Jeff Kichaven is an internationally recognized speaker and writer on mediation. He is a leading voice on the ways lawyers and mediators can, and must, work together to serve clients better. He has addressed audiences of lawyers in the United States, Canada, and England for six Sections of the American Bar Association (Business Law, Dispute Resolution, Family Law, Law Practice Management, Litigation and Tort, Trial and Insurance Practice). He has also addressed the Practicing Law Institute, ALI-ABA, the State Bar of California, the Texas Association of Mediators, the North Carolina Bar Association, the Wisconsin Association of Mediators, the California Center for Judicial Education and Research ("Judges' College"), the USC Insurance Law Institute, California Continuing Education of the Bar, the Los Angeles County and Beverly Hills Bar Associations, the national seminar series of the Negotiation Strategy Institute and many other organizations. Several of his recent articles, including the widely published "Mediation is Not for Sissies," are included in this website.

Jeff is President of the Southern California Mediation Association (SCMA) , California's leading professional mediators' association with over 500 members. Jeff recently co-authored SCMA's amicus brief in Rojas v. Superior Court . The brief had a significant impact on the Supreme Court's opinion.  Specifically, footnotes 4 and 9 of the decision, drawn from the SCMA brief, prevent the case from having a holding that would negatively affect confidence in the integrity of mediation. Jeff is also a Fellow in the International Academy of Mediators, a select group of approximately 100 commercial mediators worldwide who work to elevate the standards of mediation practice.  In the academic world, Jeff is an adjunct professor in Pepperdine University School of Law's Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution.

For a short CV that is easy to print, click here.

If you are looking for a mediator with whom you and your client can connect, who will provide a reliable reality check, and who will act as an honest broker to help you and your client reach settlement and closure if at all reasonably possible, contact Jeff anytime.