“Thanks again for your efforts yesterday. I remain firmly convinced you are the only mediator in the world who could have sealed the deal.”
FIRST-HAND IMPRESSIONS
“I just wanted you to know what a pleasure it was having you as our mediator. This was a very difficult case with some contentious issues and personalities (mine excluded) but you were able to cut through it all and finally pull a settlement together.
If you hadn’t persisted with the telephone calls, I am sure we would have ended up trying this case.
I look forward to working with you again.”
Michael K. Wolder, Esq. – Pistone & Wolder LLP
"Gig, very impressed. I will be looking for opportunities to come back to watch you do your magic again."
Client
"Dear Gig, thank you for assisting all of us to reach a resolution... On behalf of our entire team, we wanted to let you know that we appreciate your insight into both sides of the case and your amazing ability to help us come together to reach an agreement. I know that [our paralegal] was inspired as this was his first mediation. It was an amazing experience for him."
Client
"I can’t thank you enough for your kindness and care yesterday. Without your compassion and persistence, I don’t know if...and I could have made it through.
For the first time in months, I feel like a cloud has been lifted and I can think about a future that includes enjoying time with my family and some security and happiness ahead. None of this would have been possible without you. You never gave up even when things seemed hopeless and I know in my heart of hearts but for you and...I would be in a very different place.
People like you are very rare, and I truly feel privileged to have met you.
...A special thanks to your mom whose cookies brightened the day!"
Client
"I would like to personally thank you for a wonderful experience in dealing with you in this mediation. I really appreciate your insight and expertise. Your thoughtfulness, advice, and respectfulness is greatly appreciated... Also, your staff was so gracious."
Client, DZ
"Thank you so much for all your work helping to mediate the situation between myself and my former employer. I just wanted to thank you for your skill and equanimity in helping to resolve a situation that could have become very ugly. Your space is very relaxing and your mother's cookies helped."
Jasmine L., party
"Thanks again for all your assistance last week. It was a pleasure to work with you and to watch you so skillfully navigate between the 2 sides. All in all, I think the outcome was the best we could have achieved, and that was due to your efforts. And the music chat was a bonus!"
Paul H. Weinstein, Esq. - Berlitz Corporation
"We want to thank you for the thoughtful way you helped bring our case to settlement…Our intention from the outset was to keep the negotiations principled and to work toward the benefit of both parties involved. Your conscientious and calm nature helped us do just that.
Your understanding of the importance of human relationships and the influence of emotions in business as well as your empathy regarding the toll that the stress of litigations takes on creative minded people was instrumental toward achieving our goal.
It is said that good mediation leaves both parties feeling unhappy. Untrue. A good mediator finds the way to bring relief and in some cases advantage to both parties. You are that mediator."
David & Arlene N., parties
"Just a note to thank you for your great work. You did a fantastic job! Also, thank your mother for the fabulous cookies, they truly are my favorite!"
Steven D. Huff, Esq. & Anderson, McPharlin & Conners, LLP
"I just wanted to thank you personally. You did another incredible, outstanding job to bring this case to closure when it seemed like such a long shot. I have to commend you, you know how much respect I have for you."
Larry Song, Esq. - Epstein, Turner & Song
"I wanted to thank you for your efforts in the [omitted] case. It was beyond the call of duty to spend your entire holiday helping us resolve this matter.
I thought you did excellent work keeping the line of communication open despite the resistance from the Company’s CEO. Hopefully, we will have an opportunity to work together again in the near future."
Matthew B.F. Biren, Esq.
"On behalf of my client, I’d like to thank you for your efforts in helping to get this matter settled. Your thoughtful but direct approach in addressing the issues along with your expert negotiating tactics were instrumental in bringing the parties to a resolution."
Terry A Wills, Esq.
"Thank you once again for your efforts in bringing this matter to a resolution. This particular mediation certainly involved more than a "nuts and bolts" analysis of liability and damages and I was very pleased with your ability to recognize and meet the challenges posed in this matter.
Once again, thank you for your efforts and I look forward to working with you again."
Anthony Ruggieri, Esq. - Advantage Law Group
"I take this opportunity on behalf of myself, my client, and her family to thank you for your courtesy, compassion and efforts which resulted in the amicable settlement of the case.
My client is very grateful that she will not have to endure a jury trial in this matter, and again we thank you very much for your assistance."
Daniel T. Pierson, Esq. - Law Offices of Daniel T. Pierson
"Thank you very much for your tireless efforts (and I mean this literally) in bringing the matter to a close. I have worked with many mediators, but none as talented or perseverant as you. Your work in this case truly brought the parties together towards a common purpose (the well-being of Jane Doe) and we very much appreciate it."
Eva Lehman, Esq. - Walraven & Lehman, LLP
"On behalf of my client and myself, I want to thank you for your skillful approach to resolving this difficult case.
...I have been an attorney for 33 years. I served 11 years as a member of the State Judiciary. I also served for 17 years as Dean of Cal Northern School of Law. ...I taught courses in Alternative Dispute Resolution and since my retirement from the bench, I have served as Settlement Conference Judge and Discovery Referee. I also serve as a mediator in approximately 15-20 cases per year.
...[T]here are a lot of mediators in our business today, the majority are simply average, few have superior mediation skills and then there are those like you that I call the 'one percenters', who are born with the people skills necessary to be overwhelmingly successful in bringing conflicting interests together for resolution.
Al J. Carrion - Carrion Law Office
"Thank you for your steady hand in guiding the mediation last week. We appreciate the close attention you paid to everyone's goals as we proceeded through the process."
Jonathan Liebman - Brillstein-Grey Management
"Thank you for your sensitivity and professionalism."
W. Douglas Hopkins - Hopkins & Co.
"Thank you very much for your efforts and insight in assisting us reach an equitable resolution."
Ricardo A. Perez, Esq. - Planas & Perez
"Once again I am so very thankful for the phenomenal job that you did with respect to these cases."
Angela D. Robledo, Esq. - Curiale, Dellaverson, Hirschfeld & Sloan
"On behalf of Andrew and myself, I want to sincerely thank you for your assistance in settling the above-referenced matter. Thank you for your friendly and professional demeanor as well as your tireless efforts to resolve this matter. We look forward to working with you in the near future."
Akram A. Awad, Esq. - Awad & Awad
"Just a short note to express my thanks for the excellent mediation service that you provided. I personally appreciate all the time and effort that you spent in bringing about a favorable settlement of our dispute."
David R., party
"Words cannot express my appreciation for the job you did in mediating the above referenced matter. Without doubt it was one of the most difficult mediations in which I have been a participant as Plaintiff’s counsel. There were difficult issues and emotionally charged disputes between the parties. I could feel myself getting frustrated, but you handled the situation compassionately and patiently, yet persistently. The description "quietly tenacious" fits you perfectly. You remind me of a soundless freight train.
Your assessment of the situation as a volatile one resulting in your decision to get the parties to agree to give up their Labor-day holiday was unbelievable. I simply did not believe that the case would settle given the apparent hostile relationship between the parties and the complexities of the personalities involved. I expected to join my friends early on for a previously scheduled cookout. But to my surprise, you were able to keep the parties talking. On more than one occasion, I packed up my gear expecting you to walk into the room and say, "It’s over!" But those words never came.
I have been litigating employment cases for nearly twenty years and utilized the services of many different mediators. After this one, you will always be number one on my list."
Audrey Y. Ripley, Esq. - Law Offices of Audrey Y. Ripley
"Many thanks for the phenomenal job yesterday. My client sincerely appreciated your sensitivity in listening to his story. He was very pleased with the process and felt both empowered and that he had his "day in court". I can report that his life is turning around after suffering a devastating blow at the hands of his former employers."
Lawrence M. Glasner, Esq. - Rehwald, Rameson, Lewis & Glasner
"I wish to thank you once again for the excellent job you did in settling this case for us. Everyone involved is extremely grateful to you, and very much impressed with your patience, attention to detail, homework, and ability to read character, all of which helped this case to settle."
John S. Chang, Esq.
"I believe all who participated in the mediation are grateful to you because you accomplished what otherwise would have been accomplished in 60 days of intense trial preparation (including a series of last minute discovery motions, as well as expert witness depositions) and three weeks of what surely would have been a vigorously fought jury trial. As a result, each of the parties saved $150,000 to $200,000 in attorney fees, expert fees and costs." ...
"Your methodology, your calm demeanor in the midst of great intensity and at times considerable animosity, your uncanny ability to quickly distill the case to the critical issues and your ability through negotiations to bring people with very different view points to a consensus, brought about the resolution of the case." ...
"Although after 22 years of business litigation, I have long understood that the greatest service we can provide our clients, as litigators, is not to be ruthless mercenaries but to be instruments of resolution, in the most hard fought litigation battles, I have often resigned myself to the conclusion that my clients have no options but to go to trial. When next confronted with such a case, I will make every effort to have you meet my opposing counsel and to persuade him or her to submit the matter to you for mediation."
Brian F. Buchanan, Esq. - Haney, Buchanan & Patterson
"I wanted to send a short note to thank you for your work on the [deleted] cases. You are incredibly persistent, and yet you remained a gentleman throughout as we worked through the issues.
All of these cases were difficult, but the [deleted] matter was the most difficult, and you were able to solve that problem as you did the others."
Stephen M. Moloney, Esq. - Gilbert, Kelly, Crowley & Jennett
"I want to congratulate you on the excellent job you did in settling this case. I am absolutely amazed with your patience and persistence. I never thought that it could be done."
Delos E. Brown, Esq. - Brown & Petersen
"Thanks Gig, you truly worked a miracle"
Pat B., party
"I really appreciate your efforts and I have to tell you it was the finest mediation experience I have gone through in 20 years of practice. Your willingness to continue the mediation after we walked out of the room is certainly what did it...."
Frank A. Conner, Esq. - Wordes, Wilshin, Goren & Conner
"I just wanted to take a moment to express my appreciation to you for your dogged determination and expertise in helping us to forge a settlement in our recent mediation. With four different parties involved, each with their own agenda, your efforts were particularly appreciated."
J. Earl Epstein, Esq. - Epstein, Shapiro & Epstein
"Thanks, Gig. I feel very sure that we could not have settled this case without...your unfailing calm during the multiple mediations.... Congratulations at having so materially assisted in the beginning of what will be a regulatory process that makes a difference in the health of thousands of people."
Susan Durbin, Deputy Attorney General, State of California Attorney General's Office
"[We] would like to express our appreciation for the outstanding work you did in mediating this action. . . . I am certain that without your fine work this matter would not have settled.
In my conversations with opposing counsel . . . it was clear that all parties respected your knowledge, preparation and hard work.
You showed persistence and tenacity and no matter how heated and difficult the proceeding became, you kept your wits about you. It was clear that both sides had dramatic differences as to the fair settlement value of the case, but in spite of the adversity you were able to forge a consensus and achieve a fair settlement for all of the parties. Without your efforts both sides would be preparing for a 10 day jury trial."
Robert M. Russak, Esq. - Hersh and Russak
"I wanted to let you know...I thought you did a fabulous job. Your obvious interest in attempting to reach a resolution as well as the skill you brought to bear to achieve that goal were exemplary..."
Henry Ben-Zvi, Esq. - Cochran-Bond, Connon & Ben-Zvi
"On behalf of my client and myself, I commend you on your expertise in the resolution of the above-referred matter. You have a gift for dealing not only with attorneys but, more importantly, with the parties in arriving at a settlement...."
John A. Lewis, Esq.
"I truly appreciate the role you played in mediating this matter....Not wanting to waste a day mediating a dispute that would never settle, my clients and I decided to leave the mediation.
How you managed to keep us in your office I will never know. You managed to bring the parties within striking distance after just one day. Thereafter, a dispute amongst the co-defendants threatened to destroy a compromise. Again, you brokered a resolution.
Thank you for staying on top of the case. Thank you for returning phone calls even while out of town. Thank you for all of your hard work."
Steven M. Sokoloff, Esq. - Knapp, Petersen & Clarke
"I want to thank you for all your help mediating this case....We were very impressed with your follow through spirit. Something told me that you were more humanistic than most lawyers.... I am pleased that I chose you as the mediator, and that we were able to settle so soon. I wish that more people had the compassion and heart that you possess."
Linda J., party
"Thank you for your truly excellent work in resolving this matter. I hope to work with you on other matters."
Sidney F. Croft, Esq.
"Thank you very much for your assistance in resolving this matter. As you can tell, we had all reached an impasse, and we are profoundly thankful that we were able to get past this and put this issue to bed. I only wish we had your assistance in some of the earlier battles we fought in this litigation."
Marguerite L. Brown, Esq.
"Congratulations on the successful result you achieved in the ...matter. I was very impressed with the skills that you exhibited during the course of the mediation. Most importantly, the outcome was very fair to both parties."
Eldon F. Holl, CPA - Managing Director-L.A., Hemming Morse
"I did not believe this case had any chance to settle. Thanks for getting it resolved."
Richard L. Lotts, Esq. - Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
"I never thought it would settle. No doubt in my mind it would not have happened without you."
Lawrence Lieberman, Esq. - Levinson & Lieberman
"[J]ust... a note thanking you for your help in resolving this matter. I did not expect the case to settle this far before trial. But you gained the trust of all the parties and guided the process to a reasonable business resolution. I look forward to working with you again...."
Thomas Croke, Esq. - Hooper, Lundy & Bookman
"It was a pleasure and an honor to have you act as a mediator in this matter. Thanks to your participation we were able to resolve this litigation in an amicable fashion....I hope that we will have an opportunity to work together again on some other interesting cases in the near future."
Glenn D. Davis, Esq. - Warden, Gart & Galen
"Thank you for your patience and good work in connection with the mediation of the above matter....I will be pleased to use your services in the future and to recommend you to others."
Douglas S. Draper, Esq.
"Gig - Thanks for your help. Couldn't have done it without you"