DRC - Dispute Resolution Consultants

Gale Allison has been mediating for ten years and has three mediation certifications in general litigation, elder care, and divorce. Now retired from law, her former legal career spanned four decades focusing on probate, estate and trust administration, estate and business succession planning, elder care (and adult care), guardianship, estate-related tax issues, estate and trust litigation, and consulting on complex divorces. Her background includes Assistant General Counsel for Litigation for what is now the federal Health and Human Services Administration. She was also an Estate and Gift Tax Attorney for the IRS before entering private practice at a regional Tennessee firm. As an Adjunct Professor, she taught jurisprudence (University of Tennessee) and estate tax law (Northeastern State University). By 1996, she founded The Allison Firm, PLLC, in Tulsa continuing to practice in her estate-related focus. In 2017, she closed the law firm and merged her mediation practice into DRC. 

Ms. Allison provides information on her areas of expertise including mediation for business, business succession, divorce, elder and adult care, estates/inheritances, fiduciary and death tax allocation, guardianship, professional negligence, and real estate. She is regularly requested for articles in professional journals, continuing education units to attorneys, CPAs, and financial planners and presentations for small businesses and the community. She writes an Asked and Answered blog for questions from the public and her email, The Taming of the Feud: Tips for Attorneys whose Clients Mediate.

Education

• Emory University School of Law, Atlanta, GA -- L.L.M. Taxation

• University of Tennessee College of Law, Knoxville, TN -- Juris Doctor

• University of Georgia, Athens, GA -- Bachelor of Arts in English

Mediation and Dispute Resolution Education and Training

• Certified: Elder Care Mediation, Pepperdine University School of Law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution

• Certified: Mediating the Litigated Case, Pepperdine University School of Law, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution

• Certified: Family and Divorce Mediation, The Mediation Institute

Bar Admissions

• Oklahoma (retired from Tennessee and Georgia)

• U.S. Court of Appeals 4th, 5th, 6th and 10th Circuits

• U.S. Tax Court

• U.S. Supreme Court

Recognitions

• AV-rated Pre-eminent Lawyer, Martindale.com

• Accredited Estate Planner/AEP® designation by NAEPC

Professional Affiliations

• Tulsa County Bar Association

• Oklahoma Bar Association (Past Chair of Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Section)

• American Bar Association

• Estate Planning Forum of Tulsa

• Tulsa Title and Probate Lawyers Association

Representative Published Works

• Gale Allison, Ten Tips for the Advocate Mediating Family Disputes (Estates, Trusts, and Divorce) for Tulsa Title and Probate Lawyers, January 25, 2023, and Tulsa Bar Association, February 9, 2023

• Gale Allison, Rebecca Hunter, and Vale Gonzalez, You Mean The Government Can Control My Guns? – The Estate Planner’s Guide to Firearm Distribution in Oklahoma,  Oklahoma Bar Journal, April 2019 (Estate Planning) Issue

• Gale Allison and Vale Gonzalez, Using Trust and Tax Solutions in Divorce Mediation, Oklahoma Bar Journal, page 24 in the March 2018 (Family Law) Issue. Ebook available from Gale Allison.

• Gale Allison & Andrew King, New Law on Vehicle Transfers at Death; Tulsa Lawyer, February 2017, print and digital

• Judge Jesse S. Harris, Gale Allison, Derek Weinbrenner, How the Rickety Days of the Oklahoma Probate Code Look Bleeker, But Better, Oklahoma Bar Journal, October 2012;

• Allison, Gale, & Burke, W., et al., Estate and Gift Tax Committee of the Real Property Trust and Estate Law Section of the American Bar Association, background paper on the transfer tax provisions of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, American Bar Association, 2011

Representative Presentations, Speaking, and Conferences

“Ten Tips for the Advocate Mediating Family Disputes (Estates, Trusts, and Divorce)” for Tulsa Title and Probate Lawyers, January 25, 2023, and Tulsa Bar Association, February 9, 2023

“Wills and Trusts – What’s the Difference?” for PEO, February 11, 2020, Tulsa, Oklahoma

“Understanding Tax Procedures: Estate Tax Administration Process” for National Business Institutes, October 28, 2019, at Oklahoma Bar Association offices - Gale Allison, Tulsa, Oklahoma; James Carlton, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

“Legal Necessities for a Growing Business” for Small Business Seminars hosted by Spirit Bank, May 9. 2019 at Spirit Bank, Tulsa, Oklahoma

“Aging May Not Be For Sissies – But You’re No Sissy: Toolkit For Elder Care” QuikTrip HR “Elder Law Lunch and Learn” December 12, 2018, QuikTrip Corporate Office, Tulsa, OK 74134

“That Ain’t No Fairy Tale: The Grimm Facts Behind Business Succession Disputes” for the Corporate Performance Group/TAB Annual Conference, August 15, 2018, at the Renaissance Hotel, Tulsa, Oklahoma

“Mediating the Petty Pieces of Posterity: When They All Want Mama’s Turkey Platter” for Tulsa Estate Planning Forum, March 12, 2018, at the Summit Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma

 “Writing Your Ethical Will” for Family-Owned Business Institute’s Preserving Your Family’s Legacy Panel (October 16, 2017) in Tulsa, Oklahoma

 “Business Succession Planning” for Business Resources Series seminar February 23, 2016, at Spirit Bank in Tulsa, Oklahoma

 “The New and Scary Face of HIPAA” for Aging Life Care Associates, South Central Region Annual Conference, November 5-7, 2015, at the Hilton Doubletree Warren Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

 “Planning for IRAs and Retirement Benefit Trusts: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” for Estate Planning for Mom and Pop seminar October 2, 2014, in Tulsa at the OSU-Tulsa campus and October 9, 2014, in Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma Bar Center.

 Seminars/Workshops for various continuing education workshops for lawyers, CPAs, financial advisors, 1982-present

General presentations available: Tips for Advocates in Mediation. Elder and Adult Care Mediation, Inheritance Mediation, Divorce Mediation, Mediating Business Succession

Community and Pro Bono Activities

• Current Docent, Leon Russell’s The Church Studio

• Current Advisory Board Member, Purview Life, LLC (Life Management)

• Past Member, St John's Health System Institutional Review Board

• Past Member, Advisory Board, University of Tulsa Business Law Center

• Past Member, Planned Giving Advisory Committee, Tulsa Library Trust

• Past Director, Volunteers of America of Oklahoma

• Past Member, St. John Medical Center Foundation Community Liaison Board

• Past Director, Oklahoma Lung Association

Return to our full panel of Mediators, Arbitrators, Private Judges or Special Masters. 

See our panel members' Areas of Expertise or visit our Schedule a Case page.