Judge, Attorney, Mediator, Arbitrator, Adjunct Professor of Law - Alternative Dispute Resolution

Attorney, Private Practice, 1967-present; Attorney, Mediator and Arbitrator, 1989-present; Adjunct Professor of Law (part-time), St. Mary's University School of Law, 1998-present; U.S. Magistrate Judge, Western District of Texas, 1981-89; Captain, Office of Special Investigations (OSI), United States Air Force, 1963-67 (Honorable Discharge).

Forty years of experience practicing in Texas as an attorney and eight years as a Federal Magistrate Judge. More than sixteen years of experience as an arbitrator and mediator. As a U.S. Magistrate Judge, conducted evidentiary hearings and requests for injunctive relief, voir dire, civil juries; reviewed federal administrative agency decisions; presided over civil pre-trial hearings, including personal injury, medical malpractice, product defects, contracts, education law, employment law, construction, labor law and securities law. Adjunct Professor of Law at St. Mary's University, School of Law, teaching Alternative Dispute Resolution (mediation); Visiting Adjunct Professor of Law at Pepperdine University School of Law, teaching Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Has handled approximately 500 employment disputes, 250 discrimination and retaliation issues (including sex, race, national origin, age, and disabilities), 250 business and banking cases, 50 real estate claims, 100 creditor/debtor rights disputes, 10 farm and ranch agri-business cases, and three complex facilitations involving school district disputes.

Representative issues handled as a mediator include: numerous commercial and employment disputes; cases involving contract terms and conditions, delays and design defects (many with high dollar values); cases under Title VII and OSHA, ADA, EEOC; cases involving sex, national origin, race, age, and disability or religious discrimination; sexual harassment cases; commissions and deferred compensation; employment agreements; trade secrets and confidentiality agreements; whether to enforce or resist non-compete clauses; commercial disputes involving leases, lender liability; banking, and real estate claims; title insurance; creditor and debtor rights; farm and ranch agri-business; billing disputes; mortgage/lender matters; insurance and bad-faith issues; and facilitated complex school district issues.

Principled bargaining and integrative mediation may be applied to a wide variety of disputes. Common examples are those involving:<br/>(1) Significant business relationships (e.g. contract disputes relating to performance (i.e. construction), service, employment, labor, commercial leases, etc. <br/>(2) Fiduciary relationships (e.g. partnerships, professional malpractice relating to doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. <br/>(3) Personal/family businesses (e.g. closed corporations, family partnerships). <br/><br/>The facilitative mediator is most comfortable operating within the context of integrative mediation. This style of mediator approaches mediation with the view that his or her JOB IS TO ENCHANCE THE PARTIES' COMMUNICATION in an effort to get them to arrive at a resolution of their own making. While the facilitative mediator's primary focus is to help the parties solve their problem, FULFILLING the PARTIES' UNDERLYING INTERESTS is almost EQUALLY IMPORTANT. This mediator's style usually encourages parties to look beyond the issues as they may be typically defined in legal proceedings. The mediator does this by helping the parties gather information, set ground rules, manage their emotions, frame the issues, expand resources, and generate and test various creative options. <br/><br/>Summary: The different orientations to mediation and different mediator styles are not necessarily mutually exclusive. While the premises and concepts of each are valid, in and of themselves, and each may be discreetly applied to any given dispute, real world experience has demonstrated that the BEST MEDIATORS ARE FLEXIBLE enough NOT TO BE PIGEONHOLED WITHIN ANY PARTICULAR ORIENTATION OR STYLE. This is to say, such MEDIATORS DEVELOP A HYBRID APPROACH by applying the various orientations and styles in a manner appropriate to the dispute's context and the parties' needs and interests.

University of Texas (BA-1962; JD-1963)

Admitted to the Bar: Texas, 1967; U.S. District Court: Western and Southern Districts of Texas; U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth and Ninth Circuits; U.S. Supreme Court, 1971

State Bar of Texas (Past Board of Directors); Commission for Lawyer Discipline (oversight of Grievance Committees in Texas); San Antonio Bar Association (Past President and Executive Committee Member); American Bar Association; University of Texas Law School Alumni Association (Board of Trustees); Texas Bar Foundation outstanding 2018 Lawyer; San Antonio Bar Foundation (Co-founder); Federal Bar Association (San Antonio); Texas Association of Mediators (Past Board of Directors); Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution; Association of Attorney-Mediators (Dallas); International Mediation Institute (IMI) Certified Mediator.

Co-author, "ADR Personalities and Practice Tips," AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, Section of Dispute Resolution, 1998; co-author, "Court Annexed Mediation: Critical Perspectives on Selected State and Federal Programs," AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, Section of Dispute Resolution, 1998; "Alternative Dispute Resolution of International Private Consumer Disputes under the NAFTA," TEXAS BAR JOURNAL, February 1996; co-author, "Civil RICO: Overview on the Eve of the 200th Anniversary of the Federal Judiciary," ST. MARY'S LAW JOURNAL, 1989; co-author, "Civil Procedure in Federal Courts," TEXAS PRACTICE GUIDE, 1985; co-author, "Civil RICO: A Primer for State and Federal Practitioners," State Bar of Texas, Professional Development Program; speaker, "The Texas Disciplinary System," Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism Practices and Procedures Seminar.

$995 Per Day

English, Spanish

United States of America

San Antonio, TX