Lee Jay Berman began as a full-time mediator for more than 26 years, and has successfully mediated over 2,400 matters. He is on the American Arbitration Association’s elite Master Mediator panel for employment matters, and is a national panelist on AAA’s commercial and construction panels. He is a Distinguished Fellow with the International Academy of Mediators, a Charter Diplomat with the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals (NADN), certified by the International Mediation Institute, and a Dispute Resolution Expert with the United Nations Development Programme. The NADN honored him with their inaugural “Distinguished Neutral of the Year” award in 2017. He is ranked “Top Ranked Mediator” nationally in Chambers & Partners in 2018-2019. He was Mediator of the Year for the US Bankruptcy Court in California, California’s Daily Journal twice named him “Top Neutral”, Acquisition International Magazine awarded him “Mediator of the Year – California” from 2012-2019, and he has been voted by his colleagues into the Who’s Who of International Commercial Mediation in 2012-2019.
Lee Jay Berman is also a respected trainer. He founded the American Institute of Mediation, leaving his position as Director of Pepperdine Law School’s Mediating the Litigated Case program after seven years. In addition to lecturing and training at Pepperdine, he has also done so at Southwestern Law School, University of Texas, Southern Methodist University, Cal-State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara, and Bond University in Brisbane, Australia. Lee Jay has trained judges, attorneys and business leaders in India, Australia, Europe and the Middle East.
As an author, he has published numerous articles on mediation, negotiation, and ADR, along with his blog Eye On Conflict, and the ABA will be publishing two of his books in 2020.
Mr. Berman is uniquely qualified and experienced in the field of mediation, which leads to his consistently posting resolutions rates well over 90% every year. His deep understanding and experience with the mediation process, risk analysis, legal rights and remedies, court systems, negotiation theory, people, motivations, difficult personalities, and the neuroscience of what drives people in conflict, along with his unique experiences in and out of the court system, law schools, mediation rooms and training judges and mediators all over the world are the primary reasons for his being chosen to resolve the most complex legal matters and highly emotional and intractable disputes.
Current Roles:
- The Mediation Alliance, Inc., Commercial Mediator since 1994
- American Institute of Mediation: Founder and President
- Pepperdine Law School, Director: “Mediating the Litigated Case” program in Malibu (2003-2009)
Recognitions:
- Daily Journal “Top Neutral” in 2008 and 2009
- Who’s Who in International Commercial Mediation 2012-2018
- Acquisition International magazine’s Excellence in ADR award 2012-2018
Specializing in:
- Complex Commercial Mediation
- Complex Multi-party Litigation
- Business litigation
- Construction defect
- Products liability
- Medical malpractice
- Wrongful death
- Personal Injury
- Bankruptcy
- Franchise
- Employment / Workplace
- Intellectual Property
- Healthcare
Education
- University of California, Los Angeles, Bachelors, Economics, 1983
- Harvard Law School Executive Education, Program on Negotiation, Negotiation, 2007
Memberships
- State Bar of California, Standing Committee on ADR, 2006-present; Ethics Subcomm., 1998-2000
- Chair, American Bar Association, Section on Dispute Resolution, Training Committee, 2002-2007
- Los Angeles County Bar Association – Litigation and ADR Sections
- Beverly Hills Bar Association – ADR Section
- American Arbitration Association, National Registry of Mediators & Arbitrators;
Affiliations
- Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
- United States Bankruptcy Court, Central District of California (Mediator of the Year 2005)
- California Second District Court of Appeal
- Superior Courts of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Kern and Sonoma Counties
- Hospital Association of Southern California
- Distinguished Fellow, International Academy of Mediators, 2003-present
- Diplomat, California Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, Charter Member
- Chair, International ADR Subcomm.; Legislation Committee, Ethics and Standards Committee
- California Dispute Resolution Council (CDRC), 1995-present;
- Chair, CDRC Qualifications and Standards Committee, 1997-2003, published statewide Standards of Practice for California Mediators in 1998
- Member, California Judicial Council drafting committee Rules of Court for mediators, 1999-2000
- California Court ADR Directors Council, 1999-2000
- Southern California Mediation Association, 1994-present, Chair Courts Committee 2005
- Association of Business Trial Lawyers
- Inn of Court, Los Angeles Chapter