Mediator, Arbitrator, Facilitator and Dispute Resolution System Designer

NEUTRAL PANELS:

• California Appellate Court for the Second Appellate District
• Institute for Conflict Management
• Kaiser Permanente Arbitration
• Los Angeles County Superior Court
• NASD Dispute Resolution
• National Arbitration Forum Consumer and Domain Name Disputes
• United States District Court, Central District of California

EDUCATION

LL.M. in Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University School of Law, The Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, including externships with the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, and the Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, D.C. - 2004
JD, University of Southern California School of Law, Los Angeles, CA
BA in Philosophy and Psychology, University of California at San Diego, including studies at University of California Berkeley and Pembroke College, Cambridge, England

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Of Counsel
Provide strategic advice to business clients, engage in basic transactional work, coverage and litigation work, including disputes between members of limited liability companies and intellectual property disputes, and prosecute trademark and copyright applications.

• Obtained $450,000 judgment for trademark and copyright infringement on behalf of client, a leading company in the SCUBA diving industry, against an Italian entity with respect to the advertising activities of the Italian entity on the web.
• Serve as Early Neutral Evaluator for superior court cases, hearing arbitration-like presentations, followed by an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of each party’s case, an estimation of jury verdict value and a mediation session.
• As Arbitrator for NASD Dispute Resolution, hearing securities industry cases.
• Serve as Arbitrator for The National Arbitration Forum for domain name dispute cases, hearing cases to decide potentially competing interests in domain names, and consumer credit cases, hearing disputes concerning credit card charges.
• Serve as Mediator for the United States Federal District Court, Central District of California, in for a wide range of civil cases.
• Act as Mediator for the California Appellate Court, Second District for cases on appeal.

$150 million, 1,800-employee manufacturer of bearings and antifriction devices
General Counsel
Provided strategic advice to senior management, created company policies and procedures and related employee trainings, performed risk management for legal risks and selected and oversaw outside counsel. Managed litigation and engaged in general transactional work, including the negotiation and drafting of employment agreements, agreements for the sale of goods, distributorship agreements, leases and subleases, and intellectual property licenses.

• Generally reduced legal expense overall, greatly reduced legal risk, and created much closer alignment between legal requirements and business needs.
• Represented company on employment law matters and worked on labor law matters, including participating on management’s negotiating team for three successive union contract negotiations with local of United Steel Workers Union.
• Served as management’s counsel for labor arbitrations, saving significantly over the cost of using outside counsel.
• Led a team that negotiated substantial first party earthquake insurance claim arising out of 1994 Northridge earthquake resulting in a multi-million dollar recovery.
• Led a team that developed product warning for computer keyboards, significantly reducing the risks associated with claims for carpal tunnel injuries.

Director of Intellectual Property
$500 million holding company of U.S. sales and manufacturing companies, including New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc.
Created and directed the operations of an Intellectual Property Department, including developing company policies and procedures and related employee trainings including trade secrets policies and training.

• Instituted a strategic approach to the generation of patentable inventions, interfacing with company’s engineers with respect to potentially patentable inventions and pending patent applications, resulting in a large increase in the number of patent applications filed;
• Selected and oversaw outside intellectual property counsel resulting in reduced costs and improved turn time.
• Interfaced with Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese, and European intellectual property departments of Minebea Co., Ltd., NMB (USA) Inc.’s parent company.

Associate General Counsel
Assisted General Counsel regarding strategic advice to senior management and engaged in risk management for legal risks. Selected, managed and oversaw outside counsel and litigation. Engaged in general transactional work, including the negotiation and drafting of employment agreements, agreements for the sale of goods, distributorship agreements, leases and subleases, and employment law matters.

Marketing company selling diet and cosmetic products
In-House Counsel
Provided strategic advice to senior management, engaged in risk management for legal risks, and selected and oversaw outside counsel. Engaged in general transactional work, including negotiation and drafting of employment agreements, agreements for sale of goods, distributorship agreements and leases and subleases, and employment law matters.

• Managed 350 product liability claims and suits from inception through resolution.
• Handled insurance coverage matters, including negation of a $1,000,000 settlement from three insurance carriers on a contested issue of coverage for a trademark infringement suit.

PRIOR EXPERIENCE

HERBALIFE INTERNATIONAL, INC., Los Angeles, CA, Litigation Management, Associate General Counsel
BOLTON, DUNN & MOORE, Insurance Defense & Coverage, Los Angeles, CA, Litigation Associate
KIRTLAND & PACKARD, Insurance Defense, Los Angeles, CA, Litigation Associate

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (London), American Bar Association, Association for Conflict Resolution, California Bar Association, California Dispute Resolution Council, Southern California Mediation Association, Los Angeles County Bar Association Dispute Resolution Services, Inc., Board of Directors, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Corporate Law Departments (Executive Committee),Los Angeles County Bar Association Inn of Court, Executive Committee

PRESENTATION EXPERIENCE

• 2006: Society of Women Engineers Los Angeles Chapter annual meeting, “Patent Law for Fun and Profit,” Los Angeles, California
• 2006: Gorham Materials 2006 PMA Conference, “Patent Law Considerations for PMA,” San Diego, California
• 2006: Dispute Resolution Services, Inc., ADR Training for Parents of Student Peer Mediators, Santa Monica, California
• 2005: The Society of Women Engineers Sonora Regional conference, “Conflict Management and Communication,” San Diego, California
• 2004: Lee, Hecht, Harrison Entrepreneurial Forum, “Negotiation Basics for Success.”
• 2003: University of Southern California Corporate Counsel Institute, “Intellectual Property 101,” Los Angeles, California
• 2003: The Society of Women Engineers Sonora Regional conference, “Communication and Conflict in the Workplace,” San Luis Obispo, California
• 2002: Association for Conflict Resolution national conference, “The Systemic Sources of Conflict Within our Private Health Care System,” San Diego, California
• 2001: New York Bar Association Intellectual Property Section yearly conference, “Implications of the Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co. Decision on Patent Practice: The In-house Perspective,” Lake George, New York
• 1999 - 2000: Gorham Advanced Materials, Inc.’s international conferences “PMA and Spare Parts,” “Intellectual Property Rights and FAA PMA Requirements” and “How to Establish an IP Program for Your Company,” San Antonio, Texas, and Atlanta, Georgia