ADR Experience

ADR EXPERIENCES:

I have been involved in various forms of ADR since my days of clerking in federal court, where I would prepare for and sit in on the court’s "neutral" settlement conferences. I continued using various types of ADR, including numerous arbitrations, during my civil rights practice.

But my focus on mediation really took root during my many years (over a decade) of intensive HOA related practice at a firm then called Wilner Klein & Siegel. Simply put, we settled the vast majority of our cases, and mediation was often our primary avenue for settlement. As a litigator, I suppose I have attended hundreds of ADR sessions of various types over my career, probably over a hundred of those involved were in HOA/CID related disputes. Those HOA disputes have ran the gamut -- ranging from personality disputes in an HOA so small that all the owners could sit in one of their living rooms, to huge class action disputes involving literally scores of attorneys representing various types of defendants, plaintiffs, and insurers -- requiring a huge conference room just to meet all together.

I have found that HOA disputes are, by their very nature, often ideally suited for mediation. They often take on very personal overtones. Yet, no matter how a dispute is resolved, at the end of the day, everyone still has to live to together as each other’s neighbors. Win-Lose litigation may just reinforce the underlying dynamics. Although mediation may not turn everyone into friends, it can address those underlying dynamics and point the parties down the path to a more peaceful co-existence.

WHY BE A MEDIATOR:

I became a mediator as a direct result of my many years of first hand experience in the mediating HOA disputes as a litigator.

My current firm, Cassel Malm Fagundes, LLP, does not practice HOA law, and so does not represent either HOAs or owners. This HOA "neutrality" gave me with the perfect opportunity to start my own mediation practice. (Other than checking for conflicts with the firm’s clients, I also keep my mediation practice completely separate.)

I earned my mediation certification through the University of California, at Berkeley, taking classes from the well known mediator and instructor, Ron Kelly. (See <<RonKelly.com>>.) For example, Ron drafted the current California Evidence Code provisions that protect the confidentiality of the mediation process for everyone. Ron is not only a renowned mediator -- I also found him also to be a fantastic instructor who is very passionate about doing mediation well. I shared Ron’s class with judges, fellow attorneys, and even psychologists. We all found the class to be immensely personally rewarding on many levels. An attorney reference from our class, whom I worked with closely, is Jack D. Eskridge. (See <<jack@insuredlaw.com>>.)

Since taking Ron Kelly’s class, I have continued to take additional mediation training. I am a volunteer at the Mediation Center of San Joaquin County, which provides "community based" mediation.

My wide-ranging private practice has afforded me the depth and range of experience that allows me to the opportunity to mediate a broad range of types of disputes, from real estate to business to employment matters. In particular, though, my decade plus years of HOA experience has perfectly situated me to mediate HOA disputes.