Russ Gallagher Brings Varied, High-Flying Experience to Neutral Career With UWWM

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (November 6, 2023) – Russell C. Gallagher, most recently a captain for Southwest Airlines, has landed as a full-time neutral with Upchurch Watson White & Max Mediation Group.

Mr. Gallagher’s legal career extended from 1986 to 1992, and he was a commercial litigator with Boult, Cummings, Conners and Berry (now Bradley Arandt et al), with emphasis on contract disputes, for five years. He also represented a music management group, individual musical artists and a business aircraft leasing company, and he remains a licensed attorney to this day. In keeping with his Nashville home base, he received both his bachelor of arts and law degrees from Vanderbilt University.

He first became a Tennessee Rule 31 Court Certified Civil Mediator in 2012 and took a dispute resolution training course at Pepperdine University the next year.

“Russ Gallagher offers a wealth of specialized experience through his career with the airlines in resolving pilot and union related issues – a background few attorney neutrals enjoy,” John Upchurch, CEO of the mediation group, said. “We are delighted to welcome him to our ranks.”

Since 1992, Mr. Gallagher has worked primarily as a pilot and has served on the safety committee and the board of directors for the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association and was chairperson for the contract administration committee for the pilots’ union (contract enforcement, grievances, negotiations and dispute resolution).

Mr. Gallagher is a 25-year veteran of the U.S. Navy and Air National Guard and is a retired lieutenant colonel. He began his service by attending Naval Justice School in 1976, spent seven years as a naval aviator and became a lieutenant commander and pilot for the U.S. Navy. He was a pilot for the Tennessee Air National Guard from 1987 to 2000.

He is a member of the Tennessee and Nashville bar associations, the Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association (and was the LPBA’s former Tennessee state representative) and the Nashville Legal Aid Society.

For more details or to schedule a mediation or arbitration with Mr. Gallagher, contact his case manager, Johanna Feore, at  [email protected] or (800) 864-2622.

About Upchurch Watson White & Max

Upchurch Watson White & Max is a nationally leading mediation specialty firm known for facilitating reasonable agreements to resolve complex issues. From offices in the Southeastern U.S., state Supreme Court-certified attorney mediators with wide-ranging specialties serve as court-appointed and privately employed mediators, arbitrators and third-party neutral case managers, implementing innovative methods of alternative dispute resolution across the country. On the web: uww-adr.com.