Firsthand Knowledge

Litigator Sanford Jossen worked with many mediators over his more than four decades representing clients, and not all of them were great.

"Unfortunately, I've had some terrible mediators," Jossen said. "And I've probably learned more from the terrible mediators than the good mediators."

It was often the unprepared mediators - who spent very little time speaking with his client - that irked Jossen the most.

"I've had many cases as a litigator where the mediators have never spoken to my client," he recalled. "And people need to be heard. It's a big part of the overall gestalt of a case and mediation."

Last April, Jossen joined the ADR Services Inc. portfolio of private neutrals, and he's since been tackling personal injury, sexual molestation, commercial, insurance bad faith and habitability disputes as a mediator and arbitrator. But Jossen first started arbitrating and mediating cases alongside his litigation practice in the late 1980s.

"So, I've done probably thousands of mediations and arbitrations," he said.

A 1980 University of San Diego School of Law graduate, Jossen spent his 43 years as a plaintiffs' attorney working primarily as a sole practitioner, representing clients in personal injury, premises liability and sexual molestation matters.

"I've done hundreds of sexual molestation cases involving the foster care system, schools, all kinds of group homes," he recalled.

"I want to be the mediator I always wished I had," Jossen said. "I want to be engaged, involved with each case I get from the time I get assigned. I am not someone who may or may not open a brief the night before and when I first start the mediation ask, 'OK, what's going on in this case?' I want to know everything going on and involved in the case long before the mediation occurs."

As an arbitrator, Jossen said he tries to make the process "as stress-free as possible."

"At the end of the day, I'm doing one thing and one thing only. I'm looking at the facts, I'm applying the law, and I'm doing the right thing based on the facts and the law," he said. "I do a written opinion in every case I arbitrate, and I want everybody to walk away saying, 'I had a fair shot. ... I had a chance to present all my witnesses, testimony and evidence. And I understand what his thinking was because he wrote it down and told me.'"
Before his mediations, Jossen said he relies heavily on briefs submitted by all the parties. He also arranges a time to speak with counsel over the phone very soon after being assigned to a case, which provides him "the best possible understanding of the case from the earliest possible time."

On the day of mediation, Jossen said he typically spends a fair bit of time early on with the plaintiffs.

"Not because I favor the plaintiff," he explained. "But because my experience is the more I engage the actual parties involved, the more I listen to them, the more I explain to them my process - the higher the likelihood that the case will settle."

When the timing is right, he will shift into a more evaluative strategy, discussing a case's strengths and weaknesses with counsel.

"It would not be unusual for me to say to one side or the other, 'If you represented your opponent, what would be your best arguments? What would you see as your vulnerabilities?'" Jossen explained. "Because you have to get people to see things from all sides if they're going to really have an accurate understanding of how the triers of fact - those 12 plus two plus one - are going to see their case."

Beverley Hills plaintiffs' attorney Quinn D. Graham used Jossen recently to resolve a complicated personal injury dispute, and he said the mediator was excellent with his client.

"He listened closely and addressed any questions she had," Graham said. "It was clear that he cared about what she had to say about the case."

Graham also appreciated how Jossen prepared beforehand.

"He really has a great attention to detail when it comes to the case. He really cares about all the facts, asks the right questions," Graham said. "And then when the case didn't resolve initially, he was reaching out to myself as well as opposing counsel day after day, saying, 'What can we do to resolve this?' ... And he really kept on the defense to continue the negotiations."

Los Angeles plaintiffs' attorney Daniel W. Dunbar used Jossen recently to resolve a difficult uninsured motorist case, and he was also impressed by the mediator's doggedness with defense counsel in the matter.

"He clearly had the ear of the defense lawyer," Dunbar said. "Obviously, I didn't have the ear of the defense lawyer before the mediation. Whatever I was doing wasn't getting it done. And Sandy just worked magic with the defense lawyer."

Dunbar said he was impressed with Jossen's patience but also his relentless pursuit of resolution.

"There's no doubt in my mind that he was in there spending the time to address every issue with the defense lawyer," Dunbar recalled. "I would use him again in a heartbeat."

Hermosa Beach litigator Albro L. Lundy, who represents both plaintiffs and defendants, has used Jossen to mediate roughly a dozen cases, and he said the neutral doesn't favor one side or the other.

"Sandy gets along with both the plaintiffs and the defense," said Lundy, who's used the mediator for personal injury, habitability, construction defect and business disputes.

Lundy also described Jossen as straightforward.

"He'll let you know what he thinks ... and show you where the holes are in your case," Lundy said. "On the other hand, he doesn't beat you down. He doesn't say, 'Oh, you've got a lousy case. You should really settle this.' Some mediators take that position, but that's not Sandy."

Lundy added that Jossen's long run as a lawyer shows up in his style as a mediator.

"Because he's never been on the bench, he takes it more from an attorney's point of view," Lundy explained. "A lot of times you can run into mediators who've been on the bench for a long time, and they're more about making decisions than finding solutions."

Jossen said he loves his new focus on private neutral work.

"It feels great to help people get their case resolved," he said. "The plaintiffs - the ordinary people in the case, the nonprofessional - they're always really happy. And it seems like the attorneys on both sides are happy, too. ... I get the chance to work with really smart people and help them."

Here are some attorneys who have used Jossen's services: Quinn D. Graham, Rafii & Associates PC; Daniel W. Dunbar, Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP; Albro L. Lundy, Baker Burton & Lundy PC; Gary A. Dordick, Dordick Law Corporation; Robert C. Jenkins, Manning Leaver Bruder & Berberich LLP.