Victoria Pynchon

Current

• Columnist, The Human Factor at the Complete Lawyer
• Member, Distinguished Panel of Neutrals at Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution ("CPR")
• Adjunct Professor at Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution

• Founder-Author at Negotiation Law Blog & IP ADR Blog (Sole Proprietorship)
• ADR Neutral (Mediator/Arbitrator) at Judicate West
• Pro Bono Community Mediator at West Hollywood Dispute Resolution Services
• Settlement Officer at United States District Court, Central Dist. of Cal.
• Former Board Member; Newsletter Editor; Blogmeister at Southern California Mediation Association
• Attorney-Mediator at Settle It Now Dispute Resolution Services (Sole Proprietorship)
• Attorney Mediator at Mediation Services
• Editor-in-Chief at r.kv.r.y. quarterly literary journal
• Coach at National Institute of Trial Advocacy

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9 more...

Past

• Attorney at Hancock Rothert
• Attorney at Buchalter Nemer
• Attorney at Pepper Hamilton

• Associate Attorney at Pepper Hamilton & Scheetz

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1 more...

Education

• Pepperdine University School of Law
• Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution
• University of California, Davis - School of Law

• University of California, San Diego
• San Diego State University-California State University

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2 more...

Recommended

12 people have recommended Victoria

Connections

310 connections

Industry

Law Practice

Websites

• The Negotiation Blog
• Settle It Now DRS
• The IP ADR Blog

Victoria Pynchon’s Summary

My legal practice is now strictly limited to serving as a commercial litigation (or arbitration) neutral. All materials about me and my practice that appear here have been prepared by me or provided to me for informational purposes only. Nothing in these materials constitutes legal advice. Transmission of the information maintained here is not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. Internet subscribers and online readers should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. The information contained here is provided only as general information which may or may not reflect the most current legal developments. I no longer offer legal services directly to clients. I am a full-time mediator and arbitrator, assisting parties who have legal counsel in the resolution of disputes.

Victoria Pynchon’s Specialties:

My historic legal specialties were insurance coverage, antitrust, unfair competition, patent, copyright and trademark litigation, as well as the occasional securities fraud and consumer class action. I have represented clients in the healthcare, manufacturing, garment, entertainment, insurance, finance, and banking industries.

Victoria Pynchon’s Experience

• Columnist, The Human Factor

  the Complete Lawyer

  (Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Law Practice industry)

  February 2008 — Present (8 months)

  With fellow ADR bloggers Diane Levin, Stephanie West Allen, and Gini Nelson, I am now a regular columnist for The Complete Lawyer. Our column -- The Human Factor.

• Member, Distinguished Panel of Neutrals

  Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution ("CPR")

  (Non-Profit; 51-200 employees; Alternative Dispute Resolution industry)

  February 2007 — Present (1 year 8 months)

  At the pinnacle of CPR’s dispute resolution services is The CPR 1,000, the CPRs Panels of Distinguished Neutrals, consisting of 1,000 of the highest quality arbitrators and mediators, with specialization in over 17 practice areas and industries.
  
  As part of CPR’s nomination process, it checks not only the suitability, but the availability of all neutrals that are nominated, as well as disclose any conflicts of interest prior to submission of names to the disputants.
  
  I am a member of the insurance coverage specialty panel. If your organization is a CPR member, you can find my CPR Bio here: http://www.cpradr.org/Ques_bio.asp?cont=51516

• Adjunct Professor

  Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution

  (Educational Institution; 201-500 employees; Professional Training & Coaching industry)

  January 2007 — Present (1 year 9 months)

  In January of 2007, I co-taught Selected Issues in ADR: Employment to law students; MDR (Masters in Dispute Resolution) students and LL.M candidates at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. While pursuing my own LL.M degree at Straus, I had previously guest lectured in the Institute's Negotiation and Settlement Class (on mediation confidentiality) and in its Clinical Program (on professional development). I have also been a guest lecturer on mediation practice at the USC School of Law. I published two academic articles while at Straus, one in the field of restorative justice (the criminal justice system's analog to mediation) and the other on the subjective meaning of money in the settlement of complex litigation.

• Founder-Author

  Negotiation Law Blog & IP ADR Blog (Sole Proprietorship)

  (Sole Proprietorship; 1-10 employees; Alternative Dispute Resolution industry)

  June 2006 — Present (2 years 4 months)

  I am the founder and sole author of the Settle It Now Negotiation Law Blog (http://www.negotiationlawblog.com) and the founder, and one of four author of the new IP ADR Blog (http://www.ipadrblog.com). The Negotiation blog gets more than 5500 "hits" per month. The IP ADR Blog just went live this month.

• ADR Neutral (Mediator/Arbitrator)

  Judicate West

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Alternative Dispute Resolution industry)

  July 2005 — Present (3 years 3 months)

  Panelist at Judicate West
  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Legal Services industry)
  
  January 2005 – Present (2 years 7 months)
  
  Judicate West is the Southern California ADR panel on which I serve. Other than the work I continue to do with my own ADR firm, Settle It Now, I am exclusive to Judicate West. I chose to serve on Judicate West's panel exclusively because their case managers know the skill-sets, expertise and industry as well as legal experience of all of their neutrals, whether they be retired judges or former litigators. Judicate is able to recommend which of its neutrals is best for the particular case the parties are seeking to resolve. Judicate puts its fifteen-year reputation on the line everytime it recommends one of its neutrals, not all of whom are right for every job. I trust Judicate's people, its integrity and its professionalism. I recommend Judicate when I cannot recommend my own services. Check them out and choose the neutral who is right for you.

• Pro Bono Community Mediator

  West Hollywood Dispute Resolution Services

  (Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; Alternative Dispute Resolution industry)

  January 2005 — Present (3 years 9 months)

  I do my ADR-neutral pro bono work as a community mediator with the West Hollywood Dispute Resolution Service. I not only derive the most fulfillment from doing this work (mediating mostly neighbor-to-neighbor and family disputes) but I am able to use the full range of my transformative mediation skills by serving my local community in this fashion. I highly recommend to all mediators that they locate their local community, public-school-peer or victim-offender mediation programs to satisfy their professional pro bono obligation. You will receive far more than you give.

• Settlement Officer

  United States District Court, Central Dist. of Cal.

  (Government Agency; 201-500 employees; Alternative Dispute Resolution industry)

  January 2005 — Present (3 years 9 months)

  I serve as a Settlement Officer for the United States District Court for the Central District of California where I primarily assist the parties and their counsel in negotiating settlements of trademark, copyright, patent, unfair competition, antitrust, securities fraud and class action litigation. My Settlement Officer profile can be found by pasting the below link in your browser. http://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/cacd/AttySetPan.nsf/d2a66336794a5d8388256cb700642211/490ef055128c9c1a88256fb10060c7de?OpenDocument

• Former Board Member; Newsletter Editor; Blogmeister

  Southern California Mediation Association

  (Law Practice industry)

  2004 — Present (4 years)

• Attorney-Mediator

  Settle It Now Dispute Resolution Services (Sole Proprietorship)

  (Sole Proprietorship; 1-10 employees; Legal Services industry)

  April 2004 — Present (4 years 6 months)

  I founded Settle It Now Dispute Resolution Services as soon as I learned the mediation skills necessary to help lawyers settle their commercial litigation, litigation that I had been prosecuting, defending and trying for twenty-four years. Like too many litigators, I hated negotiating settlements and vastly preferred hand-to-hand combat in the courts. What I didn't know was how much I would enjoy and how naturally inclined I was to negotiation once I learned the basic skills, skills I didn't pick up in 24 years of on-the-job training. Though I am now a panelist with the Southern California ADR Services firm Judicate West, I continue to mediate (and sometimes to arbitrate) commercial disputes through Settle It Now. My areas of expertise include insurance coverage, general commercial, patent, copyright and trademark litigation, as well as unfair competition, antitrust and consumer class action disputes.

• Attorney Mediator

  Mediation Services

  (Law Practice industry)

  2004 — Present (4 years)

• Editor-in-Chief

  r.kv.r.y. quarterly literary journal

  (Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; Fine Art industry)

  September 2004 — Present (4 years 1 month)

  the r.kv.r.y. quarterly literary journal ipublishes high quality literary fiction and non-fiction, as well as poetry, photography and fine art. The journal's theme is recovery from any type of repressive or oppressive condition, be it internal or external, political or personal. We endeavor to publish the journal four times each year. For submission guidelines, see http://www.ninetymeetingsinninetydays.com.

• Coach

  National Institute of Trial Advocacy

  (Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Professional Training & Coaching industry)

  August 1995 — Present (13 years 2 months)

  I have been teaching NITA's three-day deposition skills training course since 1995. In 2002, I also began teaching its week-long beginning trial advocacy course. I have had the privilege of working with some of the brightest and best educated young lawyers whose firms underwrite their participation in these programs. It is always a pleasure.

• Attorney

  Hancock Rothert

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Law Practice industry)

  1994 — 2003 (9 years)

  While an associate (and later a partner) at Hancock (now Duane Morris) I primarily handled high-stakes environmental insurance coverage litigation, generally as lead attorney for lead counsel. Litigating "bet the company" cases with at least a dozen co-defendants provided me with leadership and consensus building skills that are critical to my present career as a mediator (and sometime arbitrator). While at Hancock, I also handled consumer class actions, antitrust and unfair competition cases, as well as the occasional legal malpractice action involving an attorney's for law firm's alleged negligent handling of commercial litigation.

• Attorney

  Buchalter Nemer

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Law Practice industry)

  1989 — 1993 (4 years)

  As an associate attorney at the Buchalter firm I handled my first environmental insurance coverage cases, primarily dealing with the clean-up of toxic waste sites and contaminated chemical plant, rocket testing and refinery facilities and the land on which they operated.

• Attorney

  Pepper Hamilton

  (Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Law Practice industry)

  1986 — 1990 (4 years)

  I was an associate litigation attorney in the Los Angeles office of this 100+ year old Philadelphia law firm. Though I had earlier represented a cable television company and several businesses in unfair competition and trademark infringement actions, it was here that I gained the bulk of my intellectual property experience, practicing with, among others, registered patent attorney, Les Weinstein. While at Pepper Hamilton I played a key role in litigating to successful resolution cases in the food and beverage, consumer product and medical equipment manufacturing, entertainment, engineering, health care and commercial real estate fields. It was also at Pepper that I gained the bulk of my experience in handling securities fraud cases and where I spent the majority of my practice in the federal courts.

• Associate Attorney

  Pepper Hamilton & Scheetz

  (Law Practice industry)

  1986 — 1990 (4 years)

Victoria Pynchon’s Education

• Pepperdine University School of Law

  LL.M, Dispute Resolution, 2004 — 2006

• Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution

  LL.M., ADR, 2004 — 2006

  I was privileged to study with some of the best thinkers, writers, educators and scholars while studying for my LL.M in Dispute Resolution at the Straus Institute. I also had the great good fortune to spend my externships first with Judge Alexander Williams, III, full time settlement judge for the Los Angeles Superior Court and second with Judges Carl West and Victoria Chaney in the Los Angeles Complex Court. These co-mediation experiences with Judges gave me a judicial officer's viewpoint on the settlement and trial of commercial litigation -- a view point I had previously lacked having never served as a bench officer.

• University of California, Davis - School of Law

  1977 — 1980

  Activities and Societies:

  Order of the Coif; Finalist and Best Brief Award, Environmental Moot Court Competition; extern, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, tutor to first year law students (torts); Mock Trial Attorney for California Highway Patrol Cadet Trial Training Program; American Jurisprudence award in Labor Law.

• University of California, San Diego

  B.A., Literature, 1973 — 1975

• San Diego State University-California State University

  English 1970 — 1973

Additional Information

Victoria Pynchon’s Websites:

• The Negotiation Blog
• Settle It Now DRS
• The IP ADR Blog

Victoria Pynchon’s Interests:

negotiation, mediation, arbitration, law, settlement, litigation, business, intellectual property, patent infringement, copyright infringement, trademark, tradename, trade dress and unfair competition litigation, insurance coverage, technology, manufacturing, garment industry, healthcare industry

Victoria Pynchon’s Groups:

Los Angeles County Bar Association, Association of Business Trial Lawyers, Beverly Hills Bar Association, Southern California Mediation Association, Federal Bar Association, LACBA Intellectual Property Section, Women Lawyers of Los Angeles, Legal Blogging, Professional Women's Network, Professional Women's Network

•    Obama for America
•    Patent Law Group
•    ACC-SFBA
•    Legal Blogging
•    Professional Women's Network of So.Cal.
•    IP Lawyers

Victoria Pynchon’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• consulting offers
• getting back in touch