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MAP Background Information provided

282==Name: Jennifer E. Acheson
Address: 73 Palmer Lane
  Atherton, CA 94027
Telephone:(650) 575-9981        
Email: jachesonesq@gmail.com
Fees: $500 per hour
Other Costs:  Fees: Mediation: $500.00/Hour; $2,500.00/Half Day (5 hours); $5,000.00/Full Day (10 hours).
Early Neutral Evaluation: $700.00/Hour.

Fees include the pre-mediation conference time San Francisco Bay Area. Ms. Acheson reserves the right to charge for her extra preparation, conference and follow-up time at the rate of $500. After the Mediation/ENE has concluded, Ms. Acheson will send a supplemental invoice, which is due and payable on receipt.

Other Costs: Mediation/ENE may be conducted via Zoom or in person as the parties may agree. Zoom is free of charge. Conference facilities need to be arranged and paid for by the parties. Should a third-party facility become necessary, Ms. Acheson agrees to assist in securing conference space and the fee will be the responsibility of the parties.

A deposit of each participant’s share of the total amount due must be received 14 days before the mediation in order to guarantee mediation date and time. If the mediation/ENE is cancelled or postponed within 14 days of the scheduled date, the party (or parties) requesting the cancellation or postponement is (are) responsible for the entire fee for the reserved time, unless Ms. Acheson’s time can be rescheduled for another matter. She will make every effort to avoid the necessity of charging a cancellation or postponement fee.

Fees, extra costs, and third-party facilities will be billed to and are due from the mediation participants in equal, pro rata shares unless the parties agree to a different allocation and notify Ms. Acheson.
BAR Number:0130833
Current Status: Attorney
Subject Matter:
  • Business / Breach of Contract
  • Insurance
  • Personal Injury / Auto
  • Personal Injury / Other
  • Probate: Estates & Trusts
  • Real Estate / Eminent Domain
  • Other: Civil Rights – ADA; Unruh Act; Full Equal Access to Public Facilities
Mediation
Experience:

 		Ms. Acheson has served as a private and panel mediator both prelitigation and during litigation largely in Northern California. She is highly experienced with insurer-insured coverage disputes, having served as a neutral for the California Department of Insurance Mediation Program (Cal. Ins. Code §10089.70-89 catastrophic losses). Her experience as a neutral also includes breach of contract, extracontractual liability, professional, general liability policies, homeowner’s, and auto policy coverages, including under-uninsured, and medical expense coverages, coordination of benefits, reimbursement, subrogation with health plans. She has also successfully settled suits for violations of Civil Rights Americans with Disabilities Act and parallel California statutes, unfair business practices. Ms. Acheson has broad experience mediating personal injury and property damage cases. She is a panel neutral on San Mateo County Superior Court, U.S.D.C for the Northern District of CA, and the California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District’s Appellate Mediation Program.
Mediation
Training:

 		Pepperdine University, Straus School of Law Institute for Dispute Resolution, Malibu, CA (2009); Services to Encourage Effective Dialogue & Solution, Alameda Superior Court (2009-2010); Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center, San Mateo CA (2010); United States District Court for Northern District of California ADR Program Mediation and Early Neutral Evaluation (2019); U.S.D.C. for the Northern District of California Advanced Practice Group (since 2019 and currently ongoing).
Neutral
Evaluation
Background:
 		First party homeowners’ policy coverage disputes arising out of alleged fire and smoke damage to residence, claims for breach of contract; breach of the covenant of good faith & fair dealing; negligence; negligent misrepresentation, unfair competition (Bus. & Prof. Code §17200; Ins. Code §790.03), personal injury, punitive damages; delay in investigation; withholding benefits; disputed cost-to-rebuild estimates.
Settlement
Conference
Experience:
35 years of settlement conference experience as a litigator in a wide variety of practices in California State and Appellate Courts, and the U.S.D.C. for Northern District of California.
Other
Education:

 		 University of San Francisco School of Law, San Francisco, CA; La Sorbonne, Paris, FR Fulbright; University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.
Mediation
Approach:

 		 My mediation style is a continuum from evaluative, by helping the parties to assess the legal merits of their respective positions, to facilitative by encouraging the disputants to reach their own voluntary solution. My goal is to aid the parties in reaching a mutually satisfactory agreement, resolving all or part of the dispute by carefully exploring not only relevant evidence and law, but also the parties' underlying interests, needs and priorities. Establishing trust and a good working relationship with both sides is crucial in order to identify the real interests at stake, spoken and unspoken, and to identify possible options for mutual gain. My style is guided by the parties themselves, counsel and issues to be resolved, starting with the pre-mediation conference calls, briefs, and communications in the mediation itself.
Neutral
Approach:

 		 My approach to early neutral evaluation is to listen to the evidence and supporting arguments of each side(s); to identify areas of agreement, clarify and focus on areas of disagreement, and to encourage the parties to enter into procedural and substantive stipulations; to prepare a confidential evaluation including an estimate, where feasible, of the likelihood of liability and dollar range of damages, an assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each party's case, and reasoning supporting my assessment. The parties may either ask to hear the evaluation orally, or to postpone/forego hearing the evaluation in order to engage in settlement discussions which I will facilitate. If settlement discussions don't occur, I will help the parties devise a plan for sharing additional information and/or for conducting key discovery and/or additional disclosures that will expeditiously allow them to enter into meaningful settlement discussions or position the case for resolution by motion(s) or trial.
Other
Information:

 		 Multicultural competency is a unique strength having grown up in Bangkok, Thailand, lived and studied in Guadalajara, Mexico, Beirut, Lebanon, and Paris, France. My work with marginalized communities includes serving as a mediator for the USDC for Northern District of CA, including pro se litigants and as a mediator for CA Dept. of Insurance.
Brief
Thumbnail:

 I am a long-time, dedicated San Mateo County Bar member and resident. Having started my legal career as a research attorney for the San Mateo Superior Court, followed by private practice in two local firms for over 30 years, I have served individuals, schools, organizations and businesses, both before or during litigation, in San Mateo County and beyond. I have also devoted and continue to devote significant time to the County on a volunteer basis in several capacities, e.g., as a San Mateo County Bar Fee Arbitrator-Mediator, Judge Pro Tem, San Mateo County Historical Association Board Member, Planning Commissioner, all with tremendous reward. I want to extend my service and skill as a highly engaged, enthusiastic, creative and practiced mediator to our greater community and Courts.
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