Denise Madigan, Esq.
Case Manager: Audra Graham
Tel: (310) 201-0010 Ext. 150
E-Mail
PROFESSIONAL MEDIATION EXPERIENCE
Ms. Madigan has over 20 years’ experience as a fulltime professional
mediator and currently is based at ADR Services, Inc., in Los Angeles,
California.
She began her career in the early 1980’s as Associate Director of the
Harvard-MIT Public Disputes Program. Working closely with Lawrence
Susskind from MIT, she managed and co-mediated large, multiparty cases
involving state public-private partnerships and local budget priorities.
In addition, she served as a consultant to the Special Master in a
federal lawsuit over Native American fishing rights in the United
States.
After returning to school to get her law degree, and practicing with
Arnold & Porter in Washington, DC, Ms. Madigan joined the private ADR
firm, ENDISPUTE, Inc., in the early 1990’s, where she worked closely
with Jonathan Marks, Esq., mediating and co-mediating large complex
cases in litigation. In addition, she mediated and facilitated
“negotiated rule-makings” and other public policy dialogues for clients
that included the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S.
Department of Energy, and the Federal Trade Commission.
Ms. Madigan joined JAMS when it merged with ENDISPUTE in the mid 1990’s,
and worked in both its Washington, DC and Los Angeles offices. In 2002,
she joined ADR Services, Inc. in Los Angeles.
Over the past 20 years, Ms. Madigan has mediated and co-mediated an
unusually wide range of cases. The following is just a sampling:
• A $200 million settlement between a large public transportation agency
and its primary contractor, related to liability surrounding one of the
most serious accidents in California history.
• Over 20 separate wrongful death and personal injury cases arising out
of a single accident, in excess of $25 million.
• Reorganization of operations and assets worth over $1 billion among 30
electric utility cooperatives.
• Commercial contract disputes involving the provision of computer
hardware and software systems.
• Shareholder/directors' suit involving medical computer technology that
was among the most sophisticated in the market at the time.
• Patent infringement dispute involving a high-tech and major
entertainment companies.
• Partnership, copyright and royalty issues within a well-known
recording group.
• Multiparty trade dress and false advertising dispute involving
millions in disputed revenues/damages.
• Complex family business disputes involving enterprises worth over tens
of millions of dollars.
• Superfund (CERCLA) allocation dispute involving over thirty municipal
and industry PRP's.
• Will contest involving complex family and business issues in estate
worth tens of millions of dollars.
• Legal malpractice lawsuit surrounding one of the largest bankruptcies
at the time.
• A wide range of injury cases under the Federal Employers’ Labor Act (FELA).
• Insurance coverage disputes under the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act (ERISA).
• The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the U.S. Resolution
Trust Corporation (FDIC/RTC) suits against directors of failed savings
and loan entities.
• Reimbursement disputes between insurance companies and hospitals.
• Employment disputes, pre-litigation and in litigation, union and
non-union settings.
In addition to litigated and pre-litigation disputes, Ms. Madigan has
mediated and facilitated significant public policy disputes at the
national level, including:
• A 2-month facilitated dialogue surrounding targeted legislative reform
to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
• A 2-year negotiated rulemaking effort by the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) surrounding the proposed redefinition of federal hazardous
waste identification rules.
• Workgroup discussions within EPA surrounding the privatization of
wastewater treatment facilities.
• Facilitated workshops for the Federal Trade Commission to organize
public comments on proposed energy efficiency and environmental labeling
rules.
• A several month process involving representatives from 50 state
agencies to develop a new allocation formula for federal energy
assistance funds.
• A facilitated workshop for manufacturers from around the world
regarding product recycling issues.
Participants in these processes have included high-level representatives
from federal, state and local agencies, from a wide variety of
businesses and trade associations, and from nonprofit and public
interest groups reflecting consumer, scientific, environmental and/or
environmental justice concerns.
TEACHING AND TRAINING EXPERIENCE
Since 1996, Ms. Madigan has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at
Pepperdine Law School, where she is affiliated with the Straus Institute
for Dispute Resolution, ranked #1 in graduate ADR programs by U.S. News
and World Report for several years. There she has designed and taught
semester courses in mediation, negotiation, and ADR, and provided
mediation training for judges, attorneys, and other professionals from
across the United States and around the globe.
Ms. Madigan also has taught mediation as a visiting lecturer at law
schools in Hong Kong and mainland China for the past seven years,
including courses at City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University,
and most recently, Shantou University in Shantou, China.
Ms. Madigan has designed and delivered seminars and workshops for
corporations, government agencies, law firms and other organizations.
These workshops include negotiation skills development, mediation and
arbitration advocacy, consensus-building, and topics relating to
environmental, intellectual property, and public sector disputes.
LEGAL AND CONSULTING EXPERIENCE
Ms. Madigan practiced law with Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C.,
where she concentrated in intellectual property law, focusing on
copyright, trademark, licensing, unfair competition, rights of
privacy/publicity and patent misuse law. She also practiced in
communications, government contracts and antitrust law.
Ms. Madigan worked for two years as a Research Analyst for Urban Systems
Research & Engineering in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in
public policy analysis for federal and state government clients.
Ms. Madigan has clerked for major law firms in Boston (Goodwin Proctor),
Tokyo (Nagashima & Ohno) and Sydney (Allen Allen & Hemsley) and was a
research assistant for the President’s Council on Wage and Price
Stability (COWPS) in the late 1970’s.
PUBLICATIONS
• “Mediation Confidentiality….Not?,” ADVOCATE, Journal of Consumer
Attorneys for Southern California.
• September 2010
• Primer on ADR for Intellectual Property Disputes (co-author with J.
Kichaven and T. Arnold, published by the ABA Section on Dispute
Resolution. 2000
• Various articles in the Daily Journal regarding mediation and other
ADR issues. 1997 - 98
• At the Table: Advanced Mediation Advocacy (published by JAMS/ENDISPUTE
for use in its national ADR training programs). 1996
• Consensus, several columns on "Update on ADR in the Federal
Government" (published by the MIT-Harvard Public Dispute Resolution
Program). 1994
• “New Approaches to Resolving Local Public Policy Disputes” (with
McMahon, Susskind & Rolley) (published by the National Institute for
Dispute Resolution). 1990
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
• Recipient of research/writing grant from the National Institute for
Dispute Resolution 1984
• Recipient of Honorable Mention from the Center for Public Resources
for article entitled "New Approaches to Resolving Disputes in the Public
Sector" (The Justice System Journal, co-authored with L. Susskind) 1985
• Distinguished Fellow, International Academy of Mediators
• Best Lawyers in America, since 2006
• California SuperLawyers, since 2009
• Hollywood Reporter “Power Mediator” 2009
APPOINTMENTS
Los Angeles Police Commission, Board of Rights, Civilian Member
(adjudicated allegations of police misconduct) 1997-99
EDUCATION
J.D. 1988 Harvard Law School, cum laude; Editor, Harvard Law Review,
Winner, Williston Negotiation Competition (Best Agreement)
M.P.P. 1983 Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
B.A. 1979 Northwestern University, Phi Beta Kappa, Best Thesis in
Economics Award, Governor’s Leadership Award
MEMBERSHIPS
State Bar of California (active)
Bars of the District of Columbia, New York & Massachusetts (inactive or
retired)
American Bar Association, Section on Dispute Resolution
Los Angeles County Bar Association
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