MaryJo Gilsdorf

After practicing with a large firm in litigation and environmental law as an attorney for many years, Mary Jo began in construction as a generalist performing various duties with contract administration, project management, estimating, field supervision and safety in a small construction management firm. Then, she became a cost engineer analyzing and negotiating entitlement and value of change order requests for a large regional construction management company. She was promoted to be in-house counsel and handled legal matters from contracts, claims, third party insurance claims, employment claims, due diligence, compliance and federal contracting work. Through this varied industry hands-on exposure in conjunction with her legal knowledge, Mary Jo Gilsdorf, Esq. has significant experience with the preparation, presentation and resolution of claims through informal negotiation processes, alternative dispute resolution proceedings and litigation. Representative experience includes claims involving scheduling and delay issues, cost entitlement, change orders, scope of work analysis, concealed conditions, coordination disputes, financing / work-out issues, wrongful termination, consumer protection act claims, construction defect, design errors and omissions and disputes involving Building Information Modeling (BIM), ranging from $ 10K to $ 60MM in value. She has experience in commercial, institutional, governmental and residentail construction cases. Further, through her experience, she has an in-depth knowledge of contract drafting and negotiation. Her experience as a Cost Engineer provides a proven prowess in analyzing cost entitlement and valuation issues.

Building upon this foundation, Mary Jo Gilsdorf has developed an Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR") practice focusing on construction issues but also dealing with various commercial, real estate transaction and consumer matters.Since 2014, she has conducted 180 mediations with an over 80 percent success rate and conducted over 200 arbitrations with cases in value up to $60 Million in claims.  Mary Jo serves on several American Arbitration Association (AAA) Panels including the construction panels for Fasttrack, Regular Track, Large & Complex Track cases and is a Master Mediator for construction cases. She also serves on the AAA Commercial and Consumer Case panels. She additional serves on mediation and arbitration panels for the court of Common PLeas in Delaware and Chester Counties, on the mediation panels for Tri-County and Pennsylvania Realtor Associations,  She is available for private mediations and arbitrations held virtually or in person. 

Mary Jo Gilsdorf, Esq. was admitted into practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in 1989. 

Further information available at www.gilsdorfllc.com

FORAML EDUCATION:

VILLANOVA LAW SCHOOL, Villanova, PA, 1989, Moot Court Chairperson, Theodore Riemel Moot Court Award 1988, Herman Mitchel Schwartz Award  

UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Newark, DE, 1980, cum laude

Baldwin School of Puerto Rico, High School, Bayamon, PR, 1976

SELECTED CONTINUING EDUCATION:

Presenter: Arbitration & Mediation: Pros and Cons of Virtual Sessions, Chester County Bar Association, ADR

   Committee September 2021

Presenter: Best Practices for Arbitrators in Expedited / Fast Track Arbitrations, AAA, December 2020

Presenter: Elements of a Residential Construction Claim, Delaware Co. Bar Assoc. Bench Bar Conference, June 2019

Presenter: Building Blocks of Construction Law, Delaware County Bar Assoc. Bench Bar Conference, June 2018

Presenter: AAA In-house Training, Johnson, RI, Working with Difficult People and Drafting an Award, April 2018

Presenter: Working with the Standard AIA Construction Contracts; Delaware County Bar Association, Real Estate Section, September 2017; Chester County Bar Association, Construction Law Committee, November 2017

Presenter: Ethical Issues Facing Mediators; Chester County Bar Association, ADR Committee October 2017

Presenter: Delving into the Details of a GMP Contract; Pennsylvania Bar Institute 20^th Annual Real Estate Institute, December 2016

Presenter: Mediating in Different Contexts; Chester County Bar Association, ADR Committee, October 2016

Presenter: Construction Manager As Advisor and At Risk: A Comparison of Construction Management Project Delivery Systems; Pennsylvania Bar Institute 19^th Annual Real Estate Institute, December 2015

Presenter: Building a Construction Contract, Delaware County Bar Association, May 2015

Presenter:  Survey of Arbitration Forums, Chester County Bar Association, April 2015

AAA/ICDR/AAA Mediation.org Panel Conference, Rancho Mirage, CA, March 2023.

ABA Construction Forum Mid-Winter Meeting, San Juan, PR, February 2023.

AAA Webinar on Awarding Attorney’s Fees., Costs and Post-Award Interest, January 2023.

ABA Construction Forum Regional Meeting, December, 2022

2021 AAA Virtual Construction Conference: Moving Forward in a New Decade, June, 2021

2021 AAA -ICDR Panel Conference: AAA March 2021

Practical Approaches to Ensure the Neutrality of Part-Appointed Arbitrators, ABA, March 2021

Impartiality: Do You Know Where Your Biases Are? AAA, February 2021

How to Effectively Deal with the 300 Change Order Dispute – Who Controls the Process? AAA, Oct. 2020

22^nd Dispute Resolution Section, Virtual Spring Conference, ABA, May 18-21, 2020

Mediation Training for the Chester County Bar Association, April 6 - 7, 2020

Learn to Meditate Online, Susan Guthrie, March 2020

Pro Se: Managing Cases with Self-Represented Parties, AAA January 2020

12th Annual Arbitration Training Institute, American Bar Association, May 15-16, 2019

ACE 19 – Case Finances: What Arbitrators Need To Know; American Arbitration Association, May 13, 2019

Advanced Mediation Training, NJ ICLE, December 2016, June 2015, July 2018

Basic Arbitration Training, NJ ICLE, April, 2016

Judge Pro Tempore Training for Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program, March 2016, April 2017

Developments in Arbitration Law: Testing the Boundaries of Court Intervention, AAA May 2015

Contemporary Settlement Evaluation, Delaware County Bar Association, December 2014, June 2017

Essential Mediation Skills for the New Mediator, AAA, October 2014

Principled Deliberations: Decision-making Skills for Arbitrators, AAA, May 2014

Arbitration Fundamentals and Best Practices for New AAA Arbitrators, June 2013

Association of Corporate Counsel, In-House Counsel Conference, 2013, 2014

American General Contractors Counsel, Risk Managers and Surety Conference; 2011, 2013

American Arbitration Association, Cutting Construction Arbitration Costs Without Compromise, 2012

How to Become a More Innovative Neutral or Advocate: Applying Cutting Edge Innovation Management Techniques to Your ADR Practice, 2012.

Coverage College – Insurance Claims and Coverage Issues, White and Williams, 2008-2011, 2013, 2014

American General Contractors Conference, Conference on Federal Contracting, 2011, 2013

American Bar Association, Section on Dispute Resolution, Forum on Construction Law and Women in Dispute Resolution Committee Member

Pennsylvania Bar Association, Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, Member

Delaware County Bar Association, Member, Women in the Law Section and Real Estate Committee Member

Chester County Bar Association, Member, Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, Real Estate Section Member, Fee Dispute  Committee

Pennsylvania Council of Mediators, Member

The Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the Association for Conflict Resolution, Member

American Inns of Court, Guy deFuria Inn of Court, Past President 2022-2023

American Orchid Society, Accredited Judge

Please call for details.