Mary McLain describes herself as an expert in mediation

Many mediators offer expertise in particular areas of law or types of lawsuits, such as construction, employment or personal injury. Mary McLain does not.

McLain describes herself as an expert in the process of mediation itself. That means she readily takes on cases ranging from real estate to maritime and from international disputes to family fights.

Whatever the subject matter, McLain sees her work as a mediator to include "bringing an understanding to [the parties] when they've been so far apart and helping them bridge that gap."

She does ask potential mediation clients if they need a subject matter expert or if they can point her to the law she needs for their case. For most matters, she can rely on her deep knowledge of how best to bring litigants together to resolve their disputes.

For example, she used humor and persistence to resolve a case brought by a small vendor that felt it was being cheated by a large multinational corporation. "It was a classic case of truly many cultural misunderstandings," said Brennan Wall of Thales Avionics, a subsidiary of a Paris-based aerospace and security company.

"She helped us to reach a common understanding ... to better appreciate where the other side was coming from," he said.

McLain managed what he said was the difficult task of defusing each side's annoyance with the other. "She helped us to understand the absurdity of some of the positions we were taking," he said. "It was actually quite brave because humor can backfire. ... She just constantly tried to direct everyone toward the future."

McLain learned mediation by earning a master of laws degree from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University and participating in other training programs. Over her quarter century as a mediator, she also taught the subject at law schools and for multinational organizations.

But to some extent, she's been mediating all her life. As the middle child of six, she said, "I think I was always destined to be a mediator."

McLain grew up near the entrance to Yellowstone National Park in southern Montana. Her parents were social activists who every summer would bring inner city children from Chicago to live with the family for a few weeks. She first became interested in law by listening to lawyers from the East Coast who helped Vietnam War draft resisters when her brother was a conscientious objector.

"I was very inspired by the lawyers," she said. "I thought, 'What a great profession because you can use the knowledge of the law to have an impact on society."

Her family moved to North Dakota when she was a teenager. She graduated from the University of Jamestown there and then worked as a teacher in a kindergarten and a mental hospital. Several years later, she entered the University of North Dakota School of Law, where she earned her degree in 1984.

Moving to California after graduation, she initially worked for the Continuing Education of the Bar in Berkeley. She then practiced with a series of Bay Area firms handling general civil litigation, asbestos defense, plaintiffs' medical malpractice and insurance defense.

Then McLain opened her own office as what she called a hired gun. "Firms would hire me to come in and do their trials," she said.

When one of her cases dragged on for eight months, she decided there must be a better way to resolve disputes. "I could see the rigorous toll it took" on the parties, she said. "That's when I took my first mediation course."

The 40-hour program in Marin County so inspired her that she enrolled in Pepperdine's master of laws program in mediation. But even before she enrolled in 2001, she changed her practice fully from litigation to mediation.

Then and now, many of her cases come to her through the Northern District of California's alternative dispute resolution program and from state courts. She also handles international disputes through her affiliation with the International Chamber of Commerce. McLain is a distinguished fellow of the International Academy of Mediators.

When she receives a case, she quickly sets up a conference call with counsel and clients. "We find out a bit about what's been going on and if there are any difficulties and hurdles they've been struggling with."

She asks the sides to give her mediation brochures, rather than briefs, "because I want to get away from the litigation aspect," she said. "This is their chance to really be able to look with fresh eyes and try to get out of the mode of the law, the law, the law."

McLain prefers to begin mediations with joint sessions, although attorneys often resist. She believes it is important for the parties to be able to talk to one another and explain how the dispute is affecting them.

She views the mediation process as divided by five milestones, beginning with convening the mediation and then opening it with, ideally, that joint session.

The third milestone is communicating. "Everybody wants a chance to be heard," McLain said, "That's why people have lawsuits, to have a chance to be heard."

Step four is the actual negotiation. That is when she and the litigants brainstorm to develop creative and innovative ways to reach a resolution, she said. The fifth milestone is the closing, when the parties can make an informed decision about settling their litigation.

Fabio E. Marino, the chair of the intellectual property group at Polsinelli LLP, had a mediation with McLain that did not result in an agreement. But she tried hard to get the case settled, he said.

"She's a good mediator; she explains things well to the clients," he said. "She reads the papers and understands the arguments."

Marino said the case turned on a cutting-edge interpretation of a state auto financing statute for which there was little precedent. He said he was impressed with her ability to understand the statute's purpose and his side's arguments.

After a family tragedy in 2005, McLain stopped taking on mediation matters herself and switched to teaching mediation. Beginning in about 2006, she taught classes in mediation and negotiation at UC Berkeley School of Law and UC Hastings College of the Law, trained mediators for the International Trademark Association and taught leadership and international business for the Hult International Business School.

Then, in about 2018, she left teaching to return to mediating.

"I find mediation to be not only informing what I am as a professional, but also it is my identity," McLain said. "It was something I think I was meant to be."

Here are some attorneys who have used McLain's services: Fred W. Schwinn, Consumer Law Center Inc.; Brennan Wall, Thales Avionics; Fabio E. Marino, Polsinelli LLP; John W. Lomas Jr., Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP; Ryan D. Fischbach, Baker & Hostetler LLP; Todd Michael Friedman, Law Offices of Todd M. Friedman P.C.; Craig M. Davis, Law Offices of Craig Davis; Sydney Brannon, Buty & Curliano LLP; Mathew N. White, Matthew White LLP; Yvonne M. Pierrou, Marion's Inn LLP; Douglas C. Fladseth, Law Office of Douglas Fladseth; Leonard A. Rifkind, Rifkind Law Group; Amanda N. Griffith, Berman, Berman, Berman, Schneider & Lowary LLP; Thomas P. Quinn Jr., Nokes & Quinn APC.