Overview

Paula Manis is a full-time and highly sought-after facilitative mediator and arbitrator in Michigan. Over the last 20 years she has conducted almost 3,000 facilitative mediations, including public policy facilitations and class actions.

With the exception of domestic relations, Paula mediates all types of civil matters, including medical malpractice, legal malpractice, employment, environmental, probate matters, civil rights, no fault, and federal crop insurance. Within the medical malpractice arena, she has extensive experience with global mediations and settlements, settling multiple similar cases all at the same time against a medical provider.

Paula completes about 150 mediations each year, with a significant success rate and a vast referral network of return users including attorneys in private practice, in-house counsel, other business professionals, and various government agencies. 

Although the majority of her mediations are conducted via Zoom, she facilitates in-person mediations when appropriate and efficiently mediates cases in every part of the state. She has also served on arbitration panels in Michigan, New York, and Minnesota.

With a solid business and legal foundation built in the oil and gas industry, first as a field landman for Amoco in Michigan and then with a successful oil and gas legal practice for 20+ years, Paula’s ability to see disputes from all sides sometimes surprises parties. She has been referred to as compassionate and understanding, qualities well suited to resolving particularly sensitive cases involving personal loss.       

She has participated in hundreds of hours of advanced mediation training, including 40 hours of training at the Strauss Institute at Pepperdine Law School. She is a member of the State Bar of Michigan’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section and a former member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Council (former chair of the Government Task Force). She was formerly a part of a mediation training team at Cooley Law School and MSU College of Law.

Honors & Recognitions

Affiliations

Memberships & Affiliations

Legal Affiliations:

• The National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals 
  • Member
• State of Michigan Attorney Discipline Board
  • Hearing Panelist
• State Bar of Michigan
  • Member 
  • Former Chair, Oil, Gas & Natural Resources Committee, Real Property Section
  • Member, Environmental Law Section
  • Member, Alternate Dispute Resolution Section
  • Former Member, Alternate Dispute Resolution Council
  • Former Chair, ADR Council Government Task Force subcommittee
• Ingham County Bar Association
  • Member 
  • Member, Real Property Section
• Michigan Oil & Gas Association
  • Member (1981 – Present) 
  • Former Chair, Legislative Liaison Committee
  • Member, Legal & Legislative Committee
  • Former Member, Public Relations Committee
• Michigan Association of Petroleum Landmen 
  • Member, (1981 – Present)
• Ohio Oil and Gas Association
  • Member
• Dispute Resolution Center of Central Michigan
  • Board Member, (2001 – 2010)
• Dispute Resolution Center of Central Michigan 
  • Co-President, (2005 – 2006)
• American Arbitration Association (2006 – Present)
• Ingham County Circuit Court ADR Oversight Committee
  • Member, (2003 – 2012)

News & Events

News

• Foster Swift Attorneys Named 2025 Best Lawyers in America, Best Lawyers in America, August 15, 2024
• Preparing Women Business Leaders for 2024 Legal Challenges, Meltwater Newswire, February 20, 2024
• Foster Swift to Welcome Attorneys and Staff from Loomis Law Firm, EIN Newswire, November 7, 2023