Mediator Kristin E. Rizzo finds employment law fascinating.
"I love mediating employment disputes," Rizzo said. "And some of that is because I think they're just so dynamic. They involve these really complex areas of the law. There's this emotional side, but then there's also this business and law side."
A 2006 University of San Diego School of Law graduate, Rizzo spent the first couple years of her career as an attorney working for a small plaintiffs' side firm, focusing on employment and personal injury. She then moved to Higgs Fletcher & Mack LLP, where she tackled employment cases from the defense side along with personal injury and medical negligence matters.
In 2011, Rizzo struck out on her own, representing individuals and companies in employment cases involving harassment, discrimination, wrongful termination, wage and hour and PAGA matters as well as class actions.
"Employment is certainly a complex area of law, but it also involves people," Rizzo said of her interest in the practice area. "Most of us can relate to employment matters because we all have been employed - either now or at one point in our life or perhaps we've been an employer. ... We can relate to having a job, needing a job and how important our jobs are to our identity."
Rizzo noted that even as an employment litigator she routinely operated with a resolution mindset.
"Often my opposing counsel would end up saying to me, 'You should really become a mediator. Have you ever thought about it? You're really good at this,'" she recalled. "I heard that early on and often."
So, in 2017, Rizzo decided to enroll in mediation training at the Pepperdine University School of Law Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, and the following year, she started mediating cases on a pro bono basis for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in San Diego as well as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the San Diego County Superior Court.
Rizzo added private mediation to her existing work as an attorney in 2019, and she joined Judicate West as a fulltime mediator in 2022, focusing on resolving employment disputes.
"It's really been a joy and a pleasure working with attorneys to help their clients reach their goals of resolution," she said. "It's been wonderful."
Before her mediations, Rizzo likes to receive briefs from all the parties and speak over the phone with counsel. She also encourages parties to exchange their briefs with the opposition and to spend some time beforehand drafting a rough outline of a settlement agreement.
"I really do strive to be seen as a partner, working with all sides as their neutral," Rizzo said. "To hear from them, to understand their needs, issues and concerns in reaching their goals for resolution. ... And I try to employ my emotional empathy and my resolution mindset to form an understanding of each one's unique perspectives and goals to figure out what they need and what's possible."
Irvine defense attorney Laura K. Sitar has used Rizzo to resolve five employment matters, and said the mediator applies a very even-handed approach.
"She'll tell me what the problems with my case are, where she sees my issues will likely be and how a jury might look at my argument," Sitar said. "But I know she's talking to the other side about what issues they may face. ... She can help my client get to where they need to be about liability, and she's doing the same in the other room."
Rizzo noted that she typically begins with the claimant in her mediations and tries to focus first on listening.
"Oftentimes, this process is new to them; they've never been in mediation before," Rizzo explained, noting there is frequently a fair bit of emotion in the plaintiffs' room. "So, I'm trying to get an understanding and hearing them and listening to them, providing that empathetic ear."
Rizzo said she tries to apply a similar approach in the defense room.
"I listen and I speak with empathy to those who've been affected, hurt and injured, but then I go in the other room, and there's a lot of legal and business issues that we have to discuss," she explained. "There's a lot of back and forth between legal issues and emotional issues. Everybody has their different needs and their different issues, their different concerns. I try to hear them and understand them and help them work through all those issues."
Pasadena plaintiffs' attorney Michael C. Martinez has used Rizzo to settle half a dozen employment cases, and he said she's a mediator with excellent emotional intelligence.
"She comes across as very empathetic," Martinez said. "So, for a plaintiff, where mediation has to serve as that person's day in court or the chance for that person to be heard, Kristin is very, very good."
And like Sitar, Martinez said he feels Rizzo applies a very balanced approach to mediation.
"She's very good at relating to both rooms, and I think she comes across as genuinely empathetic in both rooms," Martinez said. "When I get positive feedback from opposing counsel after they've never used her [before], that's always a sign I better use her the next time I can."
Rizzo noted that she will make use of mediator's proposals, but she encourages parties to reach a resolution they're able to negotiate.
"But a mediator's proposal is something I'm definitely happy to discuss if there's an impasse," Rizzo said, "or it just seems like that might be a last resort."
San Diego defense attorney Leonid M. Zilberman has used Rizzo to resolve several employment matters, and he also spoke highly of her emotional intelligence.
"She's super engaging and super respectful but also pragmatic," Zilberman said. "People in mediation tend to put up walls and tend to stand on certain positions. And Kristin has an ability - in a very friendly way - to disarm people and make them feel comfortable. And I think that is a testament to her emotional intelligence and her empathy."
Zilberman also noted that Rizzo has settled all the employment disputes he's brought to her, a fact the defense attorney insisted was no small accomplishment.
"You can talk about different characteristics of what makes a good mediator, but I think the ultimate proof is getting the deal done," Zilberman said. "And Kristin, I think, has very unique skills that always seem to lead to a resolution."
Here are some attorneys who have used Rizzo's services: Michael C. Martinez, Michael Martinez Law APC; Leonid M. Zilberman, Wilson Turner Kosmo LLP; Laura K. Sitar, Pleiss Sitar McGrath Gates & Ajello; Daphne A Delvaux, Delvaux Law; Guillermo A. Escobedo, Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete LLP.