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Sullivan, Robert B.

Contact Information:
Name: Sullivan, Robert B.
Address: 5704 W. 128th Terrace, Overland Park, KS 66209
Phone: 816-309-6840
Fax: -
Email: rbsullivan13@gmail.com
Website: www.sullivanmediationarbitration.com
Practice Region: Kansas City, KS

Bar Admissions
District of Kansas: 06809 ()
Others: Missouri Bar 1975
In Good Standing: Yes

ADR Experience
Experience: I attended the Principles of Core Mediation 3 day training session in November 2017 taught by Bob Bacic and Julie MacLachian. The training was held at Johnson County Community College and was eligible for 26 CME and 24 CLE hours, including 1.8 ethics hours. I thereafter co-mediated 6 cases from court ordered mediation by the Kansas Small Claims Court in November, December 2017, January and February 2018. In conjunction with this program I have been approved as an “Approved Mediator” for Core and Civil cases by the Supreme Court of the State of Kansas on January 10, 2018. In January, 2018 I co-mediated 3 civil cases with an approved mentor mediator, Larry Rute, two of the cases involved employment discrimination issues, and one involved probate issues, and all were quite complex. As a result of this additional training, I was approved by the Kansas Supreme Court on February 9, 2018 for mediating civil cases. As of February 2018 I have been approved for listing as a mediator for the state courts of the state of Missouri by the Missouri Bar pursuant to Missouri Supreme Rule 17 (Sixteenth Judicial Circuit), and approved for the Mediation and Assessment Program as a mediator for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Background statement: I was a Captain in the US Army JAGC Corps from 1968 until 1972 during which time I prosecuted and defended military persons in both General and Special Court Martials. After that period of time, I engaged in the private practice of law in both Kansas and Missouri, the last 27 years of which I was an equity shareholder in the law firm of Polsinelli PC, from which I retired on January 10, 2017. I was an equity shareholder in the law firm of Shughart, Thomson and Kilroy for 3 years prior to laterally transferring to the Polsinelli firm. During my practice with Shughart and with Polsinelli, I focused my practice on the insurance industry representing insurance companies, agents/brokers, agencies, third party administrators, captive insurance company managers, captive insurance companies, reinsurers and reinsurance intermediaries, registered investment advisors, self-insured insurance pools, et al. Needless to say, these entities draw their fair share of plaintiff complaints filed in federal courts. During that time, l worked with trial lawyers and litigators in both firms defending these entities. In some cases, the complaints were filed as putative class action cases. One such class action case was brought in the Federal District Court sitting in Ohio against one of my insurer clients for wrongful denial of paying a claim due to the misrepresentation of the class representative Plaintiff in its application for insurance coverage. The Plaintiff represented a class which could only have been described, in my view, as all of those whose claims have been denied due to their misrepresentations on their applications for coverage. In the earlier years of my practice, prior to joining Shughart and Polsinelli, I defended an oil and gas company in a case brought by a Canadian public company in the U.S. Federal District Court in Kansas, sitting in Wichita. While this case was ultimately settled, without my client paying any sums in the settlement, all causes of actions against my client were dismissed by the federal magistrate as sanctions against the Plaintiff for failure to participate in the discovery process. The case was appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting in Denver, which I argued. The case was remanded to the district court due to the failure of the District judge to do a de novo review of the magistrate’s decision, and was immediately settled thereafter. While at the Polsinelli firm, I represented a client in a three member arbitration panel proceeding in which the American Arbitration Association Commercial Rules were controlling. In a reasoned opinion, my client prevailed. In December 2017, I participated as Of Counsel to the law firm of Sanford Heisler Sharp LLP in San Francisco, California on behalf in a pre-filed mediation of a proposed plaintiff class consisting of 4 lawyer/income shareholders claiming pay and gender discrimination against a national law firm. The mediation did not result in a settlement, but is now being litigated. Since November 2017, I have Co-mediated 8 cases and served as the sole neutral mediator in one case.
Lead Mediator Sessions: 1
Co-Mediator Sessions: 7
Counsel for a Party Sessions: 1

ADR Training
Course Info: Please see above under ADR Experience. Johnson County Community College Continuing Education, Principles of Core Mediation Nov. 2017 26 CME
Total CME Hours: 26
Approved Mediator for Civil Cases by the State of Kansas: Yes

Legal Experience
Experience: Robert B. Sullivan is the Manager of Sullivan Mediation+Arbitration, LLC. As an attorney, he has engaged in a number of practice areas, including tax controversies, estate planning and probate disputes, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, employment law (including wrongful termination, retaliation, gender pay and promotion discrimination, etc.) administrative law, and insurance industry disputes, including insurance policy and coverage disputes, producer/broker contract disputes, insurance transactional issues, misrepresentations of representations and warranties in stock purchase agreements, class actions and reinsurance and reinsurance intermediary contract disputes. Sullivan is a Kansas Supreme Court approved mediator. He also has been approved for listing as a mediator pursuant to Rule 17 for the Missouri state circuit courts and by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. He was, prior to his retirement, an equity shareholder in the law firm of Polsinelli PC for over 27 years. Sullivan is admitted to the following: Kansas Bar Association Missouri Bar Association Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri U.S. District Court for Kansas U.S. Court of Military Appeals U.S. Tax Court U.S. Supreme Court Sullivan received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Degree from Pittsburg State University, where he was a Distinguished Military Graduate, and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant as an Regular Army officer. Sullivan graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law and was awarded the Juris Doctorate Degree. While in law school, Sullivan was the President of the Moot Court Council and, upon graduation, was awarded the Samuel Mellinger Scholarship, Leadership and Service Award given to the graduate who has most distinguished himself or herself in the combined areas of scholarship, leadership and service. He also received his Master of Laws Degree (LL.M.) from Emory University Law School in Atlanta, Georgia. Sullivan served four years as a Captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps, engaging in general and special court marshal proceedings, prosecuting and defending persons charged with violations of the Uniform Military Justice Act of 1968 (including acting as an assistant to the Judge Advocate General for Fort McPherson, Georgia in the Mia Lai trial of Captain Ernest Medina). After his service in the military, Sullivan returned to Kansas City to engage in the private practice of law. He recently retired as an equity shareholder from the Polsinelli law firm after 27 years of practice with that law firm. While at Polsinelli, Sullivan formed and chaired the Insurance Industry and Regulatory Practice Group engaging in the representation, for and against, insurance agents, third party administrators, insurance companies, reinsurance companies, captive program managers and captive insurance companies, registered investment advisors, insurance pools, and self-insured entities. He is licensed as an insurance producer in Kansas and Missouri for life and health and property and casualty products; Sullivan now serves as Of Counsel to the law firm of Sanford, Heisler, Sharp, LLP where he is co-counsel to that firm in a putative class action complaint filed against Equifax, et al in the U.S. District Court of Kansas, now consolidated in a multi-district litigation action in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, GA. Sullivan is dedicated to serving as a Mediator/Arbitrator/Neutral for persons and entities engaged in civil disputes as a viable alternative to the expensive and time consuming process of litigating disputes in the state and federal judicial system, where crowded trial dockets, pre-trial discovery (interrogatories, request for admissions, production of documents and depositions), motions, hearings, trials, and appeals, can consume thousands of dollars in costs and attorneys fees and take months, if not years, before any judicial resolution of a dispute is achieved.
Active Litigation: Please see above Years
2% representing Plaintiffs
98% representing Defendants
2% in Federal Courts
98% in State Courts
Other Experience: Please see above
Education: University of Kansas School of Law, J.D. 1968 Emory University School of Law, LL.M. 1975
Additional Details: -

Fee Structure
Rate: $1,600 minimum fee; $400 per hour