Finding a PREMi Resolution Specialist Near You…

Phillip A. Schaedler

PREMi’s Former Executive Director

It is with profound sadness that PREMi acknowledges the passing of our Executive Director, Phillip “Phill” A. Schaedler, who left us on March 28, 2026. 

Phill came to mediation not as a destination, but as a calling. After years in risk management and private practice, he found his niche in bringing opposing sides together for a peaceful resolution, and by all accounts he never stopped marveling at the power of that work. In addition to PREMi, he was a member of the Dispute Resolution Center of Washtenaw County and the ADR Section of the State Bar of Michigan. Phill brought to PREMi the same values he carried throughout his life: patience, integrity, and a genuine belief that people, given the right space and the right guide, can find common ground.

Those of us who worked alongside Phill know that he was as much a presence as he was a professional. He had a smile that arrived before he did, an encouraging word ready for every room he entered, and a patience that never felt performative. It was simply who he was. He modeled the principles of alternative dispute resolution not only at the table, but in every interaction. Phill never met a stranger, and he never left a colleague without feeling heard.

PREMi is a stronger organization because of Phill and the spirit he brought to the organization. His absence will be felt deeply, and his memory will guide us as we carry our mission forward.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to his children Natalie and Kevin, his partner Jamie, his sister Laura, and all who loved him.

In Appreciation for all those who came out to celebrate Phill’s life on Friday, April 17, 2026

Memorial contributions may be made to the
Dispute Resolution Center of Washtenaw County or the
University of Michigan Hospital Department of Neurology.

Who was Phillip Schaedler? He began his legal career with the defense litigation law firm of Janes & Hall P.C. in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, representing local health care facilities, physicians, and financial institutions.

In 1984, Phill began a 20-year career in the health care and insurance industry representing some of the nation’s leading community hospitals and health care systems as well as the world’s oldest and fourth largest property and casualty insurance company.  He has been a national leader in the area of health care risk management and alternative risk finance, and at the forefront of the adoption and application of alternative dispute resolution techniques in the health care industry.

Phill is a former board member and chair of the Family Mediation Council – Michigan, the State Bar of Michigan Alternative Dispute Resolution Council, and the State Bar of Michigan Character and Fitness Committee for District H, and the State Bar of Michigan’s Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee.  He was a member in good standing of the State Bar of Michigan, the American Bar Association, and the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel, and where he was a member, fellow, and former board member of the American Society of Health Care Risk Management. He was also a certified professional healthcare risk manager.

Phill’s practice was in Adrian, Michigan and centered on alternative dispute resolution in both general civil and domestic relations cases. He was a trained practitioner in the areas of facilitative and evaluative mediation, arbitration and collaborative law.

Phill was certified as a trainer in general civil mediation, restorative conferencing, neglect and abuse mediation and circle keeping.