California Academy of Distinguished Neutrals

A Chapter of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals

Academy Member Inducted 2005

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Michael J. Bayard Esq., Mediator & Arbitrator, Los Angeles, California.

Michael J. Bayard Esq.

Diplomate member
Construction ADR Services
1055 West 7th Street
33rd Floor Penthouse
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Tel: (213) 383-9399
Cell: (818) 653-7009
Fax: (213) 528-5506
Website: www.constructionadrservices.com
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Recognized to California Chapter for Mediation & Arbitration

Regularly travels out of state to: Arizona, Nevada, Utah

Other ADR Services: ADR Training/CME, Court-Appointed Neutral (Special Master), Discovery Referee, Early Neutral Evaluation, Facilitation & Systems Design, Fact Finding, Mini-Trial Judge
Video Conferencing
Available
  • Practice Commenced1999
  • # of MEDS (as of 21/12/24)350
  • # of ARBS (as of 21/12/24)200
Current Practice
  • LOS ANGELES/ORANGE COUNTY

Biographical

Mr Bayard limits his ADR practice to construction disputes:  50% of his time is spent serving as Construction Arbitrator, Discovery Referee, or DRB member and 50% of his time is spent serving as Construction Mediator or Project Neutral.  Mr. Bayard has handled everything small residential project disputes to multi-million dollar construction claims and construction defect disputes--on both public and private projects.

Mr. Bayard has been a full-time Neutral doing only construction disputes since 2000.  Before becoming a full-time Neutral, he was a construction lawyer for 20 years.  He is the former Chair of the Construction Law Practice Groups at two of the largest international law firms—Pillsbury Madison & Sutro (now Pillsbury Winthrop) and Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (now Dacheng Dentons).  Pillsbury now has about 700 lawyers and is a major international firm.  Dacheng Dentons now has about 4,300 lawyers—and is the largest law firm in the world. 
 
Mr. Bayard has handled some of the largest and most-complex construction disputes as a lawyer at his prior law firms—and since 2000 as a Mediator and as an Arbitrator.  He chaired the American Arbitration Association (AAA) Panel  that heard the $250,000,000 claim made on the design and construction of the Aladdin Hotel, Casino, and Shopping Center in Las Vegas (now Planet Hollywood).  At that time the Aladdin case was the largest construction arbitration ever filed in the Western Region of the AAA.  Mr. Bayard also was the Mediator on the case filed on what was then one of the highest-value single family homes in the US—a $100,000,000 project located overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Summerland (next to Montecito), California.  There were approximately 60 parties in that mediation.  There was not a courtroom in Santa Barbara County that could hold the lawyers, let alone the parties and experts.  Mr. Bayard settled the case in the largest hotel ballroom in Santa Barbara.

Mr. Bayard is the author of over forty (40) publications on Construction Law and Construction ADR topics.  He has served as seminar participant or featured lecturer for the ABA, California State Bar, LACBA, AAA, and numerous construction industry and ADR organizations.  He was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California for twenty years, teaching "Construction Management and Technology" in USC's graduate Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) program.  Seminars and publications include:  “Ten Fundamentals for Mediating the Large, Complex Multi-Party Construction Dispute” (2010) in the Dispute Resolution Journal,   “The Arbitration Roadmap” at the AAA Neutral’s International and National Conference (San Diego, 2009), “Sex, Drugs, and Construction ADR” for CLE International (San Francisco, 2010, 2009) (Los Angeles, 2008), “How to Advance Your Interests in Mediation:  Getting to the Next Level,” AAA University Webinar (National Broadcast, 2008), and  “Front & Center: Chairing an Arbitration” (2005) & “Thirty Steps to a Better Arbitration” (2004) in the Dispute Resolution Journal (both with Judith Ittig).

 

Case Experience

  • Condominiums
  • Construction
  • Real Estate

Education

  • University of California, Berkeley (AB with Highest Honors, Phi Beta Kappa - 1976);
  • University of California, Hastings College of the Law (J.D., Associate Executive Editor, Hastings Law Journal - 1979).


Completed all of AAA basic and advanced Arbitrator and Mediator trainings. Attended AAA National and other ADR Retreats on an annual basis (2000 to present). 

Frequent speaker on construction ADR subjects and innovations.

Memberships & Affiliations

  • American Bar Association (Construction Forum Committee and Section on Dispute Resolution)
  • California State Bar, California Lawyers Association (Past Co-Chair, State Bar Construction Law Subsection)
  • Los Angeles County Bar Association, Real Property Section (Past Chair of Construction Law Subsection and Past Chair of Real Property Section).

ADR Associations:

  • American Arbitration Association 
  • Chair, AAA Los Angeles Construction Advisory Subcommittee
  • Member, AAA National Panel of Master Construction Arbitrators
  • Association for Conflict Resolution (ARC)
  • Southern California Mediation Association (SCMA)
  • California Dispute Resolution Council (CDRC);
  • Los Angeles County Bar Association, Dispute Resolution Services (DRS).

Rates Information

For Mediation & Arbitration rates, please view Printable PDF Resume above.

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