Wawra Dispute Resolution

Professional Resume

Following a 30-year career in law and real estate business, Steve has focused since 2000 exclusively on conducting mediations, settlement conferences and arbitrations, and on ADR instruction. He has mediated a wide variety of both litigated and non-litigated disputes, involving real estate purchases, leasing, brokerage, and title insurance, business entities, commercial transactions, employment, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) securities, and personal injury actions.

In the last few years, he has added peacemaking and team building services for corporations and other organizations where there has been a breakdown of communication, trust and respect which is negatively affecting the business. The focus is on early recognition of workplace conflict and the restoration of employee working relationships, including establishing harmonious and productive relationships within teams.

LEGAL AND BUSINESS EXPERIENCE

• Mitsui Real Estate Sales USA Co., Ltd., Los Angeles, CA (1988-1996)
  General Counsel and Senior Vice President of U.S. subsidiary of leading real estate company in Japan, involved in acquisition, sale, leasing and joint venture development of major real estate projects in Southern California
• Commercial and Industrial Real Estate Broker, Southern California (1981 -1988)
  Broker serving domestic, Japanese and other Asian entities in their leasing, acquisition and sales efforts with MacFarlane, Lambert & Company, Inc. and another brokerage firm
• Vidal Sassoon, Inc., Los Angeles, CA (1978-1981)
  Associate General Counsel of international hair and skin care products’ company
• Private Law Practice, Orange County, CA (1975-1978)
  Established West Coast law office of Delson & Gordon, then prominent New York law firm, in real estate and business law practice
• Shareholders Capital Corporation, Los Angeles, CA (1970-1975)
  Assistant General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Assistant to President of then major publicly-held mutual fund management and real estate syndication corporation
• Graham & James (merged with Squire, Sanders & Dempsey), Los Angeles, (1967 –1970).
  Associate in Los Angeles office of major San Francisco-based international law firm; responsibilities included legal counsel for Bank of Tokyo of California (now part of Union Bank of California), Marubeni America Corporation and other Japanese trading companies

DISPUTE RESOLUTION EXPERIENCE

• Conducted over 1000 mediations and mandatory settlement conferences, and numerous arbitrations
• Since 1997 served on various mediation and arbitration panels, including IVAMS Mediation and Arbitration Panel, U.S. District Court Attorney Settlement Panel, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Mediation and Arbitration Panel, Superior Court Mediation Panels for Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, U.S. Postal Service Employee Redress EEO Complaint Panel, Orange County Bar Association Mandatory Fee Arbitration Panel and Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. Auto Line Arbitration Panel 
• From 2001 – 2009, conducted civil mandatory settlement conferences as temporary judge on a regular monthly basis for San Bernardino County Superior Courts

MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION TRAININGS RECEIVED

• Over100 hours of negotiation and mediation training at Straus Institute for Dispute
  Resolution, Pepperdine University School of Law, and numerous additional mediation and temporary judge trainings from US District Court and County Superior Courts, University of California, Irvine (Extension), and other institutions, US Postal Service Employee Redress EEO Complaint Panel, Training in Transformative Mediation (Concepts of "Empowerment and Recognition"), 1993-2017
• American Institute of Mediation: ground-breaking training relating to the application of mediation skills to facilitating the restoration of communication, where there has been a communication breakdown leading to internal disputes in families, family businesses and organizations, 2010 
• Managing Workplace Conflict, Mediation Training Institute International, Training theTrainer, 2016
• Conflict Dynamic Profile, Constructive and Destructive Responses to Conflict, training in using testing and counseling related to one's hot buttons and other provocations, received Certificate as Trainer, Eckerd College, 2016
• Pathways to Transform Team Conflict, John Ford Trainer, conflict within teams to harmonious and productive relationships, 2018
• Emotionally Intelligent Mediator, Family Mediation Institute, SCMA, 2018
• Arbitration training courses: Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA);
  Council of Better Business Bureaus, California BBB Auto Line; University of California, Irvine, Extension, 1997-2007

ADR INSTRUCTOR, PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLISHED ARTICLE

• Instructor, Certificate Program in Conflict Management and the Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution, University of California, Irvine, Extension (courses in arbitration and survey of alternative dispute resolution methods), 1998-2004
• Presenter, “ADR Conflict Across Cultures”, Diversity Development Program,
• University of California, Irvine, Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, 2017
• Panel Chair, Beverly Hills Bar Association, Mediation Section, entitled "The Impact of Culture on Communication, Negotiation and Mediation", 2017
• Presenter, Professional Fiduciary Association of California 17^th Annual Educational  Conference, “Restoring Relationships – A Mediator’s Perspective”, April 2012
• Co-Presenter, USCIB Arbitration Subcommittee to ICC, “Review of California, Federal and Various International Arbitration Disclosure Standards”, November 2011
• Panel Member, Orange County Asian American Bar Association, “Mediation and Settlement from an Asian Perspective”, Orange County, November 2010
• Panel Member, Annual Conference of the Southern California Mediation Association at the Straus Institute at Pepperdine University Law School, “Use/Benefits of Mediation Certification in Choosing International Mediators”, November 2009
• Keynote Co-Presenter, Annual Training Conference of California Caucus of College and University Ombuds, “Mediation Tools and Confidentiality for Use in Ombuds Process”, Pacific Grove, CA, November 2007
• Panel Chair, Orange County Bar Association, International Section, “ABC’s of International ADR”, March 2004
• Various presentations on dispute resolution, Chapman University Law School, Loyola University Law School, Orange County International Bar Section, Newport Beach Oasis Senior Center, Church Job Development Group and others
• Published article, SCORE (Small Business Administration Resource Partner) Orange County Newsletter "Management of Internal Conflicts in Family Businesses - A Prescription for a Breakdown of Communication, Trust and Respect"

EDUCATION

• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law, J.D., 1967
  Recipient, American Jurisprudence Award, Family Wealth Transactions
• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), B.A. Economics, 1964
• Monterey Institute of International Studies, French Language and Cultural Studies, 1961
• University of Paris (Sorbonne), French Language Studies, 1960

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• Orange and Riverside County Superior Court Civil Mediation Panels (formerly also with Los Angeles County Panel)
• IVJC San Bernardino County Courts Settlement Conference Panel (formerly)
• Inland Valley Arbitration and Mediation Services (IVAMS) Panel
• Orange County Bar Association Mandatory Fee Mediation and Arbitration Committee (formerly)
• FINRA (NASD), Panel of Mediators and Arbitrators
• United States District Court, Central District of California, Attorney Settlement Panel
• U. S. Postal Service Redress EEO Complaint Panel (formerly)
• Orange County Trial Lawyers Association (formerly)
• American Bar Association, ADR Section (formerly)
• Orange County Bar Association (formerly)
• Southern California Mediation Association
• State Bar of California
• California Real Estate Broker
• ICC Arbitration Subcommittee Southwest

PROFILE/REFERENCES

• Steven A. Wawra, “The Dealmaker”, Los Angeles Daily Journal, November 17, 2017
  Will be sent upon request