Negotiated outcomes over litigation. The firm helps clients resolve commercial and family disputes through mediation, collaborative practice, and structured negotiation — drawing on extensive 2026 training in dispute resolution at Pepperdine, BC and US collaborative practice programs, and a Master's in Clinical Psychology.
Most disputes — commercial and family — resolve more efficiently and with better outcomes through negotiation, mediation, or collaborative practice than through litigation. The firm has long preferred negotiated outcomes in commercial matters, and the principal lawyer has now substantially expanded the dispute-resolution practice with formal training:
The combination — senior business-law experience, dispute-resolution credentials, and clinical-psychology training — is unusual and directly relevant to how disputes actually unfold.
Acting as mediator on commercial disputes between business partners, shareholders, suppliers and customers, employers and senior employees, and other business contexts where the parties want a resolution rather than a courtroom. The firm can also act as counsel for a party in mediation conducted by another mediator.
Acting as mediator on family-law matters where the parties want a negotiated resolution, and as collaborative counsel on collaborative-divorce files conducted under the BC Collaborative Roster Society or other collaborative frameworks. The firm's training in interdisciplinary collaborative practice (involving mental-health professionals, financial neutrals, and child specialists as needed) supports complex family situations.
Drafting and reviewing dispute resolution provisions in commercial contracts — graduated negotiation/mediation/arbitration provisions, governing law and forum, and the practical mechanics of getting a dispute into a useful process when it arises.
Acting for a party in pre-litigation negotiation and settlement discussions, with a focus on resolving the matter before litigation costs accumulate.
The objective is a durable resolution that the parties can live with — not a victory that strains the relationship past repair. For business partners, families, and professional relationships in particular, this is usually the better outcome.
Mediation engagements are typically scoped by session, with a flat hourly or per-session rate agreed up front. Collaborative-practice engagements are scoped at the outset based on the matter and the parties' chosen process. Commercial dispute work is scoped to the matter and stage. The firm is not a litigation firm and does not handle contested court proceedings; matters that require litigation are referred to trusted litigation counsel.
Both, on different matters. The firm acts as mediator on commercial and family matters where the parties select it for that role, and as counsel for a party in mediations conducted by other mediators. Acting in one role precludes the other on the same matter.
Collaborative divorce is a structured process where both spouses retain separately trained collaborative counsel who commit, in a participation agreement, to resolve the matter without going to court. Mental-health professionals, financial neutrals, and child specialists may also be retained on the collaborative team. It is distinct from mediation, which uses a single neutral mediator. The firm has trained in both.
No. The firm focuses on negotiated outcomes — mediation, collaborative practice, settlement negotiation — and does not handle contested court proceedings. Matters that require litigation are referred to trusted litigation counsel, with the firm available for ongoing strategic or settlement input.
Shareholder and partnership disputes, supplier and customer commercial disputes, senior-employee terminations, professional-practice disputes (medical, dental, legal), and other business contexts where the parties want a structured resolution rather than litigation.
Disputes — especially family disputes and high-conflict commercial disputes between long-time business partners — are rarely purely legal problems. Training in clinical psychology and Relational Life Therapy supports the practical reality of conflict between people, alongside the legal framework. The credential is in progress; the underlying training is what informs the practice today.
Initial consultations are short and no-cost, and lead with whether the matter is well-suited to the process.
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