Michael H. White

L.A. attorney mediator Michael H. White is an acknowledged authority in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)  techniques for resolving business and personal conflicts outside of traditional, court-based litigation.

Competent, compassionate and creative, Mr. White combines three decades of traditional private-practice litigation in Southern California—business and commercial litigation, bankruptcy, estate planning, real estate, and divorce—with more than a decade of leadership in the fast evolving world of ADR.

Both as a college professor and as an active practitioner, Mr. White has become a passionate advocate for mediation and arbitration as a way to create more lasting and productive solutions to commercial and personal conflicts.

Mediation Approach

As a mediator, Mr. White respects the fact that the mediation process is “owned” by the parties.  He is a peaceful listener who provides a safe and consistent atmosphere in which to uncover and express the underlying issues of a dispute, with an end to improving communications between the parties, resolving the basic relational issues, and seeking a road on which a future relationship may be explored or improved.

His philosophy and preferences are that of a practitioner of transformative/eclectic mediation, but he is respectful of the rights and obligations of the parties to participate in the development of the process that they wish to employ.  In the same way, Mr. White is always willing to consider the approach to mediation that the parties (and when represented, their counsel) wish to suggest.

Professional Background

Mr. White has practiced law since 1975 in the California and Federal courts. His extensive trial practice has included real estate litigation, commercial transactions, medical and psychological malpractice, estates and trusts, bankruptcy and administrative proceedings. Prior to that time, he began his initial legal work as a Staff Judge Advocate in the U.S. Air Force during the years 1972 to 1974. He is a past president of the Beverly Hills Bar Association; a member of the Executive Board of the California Conference of Delegates, now the California Conference of Bar Associations, as well as numerous other professional organizations. He is a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) and the
California Dispute Resolution Council (CDRC), and can be found on Mediate.com.

Professional Mediation Experience

Since 1985, Mr. White has been an active supporter of the Los Angeles Superior Court Mediation Panel. For a decade, he has also supported the mediation panel of the Ventura County Superior Court. Most recently, he has joined the panels for the California Court of Appeal and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. In past years, he has generally administered on average 40 mediations per year in support of courts. In addition, he has maintained his private mediation and law practice primarily in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, with occasional work in Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. His mediation training includes the Mediation Skills Training, both basic and advanced, by the Los Angeles County Bar Association/Dispute Resolution Services, Inc., and the Intensive and Advanced Mediation Training by the Center for Mediation in Law.

Degrees

Mr. White obtained his Juris Doctor (J.D.)degree from the University of California at Los Angeles School of law in 1971. He obtained his B.A. degree from the University of Oklahoma, attending its school of Journalism. He began his college education at Occidental College which he attended for 2 and 1/2 years.

Training

Fees

Mr. White’s hourly rate is $400.00, generally shared equally among the parties.
A retainer of $1,000.00 is generally required, which is refundable on cancellation if five days notice of cancellation is provided, and thereafter, with a cancellation fee of $400.00.

Why mediate, and why mediation?

Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that is an increasingly popular alternative to traditional lawsuits and litigation. It is a voluntary, confidential process in which parties who are unable to resolve a conflict on their own – business partners, a divorcing couple, siblings arguing over an elderly parent, etc. – meet with a neutral third party (a mediator) to work out a mutually satisfactory resolution.

Benefits of mediation

Mediation has tremendous advantages and benefits, including:

• Confidential—Differences can be worked out in private, not in a public trial
• Less expensive—Legal costs are dramatically lower, often by as much as 90%
• Fast resolution—Saves months and even years over court-based litigation
• Greater control—Process is controlled by the disputing parties themselves
• Win–win—Final resolution is satisfactory to all parties, vs. “winner takes all”
• Better future—Parties redefine relationships in respectful and constructive ways

Mediation vs. litigation

Unlike traditional, court-based litigation, mediation does not hand over the final outcome to a judge or jury. Instead, the parties themselves work together to determine the outcome. The parties in dispute control the entire mediation process, with the mediator merely directing the proceedings. As an unbiased third party, the mediator facilitates, enhances, and directs communication between the parties, making sure that each side is fully “heard” – so that they can come to a satisfactory resolution. And because mediation is a voluntary process, either party may terminate the proceeding at any time without adverse consequences, with each party participating as much or as little as they choose.

Advantages of Mediation

Traditional ways of solving disputes – trials, lawsuits, litigation – are notoriously expensive, time-consuming, traumatic, and destructive, with uncertain outcomes that can be grossly unfair. Traditional litigation is adversarial by nature, and often creates more problems than it solves. That’s because attorneys are mandated by law to obtain the best possible outcome for their clients regardless of the facts, fairness, or consequences to other parties. “Justice” is often served to the party with the most expensive lawyer, and collateral damage is far too common (kids caught in the middle of a bitter divorce).