Management & Professional Liability Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, Boston, MA, June 21, 2018.
- Speaker: Strategies for a Successful Mediation, Business Insurance Retail Restaurant & Hospitality Conference, Claims & Litigation Management Alliance, Dallas, TX, Feb. 9, 2018.
- Speaker: Mediation in Business Disputes, organized by Fordham Law School, Sinkrom Corp. and Squire Patton Boggs LLP, New York, NY, Feb. 11, 2016.
- Speaker: Small Business and Small Investor Dispute Resolution, ACR-GNY Annual Conference, Cardozo Law School, New York, NY, June 6, 2015.
- Speaker: Transactional Analysis & Mediation, ABA Dispute Resolution Section Annual Conference, Miami, FLA, March 2014.
Recent Publications
- Co-author with John McCarrick, Esq., “Maximizing Mandated Mediation in D&O Coverage Disputes”, The D&O Diary (dandodiary.com), Jan. 23, 2019.
- Co-author with Peter Halprin, Esq., “How to Avoid Making Your Next Mediation a Waste of Time”, NYSBA Inside, Fall 2018, Vol.36, N.1.
- Author, “Five Mediation Myths, Debunked”, Dispute Resolution Journal Volume 71 Issue 4, 2016 published by Juris Net LLC.
- Author, “The New Italian Mediation Law: Experimenting With a ‘Soft’ Approach to Mandatory Mediation”, JAMS Foundation Newsletter, Fall 2015, also republished on the CPR ADR Blog in Feb. 2016.
- Author (Book chapter), “The Variegated Landscape of Mediation, a comparative study in Europe and the World” BOOM-LEMMA/ELEVEN, 2014.