ABOUT US
Meet the New Era Team
We’re a team of experienced technology industry operators, former general counsels and corporate and litigation attorneys, and the best and brightest technologists and engineers, who share a passion for improving access to justice and making dispute resolution efficient and amicable for everyone.
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Collin Williams
Founder & Chairman
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Rich Lee
CEO & Founder
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Michelle Tyler
Founder & VP, Operations
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Shane Mulrooney
Founder & General Counsel
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Kevin Drost
Chief Financial Officer
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Heidi Fleck
Head of Product & Design
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Tam Dang
Lead Software Engineer
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Anthea Spires
Director, Client Success and Support
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Clara Saenzpardo
Senior Dispute Support Specialist
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David Frederick
Senior Software Engineer
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Joseph Rossi
Growth Manager
OUR INVESTORS
We’re backed by leading operators and investors.
We’re grateful to have the support of passionate and committed investors. They share our vision of reducing the massive burden disputes pose to businesses, and they include leading VCs, angels who’ve founded, built, and sold some of the most successful companies in Chicago, leaders from a diverse array of industries, General Counsel from some of the most recognized companies in the United States, partners from leading law firms, and some of our country’s most respected litigators.
OUR ADVISORY COUNCIL
We get advice from the brightest minds.
Yes, it’s a big group, but we’re on an ambitious mission tackling a massive problem that leaves no industry untouched. We’re fortunate to have a group of leaders across multiple industries and disciplines who are as dedicated as we are to changing the legal paradigm and who challenge us constantly to deliver the best possible product, ADR process, and customer experience.
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Dan Melnick
Former Co-Founder, CTO & CPO, Reverb (acq’d by Etsy)
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David Kalt
Former Founder & CEO of OptionsXpress (acquired by Schwab) and Reverb (acquired by Etsy)
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Pete Kadens
Chairman, HOPE Chicago; Former CEO + Co-Founder, Green Thumb Industries
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Jae Um
Founder & Executive Director, Six Parsecs
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Anthony Casey
Deputy Dean, University of Chicago Law School
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Sean Chou
CEO & Co-Founder, Catalytic (acquired by PagerDuty); Former CTO & Co-Founder, Fieldglass (acquired by SAP)
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Ed Sohn
SVP, Product & Solutions, Factor
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Damien Riehl
VP, Litigation Workflow & Analytic Content, Fastcase
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Lisa Young
General Counsel, The Long Term Stock Exchange (LTSE)
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Cara Hardin
Deputy Title IX Coordinator, Marquette University
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Michael Perich
VP, Head of Litigation Insurance, Lockton Companies
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Chris Shulman
President, Shulman ADR Law, P.A.; NADN Member
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Shawn Aiken
Owner, Shawn Aiken, PLLC; NADN Member
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Kevin Sherlock
General Counsel, SpotHero
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John Higginson
Chief Technology Officer, Chief
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Leslie Vickrey
Founder & CEO, ClearEdge Marketing
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David Mandelbrot
CEO, Reverb; Former CEO, Indiegogo
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Justin Steffen
Partner, Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP
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Chris Gibson
Professor of Law & Director of ADR Program, Suffolk University Law School
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Brad Serot
Vice Chairman, CBRE
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Alex Green
General Counsel, Primient
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Dan Abel
CEO & Co-Founder, Pilot Project Brewing
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Mark Partin
Chief Privacy Officer, Oracle, Inc.
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Charlie Phillips
Vice President, Phillips Brothers Insurance
THE CHALLENGE
Our origins begin in the aftermath of a dispute.
“After six years in litigation — over 80 hearings and $1.2M in legal fees — a former client of mine settled his dispute with a business partner on the day of trial for just $30,000.
For anyone in law, this story isn’t shocking. If anything, it’s shockingly common. What struck me was when he called after it was all done and told me:
‘No one’s happy about spending over $1M in legal fees, but the worst part of this whole thing is that at no time over 6 years and 80+ hearings did I ever get a chance to simply share what happened. I know I wasn’t totally right, but I also know I wasn’t totally wrong. All I ever wanted was to look the judge in the eye, tell my story, and have them just tell me whether they sided with me or not. There’s something really wrong with this system, and I needed you to know’
We know it. We’ve each lived it and breathed it. So, we decided to do something about it.”