Mediation is the one time when the client has control of the outcome, when the client gets to say yes or no. Parties that don’t reach a mediated settlement place their fate in the hands of strangers: juries, judges, witnesses and lawyers. A settlement is the only opportunity for the client to choose a certain outcome.
What We Do
Because peace needs a good lawyer.
Since 2012, I have been helping parties settle cases in civil disputes, including landlord/tenant, insurance coverage, bad faith, ERISA, real estate, personal injury, employment and other matters. After being a civil litigator for more than 20 years, helping parties find mediated solutions to civil disputes is now my primary directive.
Our legal system assigns roles to the participants in litigated civil disputes. The lawyer’s job is to zealously represent the client’s interests, pursuing the best legal theories and deploying the most favorable strategy to maximize the client’s odds for, and extent of, success. Juries are — ideally — a cross-section of the community which assess factual allegations, make credibility determinations and apply the law to arrive at a result. Judges manage the process, make factual and legal determinations and referee the small and large battles in the war of a legal action.
Settlement also deserves an advocate. As a neutral, my job is to be an advocate for closure and peace. My role is to help the parties, and their lawyers, assess the benefits of a settlement versus throwing the dice and going to trial. I get to champion the upsides of compromise to achieve closure and certainty. Peace needs a good lawyer, too.
