Finding a PREMi Resolution Specialist Near You…
PREMi is an organization of dispute resolution experts who have numerous years experience in the various dispute resolution techniques.
Laura A. Athens
Laura A. Athens is an attorney, mediator, facilitator and arbitrator with over 30 years of 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, consumer, employment, vocational rehabilitation, guardianship, and disability rights cases. Ms. Athens serves as an arbitrator in automotive warranty 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 Ford Motor, Porsche, RV and Home Construction Warranty Programs; and National Center for Dispute Settlement.
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, Mediate.com and Arbitrate.com.
Personal Website/Email
Lathenslaw.com
laura@Lathenslaw.com
AREAS OF Practice
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
- Washington University School of Law, J.D.
- University of Wisconsin, M.S.S.W.
- University of Michigan, B.A., Magna Cum Laude
- Institute for Continuing Legal Education (ICLE), Advanced Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Institute – Speaker and Participant
- Alternative Dispute Resolution Section Advanced Mediation Trainings annually
- Divorce Mediation Training, Mediation Training and Consultant Institute (40 hours)
- AAA Cybersecurity Training
- AAA Artificial Intelligence Training
- Med-Arb: The New Frontier in ADR
- Mediation Training, Oakland County Bar Association
- Mediating Monetary Disputes
- The Brain Science Behind Mediation
- Conflict Coaching
- Dialogue and Consensus Building & Mediating in the Public Arena
- Restorative Justice Training
- Conflict Resolution in the Schools Project
- Inn of Court 1997-2003
- Judicial Clerk, U.S. District Court of Eastern Missouri
HONORS AND AWARDS
Order of the Coif
American Jurisprudence Awards: Contracts, Remedies
Phillip Gallop Award: Real Estate Transactions
BAR ADMISSIONS
- State Bar of Michigan
- State Bar of Missouri
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
- American Arbitration Association, Consumer Panel Arbitrator
- National Center for Dispute Settlement Arbitrator
- DeMars & Associates Arbitrator for Warranty Programs
- Oakland County Bar Association, ADR Committee Past Chairperson
- State Bar of Michigan, Alternative Dispute Resolution Council, 2007-13
- Michigan Special Education Hearing Officer 1995-2006
- Michigan Rehabilitation Services Hearing Officer 2002-08
- Judicial Law Clerk, United States District Court of Eastern Missouri 1987-89
- Autism Alliance of Michigan Board Trustee
- Rochester Housing Solutions Board Trustee
PUBLICATIONS
Waiver of Arbitration Post-Morgan v. Sundance, Arbitrate.com – August 2025
The New Michigan Uniform Power of Attorney Act: What ADR providers
and Attorneys Need to Know, Legal News – July 2024
Trauma Informed Care in Mediation, Mediate.com – July 2023
Blame-Shame Game in Mediation, Legal News – Nov 2021
Top Ten Cognitive Biases and Distortions in Mediation, Legal News
– January 2021
The Role of Restorative Practices in Effectively Addressing Gender Discrimination and Harassment in the Workplace, Legal News
– January 2020
Facilitating Positive Change in the Workplace, Legal News
– November 2018
The New Emergency Seclusion and Restraint Statute and the Role of the Mediator, Legal News – August 2017
Bullying and Harassment in the Schools: The Prevalence, Parameters
and Proactive Solutions, Laches – January 2016
Search for other PREMI professionals
PREMi is a unique association of lawyer ADR professionals with unparalleled expertise in ADR processes, the substantive disciplines that underlay disputes, and the state and federal courts that hear them. Our mediator/arbitrators are diverse in every respect: dispute resolution styles, legal and educational backgrounds,
race, gender, and geography.