Strategic Negotiation for Lawyers - Lessons from the FBI & Military

Judge Honeycutt has served on the Los Angeles Superior Court for 19 years and currently sits in an unlimited jurisdiction independent civil court. He has spent over a decade in leadership positions on the Court’s Budget and Personnel Committee, overseeing an annual budget exceeding $1 billion, the Executive Board of the California Judges Association, and as the longest-serving Supervising Judge of the Southwest District. The Los Angeles County Bar Association is honoring him with its Outstanding Jurist Award for 2026. ​

During his tenure in the Civil Division, he has handled thousands of cases, many of which were complex construction, real estate, business, medical malpractice, employment, and personal injury cases. He has held assignments in a limited jurisdiction trial court, unlimited jurisdiction independent calendar court, and mandatory settlement court.

Before serving on the bench, Judge Honeycutt was an Assistant City Attorney for the Redondo Beach City Attorney’s Office and an associate at Burke, Williams & Sorensen, assigned to the public law practice group where he litigated cases on behalf of cities and public institutions. He has extensive experience in issues dealing with law enforcement and police misconduct cases. He previously served as a reserve police officer for the Hermosa Beach Police Department and as an instructor for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

A dedicated educator, Judge Honeycutt has been an adjunct professor of law, NITA trial advocacy instructor, and has taught hundreds of judges as a faculty member with the Court’s Judicial Education Committee. He is regularly invited to speak at universities, law schools, podcasts, and programs hosted by bar associations.

Judge Honeycutt serves the Country as a Major in the United States Army Reserve assigned to the Civil Affairs Command (Airborne) for the Indo-Pacific region. As an FBI-trained Crisis Negotiator, he trains military units on crisis negotiations at the tactical level. He has previously been assigned to training detachments with the 143^rd Military Police, 40^th Infantry Division, and (NSW) Navy SEAL Desert Warfare Training Facility.  

Neda Saghafi is an attorney at Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP and a key member of the Firm’s sexual abuse litigation team. A dedicated advocate for survivors of sexual abuse, Neda approaches every case with a client-centered philosophy that empowers individuals to share their stories and pursue accountability and justice.

Neda has helped secure significant results on behalf of survivors, including:

• $6 million settlement for a student who was impregnated by her former teacher within the Inglewood Unified School District.
• $4 million settlement on behalf of two former student wrestlers who were sexually abused while attending schools within the East Side Union High School District.

Prior to joining Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP, Neda represented clients in complex product liability litigation involving pharmaceutical and biologic products and advocated for students in Title IX matters. Her commitment to public interest advocacy is reflected in an extensive pro bono practice, which has included securing state predicate orders for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, protecting the confidentiality of a non-party witness in a sexual abuse matter, and serving as co-counsel with the ACLU of Louisiana in a federal civil rights action.

Before entering private practice, Neda served as a policy intern with the United Nations’ Ending Violence Against Women Section and worked alongside organizations supporting survivors of human trafficking and intimate partner violence. She is a Teach For America alumna and formerly served on the advisory committee of LifeBridge Health’s Center for Hope.

After earning her Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Neda clerked for the Supreme Court of Maryland, the state’s highest court. During law school, she authored The American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man: Using a Human Rights Framework to Deconstruct Systemic Police Misconduct Against Low-Income Women of Color, published in the Northeastern University Law Review, 10 N.E.U.L. Rev. 502 (2018).

Neda earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, and a minor in Global Poverty and Practice from the University of California, Berkeley, and later received a Master of Science in Education from Johns Hopkins University.

Licensed to practice law in California, New York, the District of Columbia, and Maryland, Neda is fluent in Farsi. She serves as a Foundation Board Member of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles and as Vice Chair of the Litigation Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association. She is also an active member of numerous professional organizations, including the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles.