Lee Jay Berman

Lee Jay Berman brings a diverse background to his mediation and training work. A full-time mediator and trainer since 1994, he has successfully mediated over 1,100 litigated matters and is on the panels of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the CPR Institute’s National Panel of Distinguished Neutrals, and Arbitration Mediation and Conciliation Centers. He is a Fellow with the International Academy of Mediators and a Founder and Diplomat with the California Academy of Distinguished Neutrals.

He is Director of the Mediating the Litigated Case program for the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine University School of Law, on the Advisory Board of the Harvard Negotiation Insight Initiative, and he Chairs the Training Committee of the ABA’s Section on Dispute Resolution. Mr. Berman has trained mediators in post war Croatia for the U.S. Agency for International Development, sitting judges for the Delhi High Court for the Institute for the Study and Development of Legal Systems, mediators and lawyers for the AAA, the California Academy of Mediation Professionals, and multiple Bar Associations, courts, and law firms. Mr. Berman was the inaugural ADR Director of the Court Administered Dispute Resolution (CADRe) Program for the Santa Barbara County Superior Court, where he was instrumental in designing, building and launching Santa Barbara’s much acclaimed multi-door courthouse program.

Prior to his work in the conflict resolution and negotiation field, Mr. Berman was President of a chain of retail clothing stores, was Director of Land Acquisition for Pardee Homes, a division of Weyerhaeuser Company, and Vice President of Land and Development for Ryland Homes’ Los Angeles Division.

Today, Mr. Berman enjoys a thriving commercial mediation practice and teaches mediation, negotiation and conflict resolution skills to corporations, non-profit organizations and governmental agencies.