John G. Shulman: Writer, Director and Producer Co-lead counsel in NAACP v. State of Minnesota and Xiong v. State of Minnesota, John G. Shulman is an experienced civil rights and antitrust attorney, negotiator and public speaker. Mr. Shulman received his AB in English from Harvard College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

A 1982 graduate of the desegregated Minneapolis West High School, Mr. Shulman has successfully prosecuted and settled a wide variety of civil rights cases, including educational desegregation and adequacy cases, housing cases, employment cases, and police abuse cases. Mr. Shulman has employed advanced interest-based negotiation strategies on behalf of clients, including the Minneapolis Branch of the NAACP, Parents in Community Action (PICA Head Start), school children and community members.

In 1999, Mr. Shulman and colleagues with negotiation and software expertise founded Alignor, LLC, a company that specializes in applying an interest-based approach to negotiations and conflict resolution. Mr. Shulman has trained hundreds of business leaders, judges, attorneys, community members and other negotiators in interest-based approaches to negotiation and decision-making.

Jeanne-Marie Almonor: Writer, Director and Producer As a civil rights attorney, Ms. Almonor was co-lead counsel in NAACP v. State of Minnesota and Xiong v. State of Minnesota, two historic school desegregation cases that resulted in major settlement agreements benefiting thousands of children of color. Ms. Almonor has worked in private legal practice as a litigator and negotiator, representing large corporate clients and handling high profile public interest litigation for more than a decade. Ms. Almonor is also co-founder of Alignor, LLC, a company that specializes in applying an interest-based approach to negotiations and conflict resolution. Ms. Almonor is a 1991 graduate of Harvard Law School, where she studied with Professor Roger Fisher, co-author of the seminal work on interest-based negotiating, Getting to Yes.

A native of Haiti, who grew up in the East New York section of Brooklyn, Ms. Almonor moved to Minneapolis in 1991 to practice law. As an attorney, Ms. Almonor has pioneered innovative and effective approaches to civil rights work. For example, Ms. Almonor organized community rallies and protests over the inadequate and hyper-segregated Minneapolis public schools in the late 1990s.

In the mid-1990s, Ms. Almonor served as a high ranking business executive at the Mexican entertainment conglomerate, Grupo Televisa. Since then, she has helped clients implement an interest-based approach to negotiations and decision-making in large organizations. Ms. Almonor has conducted negotiation training workshops for hundreds of attorneys, business people, community members and other negotiators.

Jim Hilbert: Producer
Jim Hilbert is an experienced civil rights attorney handling cases involving police misconduct, employment and housing discrimination, and school segregation. He has spent the past ten years as a litigator and negotiator on numerous public interest cases. Mr. Hilbert also serves as Vice President of Professional Services at Alignor, where he has developed training and process materials for applying interest-based analysis to negotiation, conflict resolution and settlement strategy. He has served as a guest speaker at public and private sector conferences throughout the U.S., and has designed and led a variety of negotiation training courses for executives and managers, lawyers, community activists and human resources professionals.

Mr. Hilbert received his BA from Carleton College, and his JD from the University of Minnesota Law School. Mr. Hilbert is a former political organizer and former Legal Fellow at the Institute on Race and Poverty. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at William Mitchell Law School, where he teaches alternative dispute resolution, and has been a Guest Lecturer at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, where he taught negotiation.

Patrick Townley: Producer
Patrick Townley joined the Shulman Law Firm in 2002. He is an experienced attorney and consultant specializing in interest based negotiation and decision-making. He helps clients develop and realize their strategic goals.

Mr. Townley received his BA from New York University, and his JD from the University of Minnesota Law School. He also received an MD degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School and subsequently was an Assistant Professor in the school’s Department of Medicine. He currently works as a volunteer doctor, practicing and teaching medicine in Minneapolis.