Description:

Laura A. Athens is an attorney, mediator, facilitator and arbitrator in Rochester Hills, Michigan who has over 30 years of combined litigation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) experience. Ms. Athens currently devotes her practice exclusively to ADR in a variety of matters, including education, higher education, university faculty grievance, employment, vocational rehabilitation, guardianship, and disability rights cases. Ms. Athens serves as an arbitrator in automotive warranty, home warranty and consumer cases and previously served as a Hearing Officer in special education and vocational rehabilitation due process hearings.

Ms. Athens is an associate of Professional Resolution Experts of Michigan, LLC (PREMi) and is on the roster of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) Consumer Panel; DeMars & Associates, CAP FCA, Ford Motor, Porsche, RV and Home Construction Warranty Programs. She has served on the State Bar of Michigan Alternative Dispute Resolution Council and as a former Chair of the Oakland County Bar Association ADR Committee.

As an Adjunct Professor at Wayne State University Law School, Ms. Athens taught education law, health law and bioethics. She also taught Legal Research and Writing at Washington University School of Law as a Visiting Assistant Professor.

Ms. Athens has published numerous articles on arbitration, mediation, facilitation, education and employment law in the Michigan Bar Journal, Michigan Legal News, Laches, Oakland County ADR Quarterly and Mediate.com.  She frequently lectures and appears on cable television programs regarding ADR and school-related topics.

Ms. Athens received her law degree from Washington University School of Law, her master’s degree in social work from University of Wisconsin and her bachelor’s degree in psychology, magna cum laude from University of Michigan.