Steven Paul, Esq. is a full-time mediator based in Los Angeles, California, primarily mediating labor and employment disputes including discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment, and wage and hour individual and class action claims. Steve is a Distinguished Fellow and the Immediate Past President of the International Academy of Mediators and has been an Adjunct Professor at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution for the past several years, where he teaches advanced mediation and employment dispute resolution. He frequently lectures and speaks locally and internationally on mediation, conflict resolution, and negotiation. In this episode, Steve joins Len to tell the story of a camera hidden in a women’s room in a workplace, the impact the invasion of privacy had on the lives and careers of the women whose images were captured, and the mediation that allowed them to begin the healing process.
Steve Paul has over twenty-five years of practical legal experience, including handling employment, business, and operational issues while serving as in-house legal/business affairs counsel at Warner Bros. Studios. In private practice, Mr. Paul equally represented employees and employers, as well as a wide variety of industries on transactional and litigation matters.
Before becoming a mediator, he was in-house legal and business affairs senior counsel at Warner Bros. Studios, where he provided legal oversight of the Studio’s day-to-day operations. Mr. Paul’s prior experience both as a litigator and in-house counsel provides him with an unparalleled grasp and insight as to how an employment case may appear to a judge, jury, or arbitrator – and what it will take to reach resolution.
Prior to becoming an Adjunct Professor at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Steve was a Fellow at Straus and received extensive training alongside some of the most esteemed mediators in the country. His in-depth ADR and psychology training furthers his overall effectiveness as a mediator, including his ability to address the underlying interests of each of the parties and relieve them of the emotional and financial burdens of litigation or potential litigation.
Steve has a balanced perspective and knows what drives highly emotional disputes and why they can be so challenging to resolve without the assistance of an experienced mediator. Steve is uniquely situated to understand and analyze the legal issues, nuances, competing emotions, and dynamics that permeate employment and other highly emotional disputes – and to find agreeable and creative solutions for resolving them short of prolonged, uncertain, and costly litigation. In addition, Steve’s practical experience handling general business issues and disputes while serving as in-house counsel adds to his versatility in mediating a wide range of issues.
He can be contacted at Paul Mediation at (310)442-7600, by email at Steve@swpaul.com, or through his case manager, Sonia Patel Dalton (sonia@swpaul.com).
