Academy Member Inducted 2005
Map & Directions
Jeff Kichaven
Diplomate member555 West 5th Street
Suite 3000
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Available
- Practice Commenced1996
- # of MEDS (as of 25/7/25)
- # of ARBS (as of 25/7/25)
Current Practice
Online / In-Person
Biographical
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 on his 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.
Case Experience
- Commercial/Business
- Contract Disputes
Education
- Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1980 - J.D. Cum Laude
- University of California, Berkeley, 1977 A.B. Economics - Honors: Phi Beta Kappa
Memberships & Affiliations
- Southern California Mediation Association - President
- International Academy of Mediators - Fellow
- American Bar Association, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) - Strategic Planning Committee
- American Bar Association, Section of Business Law, Section of Intellectual Property Law, TIPS - Past Chair, ADR Committees
- American Bar Association, Section of Dispute Resolution - Past Member, Governing Council
- CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution Member, Panel of Distinguished Neutrals
- CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution Member, Editorial Board, Alternatives
- Los Angeles County Bar Association Director, LACBA-Dispute Resolution Services, Inc.
- Los Angeles County Bar Association Past Member, Board of Trustees
- Los Angeles County Bar Association Past Chair, ADR Section
Rates Information
The fee for a standard day of mediation is $18,000. A full day consists of reasonable preparation time, eight hours of running time on the day of the mediation and reasonable follow-up time, if necessary.
Additional time on the day of the mediation will be billed to the parties at the rate of $1,800 per hour. For more complex or multi-party matters—including layered insurance disputes, coordinated actions, and mass torts—the fee is $24,000/day with additional time billed at the rate of $2,400/hour. Jeff is generally available for additional time on the day of the mediation.
Four-hour, half-day mediations are available under special circumstances only. Please contact Jeff for details. Four-Hour Mediations are generally scheduled in the afternoon.
There is no Nickel-and-Diming on mediation fees. Jeff has designed his fee structure to meet your concerns. You pay one Mediation Fee.
Fees must be deposited in advance and may not be refunded if the mediation is canceled or taken off calendar within 14 days of the scheduled date.
Jeff’s policy:
- ZERO Administrative Fee or Case Management Fee
- FREE Validated Parking (In Jeff’s Downtown Los Angeles office)
- FREE Gourmet Lunch (in Jeff’s Downtown Los Angeles office)
- ZERO charge for travel time, airfare, lodging and other travel costs (Continental U.S.)
- ZERO charge for reasonable preparation and follow up time
- ZERO charge for photocopying, postage or long-distance telephone