I mediate civil disputes, drawing on nearly three decades of experience litigating on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants in California's state and federal courts. My litigation practice has concentrated on real property, title insurance, lending and mortgage servicing, and consumer finance, including claims under TILA, RESPA, and other consumer protection statutes, as well as business disputes and art and provenance matters. My work has also ranged widely, across more than 40 California counties and on behalf of institutions and individuals alike, and I'm at ease with the full range of people a dispute brings into the room. I work with parties and their counsel to find a resolution that each side can accept, whether the dispute is at an early stage or nearing trial.

Mediation has become a core part of how disputes are resolved, and it can happen at any stage of a case. Early on, sometimes before a lawsuit is even filed, it can resolve a dispute before discovery and motion practice drive up costs and harden positions. Later, often near trial, it lets the parties weigh a certain resolution against the risk of an adverse judgment. Mediation can also preserve business and family relationships that litigation strains, and it allows for resolutions courts cannot order.

As an advocate, I've taken part in hundreds of mediation sessions, and I understand both what drives conflict and what motivates parties to end it. I completed "Mediating the Litigated Case," a 40-hour program of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, one of the nation's top-ranked dispute resolution programs. I bring a litigator's grasp of what is at stake to the mediator's role: the legal merits; the cost, uncertainty, and risk of going forward; and the pressures, often unspoken, that shape the parties' positions.