I have been a civil litigation attorney for longer than I care to admit and I have learned a few things in that time. First, the litigation system is not completely about “truth,” “justice” and the “American way.” It’s also about gamesmanship. It’s also about brinkmanship. It’s also about winning by attrition. It’s about who has the most money to fight the fight. (One reason the Yankees have won the World Series more than any other team by far is that it has paid its players more than any other team. If you are a Yankees fan, and I know many, please do not email me about the Dodgers recent team salary, I know it!)
Now, do not get me wrong. On balance, I think the adversarial judicial system in America remains the best system in the world at attaining justice — but it’s far from perfect. (If you, for instance, get assigned a bad judge or a belligerent one, and make no mistake, those kinds of judges exist, then your chances at a just result can go down dramatically.)
This is why several years back, I decided to return to law school, and obtain a further degree in “alternative dispute resolution” which is a term that usually refers to “mediation” and “arbitration” in lieu of litigation. I just saw the need for it, especially for disputes that involved amounts in the low thousands to the low hundreds of thousands. The ordinary person in America simply does not have a lot of money and is working hard just to make ends meet. They need a cost effective way to resolve their disputes also. Litigation is usually not the way. This is why I came up with South Bay ADR. (For the larger disputes, the parties usually have the means to higher top notch counsel and fight in the court system or hire extremely expensive retired judges to serve as arbitrators.)
My fees are very reasonable and I bill conservatively for the time I put into a given case. I am happy to answer your questions about mediation, arbitration, or, for that matter, litigation — because sometimes litigation is necessary. Please email me or call me at your convenience. Thank you for visiting my blog.
