Services

Services

Mediation: Litigated Cases

Terri Lubaroff sits on the Los Angeles Superior Court Random Select and Party Pay Panels.  She mediates the following types of cases, among others:

  • ADA Complaints
  • Auto Tort
  • Business/Commercial Tort
  • Civil Harassment
  • Construction Defect & Complex Construction Disputes
  • Contract
  • Copyright/Trademark
  • Defamation
  • Employment
  • Entertainment
  • Fraud
  • Intellectual Property
  • Intentional Torts
  • Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
  • Legal Malpractice
  • Medical Malpractice
  • Negligence
  • Patent
  • Personal Injury
  • Premises Liability
  • Product Liability
  • Partnership & Corporate Governance
  • Probate
  • Real Estate and Real Property Disputes
  • Securities
  • Toxic Tort/Environmental
  • Unfair Business Practices
  • Workplace Harassment
  • Wrongful Death

Mediation: Non-Litigated Disputes

Everyone has experienced conflict, but not all conflict is created equal.

Courts can only award three types of relief: money, injunctive relief or a declaration of rights. But not all conflicts can be resolved in this way. In fact, many conflicts result from one party attempting to protect their power, position or privilege from another. Ego and relationship are often in play, and the court system couldn’t care less about one’s ego or relationships.

A conflict may be draining the life out of your company, creating family in-fighting or simply making your life difficult. Some types of non-litigated disputes include:

  • Neighborhood Disputes
  • Employee Conflicts
  • Shareholder & Partnership Agreements
  • Business Restructuring / Dissolution
  • Succession Planning
  • Family Business Disputes
  • Financing / Contract Collections
  • Team Dysfunction
  • Company Policies & Procedures
  • Sexual Harassment / Hostile Workplace
  • Executive Employment or Exit Agreements
  • Talent Agency / Manager / Client Issues
  • On-Set Disputes / Production Issues
  • Creative Conflicts / Credits
  • Any Conflict Needing Confidentiality and Disgression

These types of disputes are not served by the time, expense, public scrutiny and emotional uncertainty of litigation. They need to be handled discretely, confidentially and quickly by a professional mediator.

When internal interpersonal conflict affects an organization’s productivity or relationships, a neutral mediator can explore the underlying issues and work to resolve those conflicts.  Terri Lubaroff interviews all relevant parties, evaluates the nature and extent of the conflict, develops a plan for resolution, mediates the dispute and puts into place a system of accountability to avoid future disputes.  She builds bridges between parties so everyone can become more productive and focused.

Terri tailors her services for each client’s needs, offering mediations for a diverse array of participants, including individuals, neighborhoods, businesses, restaurants, associations, non-profits, sports teams, publically traded corporations, family-owned businesses, partnerships, law-firms, film and television development companies, agencies, management companies, studios and networks.  If you don’t see your conflict listed here, call my office to discuss your issues and see if I can help.

Dealmaking Mediations

In complex business transactions, negotiators with a stake in the outcome sometimes fail to see the forrest through the trees.  Of course, there are times when the forrest is so darn attractive, negotiators are willing to cut down those pesky trees to close the deal. This doesn’t always serve the long-term best interests of the company or its principals. Using a neutral party such as a mediator in complex business transactions can help avoid future in-fighting, conflicts and lawsuits.  For example, a mediator might be able to preserve the reputation of an exiting CEO while building positive morale with remaining staff during transition, even after a difficult and contentious negotiation.

Why use a mediator to facilitate a complex business transaction instead of just relying on a lawyer?  Businessmen often task their lawyers with getting the “best deal possible,” which may give their lawyers the ability to marginalize the human elements involved in such deals.  Ignoring those human elements can be costly, resulting in high employee turnover and lawsuits.  A mediator will work with the principals, their lawyers and key personnel to discover and address issues that could cost the company time, money and personnel.  A mediator will be aware of the issues that are of immediate benefit to the deal, but will also address potential long-term exposure that could arise as a result of those issues.  A mediator will help evaluate and facilitate:

  • Risk Assessment
  • Employee Morale
  • Employee Retention
  • Team-Building
  • Management / Corporate Culture Transitions
  • Employee / Management Exit Agreements
  • PR Building / Reputation Building
  • Bridge Building Between Competing Executives and Companies
  • Relationship Preservation
  • Restructuring Issues

The other benefits of using a neutral party in such negotiations include additional creativity in dealmaking, ease of ownership transition and better communication between parties and key employees.  Remember that a mediator is a professional negotiator who can help make such transactions more lucrative for all parties because we see both the forrest and the trees.

Arbitration

There are two types of arbitration: Binding and Non-Binding.

Binding Arbitration
A proceeding where the disputing parties present their case and agree to be bound by the decision of an impartial adjudicator called the arbitrator.

Non-Binding Arbitration
A proceeding where the disputing parties present their case in order to hear an impartial adjudicator give an opinion as to liability and/or damages.

Terri Lubaroff offers both types of arbitrations, specializing in commercial, personal injury and entertainment disputes.

Facilitation

Terri offers facilitation services to help organizations achieve exceptional performance.

Acting as a “content neutral” party, Terri facilitates meetings to help an organization do its best thinking, search for creative solutions and build sustainable agreements and plans. She also assists groups in achieving consensus on any disagreements that preexist or emerge in the meeting so there is a strong basis for future action.  Terri helps organizations work more effectively, encouraging collaboration and synergy.

Terri Lubaroff offers facilitation services for individuals, companies, groups and associations. This includes meeting planning, agenda setting and running meetings on-site to ensure a smooth and productive day. She will keep your participants on schedule and on point.

Upon request, Terri can also develop the following types of facilitative programs specifically tailored to your organization’s specific need:

  • Conflict Resolution Training
  • Team-Building Exercises
  • Negotiation Exercises
  • Worst-Case Scenario “What-Ifs”
  • Customer Service Exercises
  • Disaster Plans
  • Brainstorming / Creative Thinking Sessions and Exercises

These types of facilitations often happen during company retreats, board meetings, family reunions or coaching camps. Please call to discuss your particular needs and how Lubaroff Mediation might be able to help.

Family Wealth Transfer Coaching

Recent research has shown that 70% of family wealth transitions from one generation to the next fail. Most family patriarchs and matriarchs don’t account for the possibility of their children involuntarily losing hard-won assets. Would you be surprised to hear that the research has shown these wealth transition failures are not because of onerous tax codes or bad estate planning, but the parents’ own failure to prepare their heirs for the eventual responsibility of their inheritance?

Lubaroff Mediation offers advice and coaching for families who want to put a plan in place that will help ensure that the legacy built by this generation will be enjoyed and honored for generations to come. Some of these family wealth coaching services include:

  • Developing a family wealth “mission-statement”
  • Information sharing with regard to estate planning
  • Sharing wealth during uncertain economic times
  • Family governance and family councils
  • Instilling work ethic and encouraging career ambition
  • Resolving personal issues within a family
  • Identifying and recognizing family behavior patterns
  • Community involvement and philanthropy

Often, wealthy families have built successful, family-owned businesses. Lubaroff Mediation can help family-owned companies with difficult decisions such as:

  • Management Succession Issues: who will be in charge?
  • Transfer of Ownership: to sell or not to sell?
  • Business Practices: flexibility of management and systems.
  • Strategies for Economic Downturn: steps for avoiding disaster.
  • Family Employee and Family Non-Employee Compensation: he gets paid what?
  • Unrelated Key Employees: retention of key personnel through family transitions.
  • Board of Directors: ensuring an effective board with accountability.

Agency for Dispute Resolution Empower Project 

The mission of the EMPOWER project is twofold.  First, to prevent conflicts and legal disputes in workplaces and organizations through the use of preventative practices like strategic consulting, assessments, investigations and training. Second, to resolve existing conflict in workplaces and organizations through the use of strategic facilitation and mediation.  We work closely with executives, principals, human resources personnel, managers and employees so that possibility, creation, innovation and competitive advantage can flourish in their workplace.

Back to Top

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Share