My style and approach to facilitating settlements have been formed and molded by not only my personal life experiences, but also the legal and business experiences that I have gathered since 1995 when I began my legal career. As an advocate, I have handled hundreds of cases on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants, including insured defendants, in personal injury, business and real estate matters. Over the years, I have served as a mediator in a variety of cases, and I have also served as a Judge Pro Tem for the Los Angeles Superior Court. These experiences have exposed me to the dynamic life-cycle that cases in litigation frequently have. As a result, I have my finger on the pulse, so to speak, as to interests at stake, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of settlement versus continued litigation and trial. As a mediator, I assist the parties in identifying and evaluating the relative risks involved in the case. For example, “monetizing” the good and the bad facts, as well as identifying those facts that are in the proverbial grey area. While parties in mediation rely on their counsel to help them make legal decisions, my role is to work with the parties to determine whether settling the case presents a viable and acceptable business decision given the relative risks and rewards that are in play. As my mediation practice has developed throughout the years, I have found that my mediation style has become less rigid and more fluid. Depending on the facts and the dynamics between the parties, I tend to favor a facilitative negotiation style, and only when absolutely necessary, or when asked, do I offer my candid view of the case. In addition to the conventional half-day and full-day mediation programs, and in response to the closure of the Los Angeles Superior Court’s ADR Department, I have implemented a Personal Injury Specialty Program. This Specialty Program is aimed at providing attorneys access to affordable mediation services for Personal Injury cases where all parties anticipate/agree that the reasonable settlement value of the case for purposes of the mediation is less than $50,000.