Skip Ribbon Commands
Skip to main content
An Official Pennsylvania Government Website
Translate
Begin Main Content Area

Mediators

"I know I've done my job well when the parties forget that I'm there, reach an agreement, and then thank me for making it happen."    - Mediator

_________________________________________________________________

"I found my work as mediator to be immensely rewarding. I was involved in an extremely thorny dispute over a certain Concessionaire Agreement between a private entity and a Commonwealth agency. Part of the challenge was to manage the somewhat difficult personalities involved and to promote productive communication where there had previously been little. While the parties did not ultimately reach a written settlement, I was very pleased that the mediation opened good faith channels of communication and promoted a willingness of the parties to work constructively together that continues to this day. In this regard, the mediation was extremely successful."    - Mediator


Pennsylvania Parole Board


Davis, Morgan C.
Assistant Counsel 

Morgan C. Davis began her career with OGC in June 2016 as an Assistant Counsel with the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole. Ms. Davis currently represents the Board in claims in state and federal courts and administrative tribunals. Ms. Davis also serves as the Right to Know Law Legal Liaison where she represents the Board before the Commonwealth’s Office of Open Records and the Commonwealth’s appellate courts. She also provides training to county probation officers and state parole agents from across the Commonwealth. Prior to employment with OGC, Ms. Davis was an attorney at the Law Offices of Silliker & Reinhold (Harrisburg, Pa), where she focused her practice on family law, wills, and estates. Ms. Davis is a 2011 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh where she received a B.S. in Marketing and a Certificate in Leadership and Ethics. She received her Juris Doctorate from the Widener University School of Law (Harrisburg Campus), where she serves on the Dean’s Diversity Council. Ms. Davis received her mediation training through OGC.


Pennsylvania Department of Education


Castillo DiRito, Sarah
Chief Counsel

Sarah Castillo DiRito is an Assistant Chief Counsel within the Chief Counsel’s Office of the Department of Education. Sarah joined the Department as an Assistant Counsel in 2012. Sarah is currently responsible for managing the Educator Discipline Unit. As such, she oversees attorneys and investigators and supervises the intake, review, and prosecution of educator discipline matters. In her previous legal employment, Sarah prosecuted a variety of misdemeanor and felony criminal cases as an Assistant District Attorney in Adams County, Pennsylvania. As an ADA, Sarah specialized in prosecuting child abuse cases and crimes against women. Sarah holds a BA in Communication Disorders and an MA in Speech Language Pathology from the University of Pittsburgh. Sarah received her Juris Doctorate from Duquesne University. In addition to her legal work, Sarah has worked as a Speech Language Pathologist in a variety of settings.


Erdman, Jessica N.
Assistant Counsel

Jessica N. Erdman joined the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Office of Chief Counsel in April 2017.  Since that time, Jessica has served as an Assistant Counsel in the Department’s Educator Discipline Unit where she negotiates settlement agreements and prosecutes educator misconduct cases before the Professional Standards and Practices Commission.  Jessica received mediation training through the Office of General Counsel and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Prior to her appointment with the Department, Jessica was a law clerk for the judges of the Perry County and Juniata County Court of Common Pleas where she assisted with civil and criminal cases.  

Jessica graduated from Shippensburg University with a B.A. in Political Science and Psychology and a minor in International Studies and received her Juris Doctorate from Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law.  



Werner, Nicole M.
Assistant Counsel

Nicole M. Werner has been appointed to the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Office of Chief Counsel as an attorney within the Educator Discipline Unit since 2007.  In this capacity, Nicole prosecutes licensure matters before the Professional Standards and Practices Commission to include subsequent appellate litigation.       

Nicole is a volunteer mediator for the OGC Mediation Practice Group having received her training through the Office of General Counsel in collaboration with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.  She currently serves as Chair of the OGC Mediation Practice Group.  Prior to her appointment with the Department, Nicole was an associate attorney with the law firm of Nealon, Gover & Perry where she concentrated her practice in the areas of insurance defense litigation and family law.  Nicole received her B.A. degree from Duquesne University and her J.D. from the Widener University School of Law.  She resides in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania with her husband and three children.




Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board


Delio, Eric J.
Assistant Counsel

Eric Delio joined the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board as an Assistant Counsel in 2013.  He counsels the Board on complex issues in environmental law involving air quality, water quality, solid waste management, brownfield cleanups, mining, and oil and gas, among others.  He also advises the Board on revisions to its rules of practice and procedure in the Pennsylvania Code, which govern practice before the Board.  Eric completed the Office of General Counsel’s Mediation Training Program in 2019.  He received his B.A. in English, Professional Writing from Mercyhurst University, and his J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.


Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection


Bram, Adam
Supervisory Counsel

Mr. Bram is a Supervisory Counsel in the Department of Environmental Protection’s Southeast Region Office of Chief Counsel. His counseling duties focus on the Environmental Cleanup and Brownfields Program, including hazardous sites response, storage tanks, and Act 2-Land Recycling. He has had extensive experience with the Clean Water Program, which includes sewage facilities planning, discharge and water quality permitting, antidegradation, pollution prevention, enforcement, and cleanup. He has also represented the Commonwealth in its Air Quality Program, Solid Waste, and the Dams, Waterways, and Wetlands Program with issues concerning land development, erosion and sedimentation controls, best management practices, post-construction controls, stream obstruction and encroachments, and wetlands protection and restoration. 

Mr. Bram has practiced with large and medium-sized law firms, counseling and litigating in areas of municipal law, environmental law, real estate, commercial transactions and litigation, personal injury, motor vehicle law, and trusts and estates. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar, New Jersey Bar, the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and an inactive member of the District of Columbia, Court of Appeals. He formerly served as a law clerk for the Honorable Justice Sandra Schultz Newman of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Prior to attending law school, Mr. Bram served his country as a volunteer in Bulgaria with the U.S. Peace Corps, where part of his work involved facilitating between local and regional governmental officials, private enterprises, and community groups. 

In addition to having represented private and public clients, Mr. Bram has served as an arbitrator in several civil cases pending in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. He is a current member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (P.B.A.) and a member of the P.B.A.’s Environmental and Energy Law Section, a past chair of the Montgomery County Bar Association’s Environmental Law Committee and was an active member of that committee and the Montgomery County Bar Association’s Real Estate Committee. He has lectured on a variety of environmental topics and was published as an editor of the Temple Civil and Political Rights Law Review and other publications. He received intensive mediation training from the Good Shepherd Mediation Program in Philadelphia and participates in ongoing training. He is a past Director of the Office of General Counsel’s Mediation Program, a past chair of the Office of General Counsel’s Mediation Practice Group, and he has mediated a variety of disputes pending before Commonwealth agencies, including many employment discrimination claims. Mr. Bram holds a J.D. from the Beasley School of Law at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA and a dual B.A. from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA. 


Herb, Dawn
Regional Counsel

Dawn Herb is the Regional Counsel in the Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Chief Counsel's Southcentral Regional Office. Since joining the Office of Chief Counsel in 1994, Ms. Herb has primarily practiced in the areas of air quality and water quality, including point and non-point source matters. Her work involves counseling, negotiating and litigating matters on behalf of the Department of Environmental Protection. In addition to her work for the Commonwealth, Ms. Herb represented pro bono clients in protection from abuse matters referred by the North Penn Legal Services office from 2001 through 2017. Ms. Herb received her B.A. cum laude and Certificate in Environmental Studies from Dickinson College, and J.D. and Master of Studies in Environmental Law magna cum laude from Vermont Law School. She has taken the three-day mediation training offered by the Office of General Counsel and the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and has attended the majority of the mediation continuing legal education courses offered by the Office of General Counsel since 2010. Ms. Herb was also involved with the mediation program that was previously offered by the Department of Environmental Protection.


Thomas, Gina, Esquire
Assistant Counsel

Ms. Thomas is an Assistant Counsel in the Pennsylvania Governor's Office of General Counsel. She is assigned to the Department of Environmental Protection's ("DEP") Southeast Regional Office in Norristown, PA. Her practice focuses on issues related to: stormwater management, remediation of hazardous waste sites and environmental bankruptcy litigation. In September, 2012, Ms. Thomas received a Governor's Office of General Counsel Commendation for her work as the Regional Coordinator for the Philadelphia Disaster Relief Center related to Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.

Before joining the DEP's Southeast Regional Office, she was an associate in the Environmental Law Group of Fox, Rothschild, O'Brien & Frankel, from 1997-1998 and was an Assistant Counsel in the DEP's Southcentral Regional Office (Harrisburg) from 1992-1997. She clerked for James Gardner Colins, former Chief Judge of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court and interned for the late A. Leon Higginbotham, former Chief Judge of the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Thomas earned her J.D. from Temple University School of Law in 1990 and her Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 1987. Since 2000, Ms. Thomas has been a member of the Princeton University Executive Precept in Philosophy. In 2015, she received mediation training from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Ms. Thomas is a member of the Boards of Directors for the Awbury Arboretum and Holy Cross Independent Mission School. In addition to her law practice, she is a part-time voice student at the Settlement Music School in Germantown and sings as a soprano soloist and member of the Choir for Our Mother of Consolation Church in Philadelphia. Ms. Thomas is member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women – PA Chapter and the Pennsylvania Bar Association.


Pennsylvania Department of Health


Fickel, Keith B.
Senior Counsel

Keith B. Fickel is Senior Counsel with the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Mr. Fickel received his B.S. (cum laude) from Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York in 1983 and his J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law, Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1986. He began his legal career in private practice, working seven years for a mid-sized firm in Harrisburg. Mr. Fickel worked for the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission from 1993 through 1994, in both the administrative and prosecutorial divisions. Mr. Fickel joined the Department of Health in September, 1994 and serves as counsel for the Bureau of Health Promotion and Risk Reduction, the Health Research Office, the Pennsylvania Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), the Office of Rural Health and the Pennsylvania Indoor Tanning Regulation Program. He also assists in providing counsel to the Bureau of Health Statistics and Research, the Bureau of Family Health and the Bureau of Labs. He previously advised the Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Programs, the Division of Drug and Alcohol Program Licensure & Certification, and the Drug, Device and Cosmetics Program. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Office of General Counsel’s Transactions Practice Group.



Pennsylvania Department of Human Services


Clay, David A., Jr.
Assistant Counsel


David Clay is an Attorney with the Office of General Counsel for the Department of Human Services (DHS) in the Western Region.  Mr. Clay came to DHS in 2019, after serving two and a half years on active duty with the National Guard Bureau.  Mr. Clay handles administrative litigation, and appellate work in the areas of Child Protective Services, Licensing, and Employment Law.  Mr. Clay defends the DHS's interests before the State Civil Service Commission, DHS's Bureau of Hearings and Appeals; as well as related appellate work in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Clay received a B.A. degree in Political Science from Virginia Tech in 2002, and a Juris Doctorate from Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, PA in 2012.  Mr. Clay has been a member of the United States Army since 2002, and currently serves as a Judge Advocate in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.


Curtis, Jonathan L.
Assistant Counsel

Jonathan L. Curtis is an Attorney with the Office of General Counsel for the Department of Human Services (DHS). Mr. Curtis has been with DHS since 2013 and handles state court and administrative litigation, as well as related appellate work, in the areas of Employment, Right-to-know Law, and Long Term Living. Mr. Curtis defends DHS's interests before the State Civil Service Commission; Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission; DHS's Bureau of Hearings and Appeals; as well as related appellate work in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Curtis received a B.S. degree from the Pennsylvania State University, a M.B.A. degree from the Pennsylvania State University, and a Juris Doctorate degree from the Duquesne University School of Law, Pittsburgh, PA.

Mr. Curtis received his mediation training through the Office of General Counsel at the Widener University School of Law.


Robbins, Megan Rubenstein
Assistant Counsel

Megan Rubenstein Robbins is Assistant Counsel for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services in Wilkes-Barre, PA. She has been with the Department since 2006. Her areas of practice include guardianship, licensing of human services facilities, child abuse, mental health and intellectual disability law, and state-operated facility reimbursement. She represents the Department in administrative appeals before the Department’s Bureau of Hearings and Appeals, in county courts of common pleas, and state and federal appellate courts. She also negotiates settlement agreements, reviews proposed legislation, and provides legal advice and counsel to the Department’s northeast regional offices and state-operated facilities. Ms. Rubenstein graduated from Susquehanna University, magna cum laude, with a B.A. in Sociology in 2002. She earned her J.D., cum laude, from Widener Law Commonwealth in 2006.


Taylor, Rebecca M.
Assistant Counsel

Rebecca Taylor is an Assistant Counsel with the Office of General Counsel for the Department of Human Services. Her work with the Department focuses on the application of the Child Protective Services Law, the Adult Protective Services Act, litigation pertaining to services for adults with Intellectual Disabilities, and the Right to Know Law. Prior to her current position, Ms. Taylor clerked for the judges of the Perry/Juniata Court of Common Pleas. She is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University’s Dickinson School of Law and received her B.S. in Biology from the James Madison University. 


Pennsylvania Health Insurance Exchange Authority


Gomez, Ana Paulina
Chief Counsel

Ana Paulina Gomez currently works for the Pennsylvania Health Insurance Exchange Authority where she represents the Department in litigation before administrative tribunals and appellate courts. She also provides the Department with legal advice on Right-To-Know Law, contractual, and procurement matters among others. Prior to working for the Insurance Department, Ms. Gomez worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Education where she litigated educator misconduct cases and Right-to-Know Law matters at the administrative and appellate level. 

Prior to joining the OGC, Ms. Gomez was an Assistant District Attorney at the York County District Attorney's Office from 2012 until 2015. Prior to her work as an ADA, Ms. Gomez clerked for the Hon. Thomas Kelley in York County immediately after graduating from law school. Ms. Gomez attended the Penn State Dickinson School of Law where she interned for the Hon. Yvette Cane, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania and served as a Senior Editor for the Penn State Environmental Law Review and a Miller Center for Public Interest Fellow. 

Ms. Gomez is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She is also a trained mediator.



Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry 


Harrison, Nikki L.
Assistant Counsel

Nikki L. Harrison is Assistant Counsel with the Department of Labor and Industry in the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB) division. Ms. Harrison has been an attorney with the WCAB since 2016, where she is responsible for advising and assisting the Board with the disposition of administrative appeals from workers’ compensation decisions. Prior to joining the Department of Labor and Industry, Ms. Harrison worked in the private sector, implementing wills and trusts. She began her career with the Commonwealth originally as an intern with the Department of Education, and then at the Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). 

Ms. Harrison graduated summa cum laude from Gettysburg College in 2009, with a B.A. in Political Science.  She graduated cum laude from Widener University Commonwealth Law School in 2015, with a J.D.



Rostad, Maureen J.
Assistant Counsel

Maureen J. Rostad is an Assistant Counsel with the Department of Labor and Industry, the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB) division.  Ms. Rostad has been an attorney with the WCAB since 2017.  In this role, she assists the Board in adjudicating administrative appeals of workers’ compensation decisions.  Prior to the joining the Commonwealth, Ms. Rostad externed with Judge Brobson on the Commonwealth Court and Judge Placey on the Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland County.

Ms. Rostad is a graduate of Penn State, The Dickinson School of Law, where she was the student editor for the ABA’s Dispute Resolution Magazine, and Southern New Hampshire University.  She currently attends graduate studies at Harvard University.



Pennsylvania Department of State


Blackburn, Thomas A.
Hearing Examiner

Thomas A. Blackburn is a hearing examiner with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Office of General Counsel, assigned to the office of hearing examiners within the Department of State. Prior to beginning this position in 2018 he was part of the counsel division of the Department’s office of chief counsel.  For the first 10 years he represented various professional licensing boards as a line attorney and then for the next 10 years he supervised staff board counsel. Since 2014 he has served as counsel for the State Board of Property.  From 2007 through 2018 he provided legal counsel to the Department concerning the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law and represents the Department before the Commonwealth’s Office of Open Records and the appellate courts. A graduate of The Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University, Mr. Blackburn is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and OGC’s litigation (including the appellate litigation and mediation subcommittees), regulation, and records management practice groups.


Evancho, T'rese M.
Prosecuting Attorney

T’rese M. Evancho is a prosecuting attorney for the PA Department of State, Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs, where she has been employed since 2013. Ms. Evancho prosecutes before the Pa State Board of Nursing. She attended Susquehanna University for her undergraduate degree and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 2010. Ms. Evancho earned her J.D. from Widener University School of Law in 2013. Ms. Evancho resides in Berks County with her husband.


Schertz, David J.
Prosecuting Attorney


David J. Schertz graduated from the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University and worked at the Harrisburg firm of Krevsky and Rosen, P.C. practicing in family and criminal law. He subsequently became a clerk for the Honorable Lawrence F. Clark, Jr. of the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas. After completing his clerkship, David became an associate in the Harrisburg office of Eckert, Seamans, Cherin & Mellott, LLC where he practiced civil litigation. David is now a prosecuting attorney for the Department of State in the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs.


Pennsylvania Department of Transportation


Farkas, Denise H.
Assistant Counsel


Denise H. Farkas became an Assistant Counsel for the Department of Transportation in 2001. Prior to working with the Department of Transportation she worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry from 1999-2001 writing decisions for Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Judges. 

While earning her JD from Capital University Law School, she worked as a Hearing Representative for Third- Party Administrators adjudicating workers compensation cases throughout Southwestern Ohio. While working with the Department of Transportation, she has gained extensive litigation experience. She has represented the Department at hearings/trials regarding motor vehicle and driver licensing issues as well as condemnation issues. She has represented the Department in state and federal courts and in administrative proceedings which include litigating employment law cases before the Pennsylvania Civil Service Commission, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the Pennsylvania Unemployment Compensation Board. Denise Farkas has received her mediation training through OGC at the Widener University School of Law.