EsfordADR.com
Zoom or In-Person
Esford ADR
Commercial Arbitration & Mediation
Let's Work Through This®
Why Esford ADR?
Meet Denny Esford
Denny's early legal career had him traveling the country as part of an e-Discovery team for Kirkland & Ellis, conducting custodian interviews to ferret out hardcopy and electronic discovery for BP and the MTBE Contamination MDL in the SDNY. Denny's prior manufacturing experience helped him ask specific questions of BP's engineers that led to the discovery of key documents previously unknown to the litigation team.
In 2013, Denny founded Windy City Trial Group and the same year became a Certified Arbitrator. He has now decided 100+ cases in the Cook County Illinois Municipal and Law Divisions. In 2020, Denny became a Certified Mediator, with training that included conducting mock Zoom mediations taught by three of the best-known mediators in the industry: Dick Calkins, Case Ellis and Fred Lane.
In addition to 20 years of litigation experience, your client will appreciate Denny's 20 years of prior experience in engineering, sales and management at some of America's most admired companies, including GM, Square D and United Technologies. Denny is a former Senior Editor of the trade journal Cutting Tool Engineering and was a licensed insurance producer for Nationwide Insurance in Illinois.
The Esford Arbitration Alternative
Whether by contract or after unsuccessful settlement talks, Denny's experience of arbitrating over 100 cases will help the parties reach a fair and final resolution to a dispute without the time, extra expense and public exposure of the parties' dispute in a court of law. Denny's extensive business experience, particularly in the Tier One and Tier Two manufacturing sectors, means he will more readily understand and appreciate the substantive facts that support each side's position.
Mediation by Caucus
Denny's preferred approach is the Caucus Method employed for over 20 years resolving client disputes before magistrate judges in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and state court judges in the Law and Chancery Divisions of the Circuit Court of Cook County (Chicago).
Why Not Just Use My Judge?
There is no doubt that good judges settle lots of cases. But it is also a fact that judges usually have large caseloads to manage and cases to keep moving. So by nature of the job, a judge isn’t always a true mediation neutral—instead motivated by an end game of early dismissal or trial.
Let's Work Through This®
Mediation provides a better chance of not destroying an important business relationship that may have very real monetary value for both parties after the current dispute is resolved. And as you know, courtrooms have rules. Mediation permits the parties to fashion a solution outside the confines of Civil Procedure and the Rules of Evidence. You owe it to your client to give them that chance.
"Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often the real loser in fees, expenses and waste of time."
---Abraham Lincoln, 1850
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