Max Factor III, Esq.
Max Factor III, Esq.
Mediator
Max Factor III was named by Best Lawyers® as 2014 “Lawyer of the Year” for Arbitration (Neutral) Skills in the Los Angeles area. In 2013, he received a Los Angeles County Volunteer of the Year Award for his work promoting arbitration and mediation. Mr. Factor was recognized as a Daily Journal Top Neutral in 2012 and as a “Super Lawyer” in ADR every year since 2005. Mr. Factor is well regarded by counsel on both sides of the bar as a “highly effective and valuable agent of reality.” His perseverance, combined with three decades of experience in business, employment, insurance and real estate matters, allows him to excel in situations laden with difficult clients and hard bargaining tactics.
ORGANIZATIONS & ACHIEVEMENTS
- Member: L.A. Superior Court ADR Committee (2008-2013); Executive Committee, Litigation Section, L.A. County Bar Assoc. (2009-2010)
- AAA National Roster, Commercial & Employment Arbitration
- Chair, Annual Robert I. Weil Lecture (2009-2013)
- President, Downtown L.A. Litigation Inn of Court (2008)
- Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators (2004-present)
- President, Southern California Mediation Assoc. (2005-2006)
- Chair, California State Bar Committee on Administration of Justice (2006-2007)
PRACTICE AREAS
Business, Employment, Entertainment, Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith, Partnership Split-Ups, Intellectual Property, Professional Malpractice and Commercial and Residential Real Estate Construction, Habitability, Development and Sales.CONFLICT RESOLUTION EXPERIENCE
Counsel from major firms to sole practitioners praise the “integrity, determination and communication skills” Mr. Factor brings in crafting agreements with counsel and contentious clients. A partner from a leading entertainment firm extolled: “Max settled a complicated entertainment case a prior mediator was not able to settle. He never gave up.” A partner at a large downtown firm commented: “Max is the mediator to choose for complex business valuation and buy-out issues. He is right on the money.” Another counsel from a major firm commented that Mr. Factor “provides valuable insight into the intricacies of complicated real estate transactions, with knowledge and expertise uncommon among most mediators.”Both defense and plaintiff’s counsel in employment discrimination and class action negotiations have high praise for Mr. Factor’s ability to ‘read’ a room and use quiet charm, reason and tenacity to handle “the highly charged emotions” so often involved. “If he smells even the hint of a possibility,” one small firm attorney commented, he persists “…until an agreement is reached.” A senior defense counsel in an important discrimination lawsuit describes Max Factor as “an excellent mediator who accomplished a great deal in a short period of time. I would recommend him without reservation.” Another attorney was thrilled when “Max took a [professional malpractice] case on the verge of blowing up, and ... brokered a deal with multiple parties, achieving a fair settlement for all.”
TEACHING
- Adjunct Professor, Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University, Mediation Clinic (2006-2016)
- Panelist/Trainer for LASC ADR programs (2008-2012)
- CA Judges Association Conference “Mediation Confidentiality: Issues & Current Cases” (2011)
- Presenter at ABA ADR Conference and several bar associations as well as large and small law firms
EDUCATION & TRAINING
Yale Law School, J.D., 1969 [Yale Law Journal 1967-69]Harvard College, B.A., 1966 Magna Cum Laude, Economics
Mr. Factor is available nationally and internationally.
