Jeff Kichaven

Los Angeles

High-Stakes, Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith, Intellectual Property, Professional Liability, Aggregate Litigation

This year marks two milestones for me: thirty years as a mediator and my seventieth birthday.

In Jewish tradition, seventy years represents the span of a full life. It is a moment of renewal. At seventy, you begin again. Thirteen years later, at eighty-three, you traditionally celebrate a second Bar Mitzvah--a reminder that growth and service are lifelong pursuits.

As I enter this new chapter, I reflect on what I have learned from three decades in the mediator's chair--and on the responsibility to keep refining, learning, and improving in the years ahead.

First, mediation is not about pressure. It is about clarity. Cases resolve when lawyers and clients see their situation clearly--the strengths and weaknesses of their positions, the risks of trial, and the costs of continuing to fight.

Second, lawyers and their clients remain the central decision-makers. The mediator's role is not to take over the negotiation but to create the conditions in which good lawyers can do their best work: advising their clients, testing assumptions, and negotiating effectively. When that happens, lawyers become heroes in their clients' eyes, and clients are empowered to make sound decisions--exactly as it should be.

Third, complex disputes rarely resolve in a straight line. High-stakes cases involve strong personalities, entrenched positions, and mistrust.

Progress comes through a disciplined process: building rapport, clarifying information, then engaging in careful bargaining. When the process works, settlement does not feel forced. It feels inevitable. In those moments, the mediator's judgment--when to press, when to pause, and when to reframe the problem--often determines whether the case moves forward at all.

So as this new chapter begins, my commitment is simple: to keep growing, to deepen the craft, and to bring patience, perspective, and respect to every participant in every mediation I conduct. The work continues, and I remain grateful for every opportunity to do it.

Jk@jeffkichaven.com

888-425-2520

www.jeffkichaven.com