Mediator and Arbitrator

After 37 years of practice as a trial attorney representing both plaintiff and defense interests, coupled with over 24 years mediating and arbitrating, ABOTA member, David M. Karen brings a wealth of sophisticated civil litigation and trial experience. His 1997 USDC Central District Wrongful Termination verdict recovering $1.6M in unvested stock options (Fleming v. Parametric) was affirmed by the 9th Circuit on appeal and his Failure to Warn litigation (Riera/Himes v. Somatics) testing the scope of the Learned Intermediary doctrine resulted in new law before the California Supreme Court. Having participated as lead trial counsel in almost every type of civil litigation dispute over his career, his experience includes real estate, construction, medical and legal negligence claims, personal injury, product liability, and wrongful death matters. He has now been engaged in over 1000 matters as a neutral. David is now available as a full-time Mediator and Arbitrator, exclusively with Judicate West.

Having begun his mediation career in 1999 as a panelist with the LA Superior Court, he has consistently grown his private mediation practice. Acting as pro tem settlement judge handling MSCs with the Ventura Superior Court in beginning in 2002, he met the Honorable David W. Long (Ret.), and his career as a well-respected, balanced neutral has continued to gain a steady following. In 2014 he formally joined forces with Judge Long, taking over the helm of Creative Dispute Resolution (CDR), one of Ventura County's most active ADR providers, continuing the expansion of mediation excellence originally established by a veteran mediator, Paul Fritz, Esq. in 1986.

With an undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Accounting, David is adept with the financial aspects involved in virtually any and all civil litigation matters. He was the Senior managing partner of his own firm (DK Law Group), representing plaintiffs, self-insureds, and carrier-represented defendants throughout his career. His business acumen and broad-based trial experience have allowed him to gain a unique and astute ability to keenly understand and manage the complex intricacies related to risk assessment and management in guiding his clientele, both as counsel and as a neutral.

Over the decades, he has been repeatedly described as being a creative, engaging, and a savvy mediator. As a result of his upbeat personality and balanced representation of interests throughout his legal career, David has developed the unique ability to both communicate and garner the trust of both parties and counsel in helping guide matters to resolution.

David states: “I am a real believer in transparency in all dialogue. When all the hype and drama gets stripped away and the decision-makers are able to understand others’ perspectives through deft communication toward achieving shared goals, transformation happens. While every mediation is different, the personalities and the genuine needs of the parties, when finally exposed, help create avenues for meeting the needs of the parties. There is not much in life that brings more professional satisfaction to me than helping others find meaningful closure.”