ADR Resume
Douglas S. Coppola
Douglas Coppola graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law in 1975 and was admitted to practice in February 1976. He received his undergraduate degree in 1971 from the University of Notre Dame.
Coppola has been a practicing attorney in civil litigation for over 40 years, representing both plaintiffs and defendants in various complex personal injury and commercial litigation matters including products liability, labor law matters, commercial premises liability cases, insurance coverage disputes, medical/dental malpractice, and general contract/business litigation. He has also represented the interests of excess carriers in serious personal injury matters. He has tried to verdict numerous cases in State and Federal Court. He has been AV Rated by Martindale Hubbell and earned their "preeminent" designation for over 40+ years. Currently, 100% of Coppola's time is devoted to ADR through either mediation or arbitration. Effective December 1, 2012, he was appointed by the American Arbitration Association to act as a No Fault Arbitrator hearing cases throughout New York State, and he is still serving in this capacity.
Coppola was privileged to be part of the initial trained panel of approved attorneys to handle mediation of commercial matters for the Eighth Judicial District in the New York State Courts in 2000 and he has continued with additional training in addition to his active case resolutions. He is on the current Court ADR panel for mediations, arbitrations, and neutral evaluations for the entire Eighth Judicial District Supreme Court and has regular referrals from the many Justices to mediate pending personal injury and non-personal injury matters. He underwent Federal Court mediation training in February 2009 and was a member in good standing of the WDNY Mediation Roster until he retired from the panel in 2024.
Coppola has been involved in 3000+ case resolutions as mediator, neutral or sole arbitrator since 2001. Since 2009, he has conducted 1,500+ mediations resulting in $200+ million dollars in settlements and 1,500+ arbitrations as a neutral or sole arbitrator. Coppola has been honored to be selected in the Business First editions of "Who's Who In Law Western New York" for arbitration and mediation nominated by his peers in the legal community. Doug is honored to be a Charter Member of the NY Chapter of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals.
Coppola received the 2008 Charles H. Dougherty Civility Award from the Bar Association of Erie County after nomination by the Bar's Judge's Committee. He is a former member of the Erie County Bar Association board of directors and has served on the Bar's Nominating Committee. Coppola is also the current Chair and original member of the City of Buffalo Board of Ethics since 1999. He is a former past president of the Western New York Trial Lawyers Association and UB Law Alumni Association.
Doug Coppola has been married to Mimi Barnes Coppola for 40+ years. His wife is retired from the Buffalo Board of Education where she was a teacher trainer/coordinator of the Special Education Training and Resource Center. In retirement, Mimi helped cofound the Elmwood Village Charter School. She continues on its Board of Trustees. Mimi is also an adjunct professor of education at Canisius College.
Doug and Mimi have three sons. Steven is a 2006 Princeton graduate and bronze medal winner in the Men's 8 Rowing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He spent 8 years as a member of the US Men's National Rowing Team. Steve is now the head women's rowing coach at Cornell University. He previously was assistant women's rowing coach at his alma mater Princeton. Kellen is a 2009 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers Law School class of 2014. He is in the General Counsel's office at M&T Bank. Evan is a 2010 graduate of Canisius College and it's MBA program. He is a General Partner at Hudson Advisors. Their 3 sons are alumni of Canisius High School.
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