Business & Partnership
Partnership breakups, shareholder deadlock, contract and commercial disputes between companies.
Two mediators · The investment of one
Orange County Mediation · Irvine, California
End the dispute without going to war.
Right now it's the first thing you think about when you wake up, and the last before you sleep. A business you built, or a name you spent twenty years earning, sitting in a process that moves at its own speed and answers to no one.
It doesn't have to run your life. There's a quieter path. It's private, it runs on your calendar, it generally costs far less than a lawsuit, and nobody hands the decision to a stranger. Mediation is deal-making, and a good mediator is a good deal-maker. We put two at every table, a legal mind and a human mind, for about what one top-tier mediator charges for a full day.
Because what you came for was never a signed number on a page. It's your time back, your name and relationships intact, and the fight finally behind you. Every side gets heard twice. Two neutral mediators guide every matter, and neither one represents anybody.
You already know the version where it drags into court, because you have watched it happen to someone. The quieter version starts with one private conversation, and it costs nothing to take back.
By appointment · Irvine, CA · (949) 579-2760
What The Fight Really Costs
The lawsuit was supposed to make it right. Instead it took over your life.
It starts as a matter of principle. You were wronged, or you're being blamed for something that was never yours, and you aren't about to just let it go.
So the letters go out. The lawyers answer.
And somewhere in month seven, you notice you're awake at three in the morning again, arguing your side to a ceiling that can't rule on anything.
The invoices arrive whether anything moves or not. The deposition eats a week you didn't have.
Your business, your family, your good name: all of it now waits on the court's calendar, moving when the court moves and not a day sooner. And the hardest part comes last. At the end of all of it, a stranger in a robe at the Orange County courthouse, who has known your life for a matter of hours, decides how it turns out.
You handed the single most important question to someone who will go home and forget your name by dinner.
It doesn't have to end that way. The fight can end in a room you help run, on a timeline you can see, with the outcome in hands that actually care which way it goes. Yours.
The Quiet Advantage
Why we call it Dyadic.
Most mediation gives you one neutral in the middle. We give you two.
A dyad: two minds on the same problem from both sides at once, one listening for the structure, the other for what people mean but won't say. It's the difference between a referee and two guides working to get everyone across the same finish line.
Every company that lasts will face a serious dispute. The only real choice is whether you settle it in a private room or a public one.
You stay heard and in balance, because two mediators hold the room instead of one, so no side gets outnumbered or pressured toward a number.
One mediator can hold the middle. Two can hold both sides at once.
Nobody has to compete for a mediator's attention, and every blind spot gets a second set of eyes.
Momentum builds from both directions toward the same point: an agreement you built, not one imposed on you.
The Evidence
Resolution has a track record. Here it is.
78%1
of mediated cases settled in an independent 1996 study of four major providers: AAA, CPR, JAMS and USA&M. Most of the people who sat down finished.
71%2
of EEOC workplace mediations were resolved in fiscal year 2019, 6,394 of 8,899. Tense, high-stakes matters still found a landing.
A calmer, more private path. What's said in mediation stays confidential, within the limits of California law. A trial plays out on the public record.
What We Handle
One table. Many kinds of conflict.
Wherever two sides are stuck, there's a path through it. We work with businesses and families across Orange County, from Irvine and Newport Beach to Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, and the rest of the county. These are the matters we work most. If yours isn't listed, ask anyway.
Employment & Workplace
Disputes between employers and employees, internal conflict, and matters that must stay quiet.
Estate & Family Business
Inheritance and estate tension, and the hard conversations inside a business the family built together.
Contract & Commercial
Breach, scope, and payment disputes where both sides would rather fix it than feed it to the courts.
Real Estate & Property
Boundary, lease, and ownership conflicts, between neighbors, partners, landlords, and tenants.
General Civil Disputes
Most two-party civil matters where a private, faster resolution beats years in the system.
We don't handle divorce mediation.
The Math Nobody Shows You
The same fight, two very different prices.
Published litigation medians, not quotes. Your fee is set on the first call. See the gap in money and in who holds the calendar.
What It Costs
Published figures.3
Whose Calendar
Court guidance.3
How It Works
Five steps, intake to resolution.
1
Intake
A confidential call to understand the matter and see whether mediation fits. No obligation, no cost to find out.
2
Preparation
Once all sides agree, we prepare each party individually so the session runs clean.
3
The Session
A structured, private room at our Irvine office, or online, where each side is heard and both mediators guide you toward a solution you can accept.
4
The Agreement
If you reach an agreement, it's written in plain language. Legal review before signing is always recommended.
5
Resolution
When you sign, the matter closes, on terms both sides chose and put their names to.
A clear way forward, guided step by step, so the matter can move toward agreement without the war, the delay, or the loss of control.
Who Sits Across The Table
The room is only as good as the people running it.
Two mediators. A legal mind and a human mind.
A shared belief that most conflicts are solvable the moment both sides feel genuinely heard.
Warren Morten
Founding Mediator
Trained in mediation at Chapman's Fowler School of Law. California business attorney since 2006; Super Lawyers, Business & Corporate (2024 to 2027). Here, a neutral who represents no one.
Fred Smith
Mediator · Marine Corps Veteran
Former Marine Corps Sergeant and Combat Correspondent, awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, trained as a journalist at the Defense Information School and in counseling Marines. He hears what's under the words, on both sides.
In Confidence
You can keep paying for the fight, or start paying down the resolution.
The first conversation is private and carries no obligation. Tell us a little about the matter, and we'll walk you through exactly what your path through Orange County mediation would look like.
By appointment · 18300 Von Karman Ave, Suite 660, Irvine, CA 92612 · (949) 579-2760
Sources & Notes
- Brett, Barsness & Goldberg, “The Effectiveness of Mediation: An Independent Analysis of Cases Handled by Four Major Service Providers,” Negotiation Journal 12(3), 1996, pp. 259-269 (AAA, CPR, JAMS-Endispute, USA&M). A research benchmark, not a prediction for any individual matter.
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, mediation program statistics, fiscal year 2019: 6,394 resolutions from 8,899 mediations (71.9%).
- Litigation: median costs across the civil case types studied, Hannaford-Agor & Waters, “Estimating the Cost of Civil Litigation,” National Center for State Courts, Caseload Highlights 20(1), 2013. Dyadic: one fee covers both mediators and preparation, set after the first call. Time: Superior Court of California, County of Orange, self-help guidance that a trial “can take a year or more.” None of these figures is a quote, estimate or guarantee for your matter.
Mediation is a voluntary, confidential process. Dyadic Mediation doesn't provide legal advice, and nothing on this page creates a mediator or attorney relationship. Both mediators serve as neutrals and represent no party. Warren Morten is a licensed California attorney; in a Dyadic mediation he acts only as a neutral.
No particular outcome is guaranteed.