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MAP Background Information provided

135==Name: Malcolm Sher
Address: 3494 Camino Tassajara, # 431
  Danville, CA 94506
Telephone:(925) 906-0990Fax:(925) 906-0990      
Email: malcolm@sher4mediatedsolutions.com
Website: www.sher4mediatedsolutions.com
Fees: $450 to $500 per hour
Other Costs:  $450 per hour for two parties; $500 per hour for 3 or more parties. Study time, as reported by the mediator is charged at the same rate. There is a 4 hour minimum fee. I will offer a flat fee of $4,500 per day or $2,500 per half day, including preparation time if parties prefer. If the matter is taken off calendar for any reason (canceled, settled, postponed) within 7 working days of the scheduled mediation hearing, four hours will be charged at the rate quoted above. Travel time is negotiable depending on location.
BAR Number:0072629
Current Status: Attorney
Subject Matter:
  • Business / Breach of Contract
  • Construction
  • Employment
  • Insurance
  • Legal Malpractice
  • Medical / Dental Malpractice
  • Personal Injury
  • Probate
  • Product Liability
  • Real Estate / Eminent Domain
  • Other: Real Estate Broker Malpractice, CPA Malpractice, Elder Abuse, Partnership Dissolutions, Attorney-Client Fee Mediations
Mediation
Experience:

 		I specialize in cross-cultural, high emotion disputes involving "dirt, buildings and the people who handle them".

I have mediated hundreds of litigated and non-litigated disputes involving real estate, easement/boundary, partition actions, commercial and residential landlord-tenant, (including "habitability"), construction defect, (including Home Improvement Contracts), secured transactions, wills/trusts/elder abuse, partnership, breach of contract,
fraud/misrepresentation, professional liability of brokers, attorneys, CPAs, title/escrow, probate/trust/elder abuse, premises liability cases.

Private mediator and on court panels for San Mateo, San Francisco, Contra Costa, Alameda, Sonoma and Solono ADR Programs.
Mediation
Training:

 		Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University, "Mediating the Litigated Case", 42 hours in 2012;
Steve Rosenberg "Basic Mediator Training" 40 hours in 2002 and "Advanced Mediator Training", 20 hours in 2004;
Harvard Negotiation Project Symposium by International Academy of Mediators in 2006;
Presenter of seminars on mediation for CEB, Contra Costa, Alameda and Marin Bar Associations.
Arbitration
Experience:

 		I have arbitrated breach of contract, broker liability, construction defect and attorney-client fee disputes.
Member, State Bar of California Executive Committee on Mandatory Fee Arbitration;
Chair, Contra Costa Bar Association MFA Committee; member, Alameda County Bar Association MFA panel.
Neutral
Evaluation
Background:
 		Private Neutral Evaluator in commercial and real estate disputes.
Other
Education:

 		 Law Degree: LLB (Hons) London University, 1969.
Mediation
Approach:

 		 I have a flexible, improvisational approach designed to meet the needs of parties and their attorneys. I respect the disputants' self-determination to make peace or not. I believe that, if they are respected and their points of view heard, the odds of resolution increase substantially. I am willing to be "evaluative", though never "directive", and will explore the "what-ifs", ask probing questions, pragmatically identify risks and benefits and gently encourage parties and attorneys to face reality.

I encourage pre-mediation telephone conferences with attorneys to discuss issues relating to attendance of insurers and other stakeholders, settlement authority and impediments to settlement and dietary needs, since I provide food at all mediations lasting more than 4 hours. I make use of Skype and Facetime technology in appropriate circumstances where personal attendance is not possible.
Arbitration
Approach:

 		 With more than 20 years experience as a Pro-tem judge in the Small Claims Court and attorney-client fee arbitrator, I maintain neutrality at all times, considering and weighing all proffered testimony and other evidence. I follow the law of the case, especially if required to do so by any contractual arbitration provision, am not afraid to make difficult decisions and fully explain the reasons for my decisions.
Neutral
Approach:

 		 I request and carefully review briefs and other evidence submitted, usually request an oral presentation from attorneys and their clients and then adopt a Socratic approach, asking evaluative questions. I follow the procedure with a written evaluation unless this is expressly waived.
Other
Information:

 		 Member, California and National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals; Member, The Mediation Society and ADRNC; Panel Mediator for ADR Select and Resolute Systems.

Member, ADR Panels for ADR Select and Resolute Systems.
Brief
Thumbnail:

 My education and years of practice abroad, as well as continuing formal mediation training to enhance my mediation and negotiation skills and substantive and procedural competency and hundreds of hands-on mediations have equipped me to bring value to the meditative process. Most of my mediated cases involve significant emotional issues, which must be acknowledged and addressed. My own background has given me insight to successfully mediating disputes involving disputants from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. I have written on this subject and provided training for both attorneys and mediators on the need to recognize and validate the different negotiation models employed by diverse cultures and the need to treat them with dignity and respect.
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