Mediation 360: Preparation from the Defense, Plaintiff, and Mediator Perspective

Joshua Furman is a State Bar of California certified specialist in Legal Malpractice. His practice focuses on attorney-client disputes, business litigation, intra-business disputes, First Amendment, and intellectual property litigation, trials, and appeals.

Peter Thompson has over 30 years of experience litigating and resolving attorney liability cases for both plaintiffs and defense. He has extensive trial experience having tried legal malpractice cases for both judges and juries, in numerous Federal and State courts throughout the United States. He has worked with legal malpractice insurance claims personnel and insurance company executives on legal malpractice insurance coverage and liability limits issues. Throughout his career, Mr. Thompson has been called on to advise law firms on ethics. Both plaintiffs and attorney defendants have called Mr. Thompson to testify as a legal expert in court on over 100 occasions in cases regarding the standard of practice, conflicts of interest, and ethics for attorneys. Mr. Thompson is currently dedicating his career to resolving all types of attorney-related claims including negligence and breach of fiduciary duty through mediation. He is also experienced in law partnership dissolution matters and fee disputes between attorneys and clients. Known as the “Lawyer’s Lawyer”, Mr. Thompson has taught extensively in the area of attorney-related responsibilities. As a member of the San Diego County Bar Association Fee Arbitration Committee has resolved complex and simple fee disputes. His vast experience in legal malpractice cases, combined with his respectful approach and extraordinary people skills make him uniquely suited to resolve even the most complex attorney-related claims.

Michael C. Douglass is a Partner at Parker Shaffie LLP. Mr. Douglass represents businesses and consumers in professional liability claims against attorneys, accountants, and insurance agents and brokers. Mr. Douglass’ legal malpractice experience includes prosecution of claims regarding errors in handling estate planning and probate litigation, personal injury and other civil lawsuits, corporate transactions, and family law matters.

Mr. Douglass is an experienced trial attorney with a broad civil litigation background, who is eligible to practice in all California state and federal courts. Mr. Douglass has significant experience representing clients in professional liability, high-exposure general liability, commercial, trucking, and product liability matters. In the general liability area, Mr. Douglass has handled high-exposure personal injury claims whether it be due to environmental hazards, dangerous conditions, or negligent security claims arising from shootings, fights, third-party criminal conduct, or other such incidents. He has also handled industrial accident and product liability cases, which often involve complex machinery, products and operations. Mr. Douglass has also handled numerous construction-site injury matters involving the work of subcontractors, general contractors, and developers. Mr. Douglass has experience representing clients in a variety of commercial disputes, including breach of contract, unfair business practices, and real property disputes. He has tried cases to verdict, handled arbitrations, and successfully argued before the California Court of Appeal, resulting in reported decisions.

David Samani is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Lewis Brisbois and a member of the Professional Liability Practice. Mr. Samani has extensive experience in defending attorneys against claims of legal malpractice, malicious prosecution, and other third-party claims. Examples include:

• Defense of malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty claims arising from transactional matters, including complex direct and derivative claims against corporate counsel, claims relating to the negotiation of licensing agreements, the preparation of estate planning documents, and immigration matters.
• Defense of malpractice claims involving the alleged negligent handling of patent infringement, medical malpractice, construction, real estate, tax, and business litigation, as well as family law, probate, and workers’ compensation proceedings.
• Defense of malicious prosecution and fraudulent transfer actions brought by non-clients relating matters such as initiation and litigation of underlying fraud lawsuits and purportedly fraudulent asset protection efforts.

Mr. Samani is a co-author of the California Legal Malpractice and Malicious Prosecution Liability Handbook, a publication providing an overview of the issues and law governing legal malpractice and malicious prosecution litigation in California.