Advisory Board

Lee Jay Berman

Lee Jay Berman began as a full-time mediator in 1994, successfully mediating over 1,300 cases in his 15 years. He is a Distinguished Fellow with the International Academy Mediators, a Diplomat with the California Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, he was one of the first five American mediators certified by the International Mediation Institute, and a he is a Dispute Resolution Expert with the United Nations Development Programme. He was Mediator of the Year for the US Bankruptcy Court in 2007, and was named one of California’s Top Neutrals by the Daily Journal in 2008. Also a prominent trainer in the field, Mr. Berman founded the American Institute of Mediation after seven years as Director of the “Mediating the Litigated Case” program for the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine Law School. He has conducted trainings for mediators, judges and business leaders in Delhi, India, The Kingdom of Jordan, post-war Croatia, Amsterdam and Dubai, as well as for the AAA, and multiple bar associations, courts and others. He was the inaugural ADR Director for the Santa Barbara Superior Court, national chair of the American Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Training Committee for four years, served eight years on the California Dispute Resolution Council’s board of directors and chaired their statewide Qualifications & Standards Committee for seven years, publishing CDRC’s Standards of Practice for California Mediators. He is in his third year on the California State Bar’s Standing Committee on ADR as well being a member of Mediators Beyond Borders. Mr. Berman enjoys a thriving commercial mediation practice and enjoys hosting his radio talk show Talk It Over

L. Therese White

Therese has trained hundreds of attorneys, corporate and community leaders, and their staff members in the mediation process and workplace conflict management. These trainings were conducted through the Los Angeles County Bar Association/DRS, the Institute for the Study of Conflict Transformation, and her own private practice. Her primary expertise lies in mediating difficult employment cases that are bogged down by the often unnoticed and/or misunderstood complexities surrounding diversity issues. Since 1992, Therese has mediated hundreds of workplace, diversity-related cases dealing with race, culture, gender, age, disability, and sexual orientation. Accordingly, she also has extensive experience addressing the associated claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and/or wrongful termination.

Therese White is listed on the American Arbitration Association's (AAA) National Registry of Mediators as well as the mediation panels of the EEOC, the U.S. Postal Service/REDRESS, the California Superior Court/Los Angeles County, and California Court of Appeal/2nd Appellate District. You can find additional information about her background, qualifications, and fees at www.ThereseWhite.com.

Melanie Stallings Williams, J.D.

Professor Williams is a professor and chair of the Department of Business Law at California State University, Northridge. She teaches at the graduate and undergraduate levels, with courses including traditional Business Law core courses along with Marketing Law, Intellectual Property Law, Ethics and the MBA Introduction to Contemporary Business cross-disciplinary course. Her areas of academic research include antitrust law, intellectual property, biotechnology, small business programs and pedagogy.

Professor Williams has a B.A. from the University of California at Santa Cruz and J.D. from Boston University School of Law. She is a member of the State Bar of California and practices in the areas of civil litigation, business matters and intellectual property.