Denise Madigan, Esq.

Professional Legal 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 has practice experience in the areas of communications, government contracts and antitrust law.

Prior to joining Arnold & Porter, Ms. Madigan served as Associate Director of the Harvard-MIT Public Disputes Program, and as a research analyst for Urban Systems Research & Engineering, a private consulting firm.

Professional Mediation Experience

Ms. Madigan has been a professional mediator since the early 1980's. Over the past decade alone, she mediated a wide range of cases as a full-time neutral with JAMS/Endispute. The following is just a sampling:

Commercial contract disputes involving the provision of computer hardware and software systems.
The reorganization of assets worth over one billion dollars among thirty utility cooperatives.
Shareholder/directors' suit involving medical computer technology that was among the most sophisticated in its market.
Patent infringement dispute involving high-tech and major entertainment companies.
Multi-party trade dress, false advertising dispute involving millions of dollars in disputed revenues/damages.
Superfund (CERCLA) allocation dispute involving over thirty municipal and industry PRP's.
Medical malpractice dispute involving podiatric surgery.
Legal malpractice dispute surrounding the provision of trusts and estates advice.
Will contest involving complex family and business issues in an estate worth tens of millions of dollars.
Bankruptcy of a major national retailer, involving hundreds of millions of dollars.
Severe personal injury matter involving permanent brain damage to a minor.
A wide range of injury cases under the Federal Employers' Labor Act (FELA).

Ms. Madigan is also one of the country's foremost mediator-facilitators for complex public policy disputes. Examples of cases she has mediated or facilitated include the following:

A two-month facilitated dialogue surrounding targeted legislative reform to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
A two-year negotiated rulemaking effort by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) surrounding the proposed redefinition of federal hazardous waste identification rules.
Internal 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 labeling rules and environmental labeling rules.
A several month process involving representatives for 50 state agencies to discuss new allocation formulas for federal energy assistance funds.
A facilitated workshop with members of a trade association seeking consensus-based revisions to its ethical standards for member organizations.
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 non-profit and public interest groups reflecting consumer, scientific, environmental and/or environmental justice concerns.

Summary of Other Relevant Dispute Resolution Experience

Ms. Madigan is currently a Senior Fellow and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Pepperdine Law School, where she is affiliated with the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. She teaches semester courses in Mediation and ADR, as well as in-service training for sitting and former judges and practicing attorneys. Over the years, Ms. Madigan has been called upon by corporations, government agencies, law firms and other organizations to assist them in designing and delivering special seminars, training programs and training materials in negotiation, arbitration, and mediation. Courses and workshops have included:

Negotiation for Lawyers
Negotiation for Executives
Negotiation for Managers in the Public Sector
Negotiation and Settlement for Insurance Professionals
Gender Issues in Negotiation
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Mediating Litigated Cases
Mediation for Judges (sitting & retired)
Mediating Patent Disputes
Mediation Advocacy
Arbitration Advocacy
Environmental/Public Policy Dispute Resolution
Consensus-Building in the Public Sector

Many of Ms. Madigan's teaching materials are now used by universities and ADR providers across the country. Courses she has designed and/or in which she has lectured have been conducted for numerous entities over the years, including:

The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS)
Federal Judicial Center
California Judicial Council
U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Department of Justice
Axel Johnson, Inc.
MCI Communications, Inc.
Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development,
Banff Centre for Management (Banff, Alberta, Canada)
Hogan & Hartson
Steptoe & Johnson
McDermott, Will & Emery
Shaw, Pittman, Trowbridge & Potts
American Intellectual Property Law Association
Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School
Bank of America
Farmers, State Farm, AIG, CNA and other nationwide insurance companies

Publications

Primer on ADR for Intellectual Property Disputes (co-author with J. Kichaven and T. Arnold, published by the ABA Section on Dispute Resolution in 2000).

Various articles in the Los Angeles Daily Journal (a publication for attorneys) regarding mediation and other ADR issues. 1997 - present

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

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, Summer 1984, co-authored with L. Susskind). 1985

Appointments

Los Angeles Police Commission, Board of Rights, 1997 - present (hears disputes regarding allegations of police misconduct as part of 3-person administrative panel)

Summary of Education

J.D. Harvard Law School, cum laude; Editor, Harvard Law Review, Winner, Williston Negotiation Competition (Best Agreement)

M.P.P. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

B.A. Northwestern University, Phi Beta Kappa, Best Thesis in Economics Award, Governor's Leadership Award

Memberships

Bars of California (active) and the District of Columbia, New York & Massachusetts.

American Bar Association (Section on Dispute Resolution).

Southern California Mediation Association.

This page was last modified in June 2007

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