When Pacific ADR Consulting burst on the scene in 2015, no one could be too surprised. For years, the company’s founder, Gregg Bertram, was well known in the Seattle legal community as a top-notch mediator who placed high on everyone’s short list. Need a mediator? Gregg Bertram was held by many attorneys as the one to call.
Among his colleagues, Gregg Bertram has been oft-described as the ideal mediator. One of his colleagues, Francis Floyd, of the Seattle-based law firm Floyd Ringer, had this to say about Gregg: “Bottom line—he’s very effective and he gets cases settled. He’s also entertaining. Clients like Gregg; they feel as though he gets the job done, that he understands them and their position, so they don’t walk away feeling like they’ve been beaten up. The parties feel as though they’ve been treated in a professional and respectful manner.”
Most of Gregg Bertram’s ADR experience came from his long consecutive affiliations with two ADR service providers: Washington Arbitration Mediation Services, Inc. (WAMS) and Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (JAMS). For over twenty-five years, Gregg has successfully mediated or arbitrated thousands of civil cases of just about every description and falling under the full range of practice areas.
According to Jennifer Hills, ARM-P, CRM, Director, Office of Risk Management, King County Department of Executive Services, “I’ve worked with Gregg for 15 years. He is very experienced in all aspects of the law: civil liability, land use/construction, civil rights, employment practices, and auto liability. He has a propensity to follow-up, if necessary, and gets along with everyone.”
Over the years as Gregg evolved in his profession as an expert mediator and arbitrator, he worked frequently in Seattle but also elsewhere, throughout the Pacific Northwest and in Alaska. Soon he came to see that the ADR market could benefit from a new ADR service provider.
Gregg Bertram had enough insight into the competitive marketplace to ascertain that being a retired judge or former insurance defense litigator didn’t necessarily make a good mediator. In fact, he commented, “It seems as if every attorney in their 60s wants to be a mediator. The phrase ‘many are called but few are chosen’ is especially applicable to mediation, a career that is reputational and one that
requires, among other things, relentless energy, and a special set of skills that are as much a function of personality as legal acumen and experience.”
Today, Pacific ADR is building a small panel of
elite attorney mediator/arbitrators, each of whom has a passion for ADR in addition to having very successful legal careers. In his undertaking to expand the firm by selectively recruiting new panelists, Gregg Bertram sought attorneys whose work ethic clearly matched his own. He also sought panelists who are eminently suited to ADR work in that they have an abiding passion to resolve disputes. Aside from having the requisite subject matter expertise, the Pacific ADR panelists have the people skills necessary to navigate the many different personalities and, these days, cultural backgrounds that one regularly encounters at the negotiating table.
According to Gregg, “Our panel members are known for their preparation, commitment to best mediation practices and, when necessary, determined follow up after mediation sessions to achieve resolution.”
Mediations are dramatic events for everyone involved. A good mediator has to bring energy to the event and maintain a measure of equanimity to the concerns of all parties. The only way a mediator can function is if the mediator is trusted. This is why Pacific ADR mediators/arbitrators always operate from a position of trust and impartiality where all of the parties—clientele and lawyers—are fairly heard.
“All of us feel very lucky to do what we do,” Gregg went on to say. “Unlike many other aspects of the law, it is very satisfying to help individuals and public and private institutions settle disputes that at first may appear impossible to resolve.”
The primary industries served by Pacific ADR include Business/Commercial, Employment/Human Resources (HR), Healthcare, Insurance and Real Estate. Pacific ADR also mediates and arbitrates cases involving personal injury, medical malpractice, and other professional negligence, including legal and accounting malpractice cases. Although Pacific ADR Consulting, LLC, is based in Seattle, its CEO Gregg Bertram and other Pacific ADR panel members work throughout the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. For more information, please see www.pacificadrconsulting.com.
Pacific ADR panelists have several outstanding qualities. They are trustworthy, hardworking, credible and flexible. Each panelist understands the dynamics of each case and of the parties and knows how to adjust his or her method and style to the particular situation to make a settlement happen.