Mediator Resume

Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator and member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. 800+ mediations over six years, conducted statewide in Florida, in person and by video. Concentrated practice in first-party property and insurance coverage disputes, complex commercial contracts and finance, real estate and title, personal injury, and consumer financial and goods-and-services disputes. Recognized by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers in America, Florida Super Lawyers, and AV Preeminent. Member, Florida Bar ADR Section Executive Council. 18 years of prior commercial litigation and restructuring practice. JD and MBA with finance concentration. Native English and Hebrew speaker.

Clear Evolution Mediation - Founder and Mediator

Mediator, Arbitrator, Attorney

Founder/ Mediator, Clear Evolution Mediation, 2022-Present; Founder, AlignX Law, 2022-Present; Founder/ Managing Partner, Leiderman Shelomith Alexander + Somodevilla, PLLC, 2014-2021; Associate Attorney, Damian & Valori LLP, 2013-2014; Associate Attorney, Markowitz, Ringel, Trusty & Hartog, P.A., 2008-2013.

COMMERCIAL LITIGATION AND COMPLEX COMMERCIAL EXPERIENCE Eighteen years handling complex multi-party commercial disputes throughout the Southern District of Florida and Florida state courts. Matters consistently involved competing financial objectives among multiple stakeholders, parties from multiple industries, and frequently required parallel proceedings across related claims. Representations included companies and their owners, lenders and other secured parties, vendors and suppliers, equity holders and minority owners, court-appointed trustees, and other constituencies in commercial conflicts. Subject matter handled includes commercial contracts and finance disputes (breach of contract, purchase and sale of goods and services contracts, vendor and supplier disputes, distribution and dealer agreements, licensing matters, indemnification claims, force majeure and impossibility disputes, and non-payment and collection disputes); commercial lending and finance disputes (commercial loan agreements, letters of credit and standby letter of credit disputes, lender liability claims, guaranty enforcement, intercreditor and subordination agreement disputes, lien priority disputes involving UCC, mechanics, judgment, and mortgage liens, and workout and forbearance disputes); business ownership and governance disputes (operating agreement disputes, shareholder and member buyout valuation, partnership and joint venture disputes, LLC manager and member control disputes, buy-sell agreement enforcement, and veil piercing and alter ego claims); and fraudulent transfer and asset recovery litigation (substantial parallel proceedings under the Florida Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (FUFTA) and common law fraudulent conveyance, clawback disputes, asset tracing and recovery, Florida civil theft claims, and equitable subordination disputes). Handled one of the first cryptocurrency asset turnovers in the Southern District of Florida Bankruptcy Court, involving forensic asset tracing and complex valuation among multiple stakeholders. INSURANCE COVERAGE AND FIRST-PARTY PROPERTY EXPERIENCE Insurance coverage and first-party property claim experience including coverage analysis, claim valuation, appraisal positions, and resolution of disputed coverage between insureds and insurance carriers. As general counsel to Chapter 7 trustees, regularly managed first-party property claims with substantive and procedural fluency in insured-carrier disputes. REAL ESTATE AND TITLE EXPERIENCE Real estate matters including purchase and sale disputes, partition actions, landlord-tenant disputes, and title-related controversies. Licensed Title and Closing Agent (The Fund and CATIC), providing direct technical fluency with title examination, title insurance, escrow, and residential and commercial closing dynamics. PERSONAL INJURY AND CONSUMER FINANCIAL EXPERIENCE Personal injury and consumer financial dispute experience including catastrophic injury, premises liability, motor vehicle, and product liability matters with responsibility for valuation, settlement negotiation, and litigation strategy. Sustained exposure to consumer credit, mortgage servicing, lending, and collection disputes across more than fifteen years of practice. As general counsel to Chapter 7 trustees, regularly managed both personal injury claims and consumer financial matters held by estates.

Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator with 800+ mediations conducted over six years of full-time mediation practice. Mediations conducted statewide throughout Florida, in person and by video, in state and federal courts. First-party property and insurance coverage mediations include residential and commercial property damage claims, hurricane and wind losses, water damage and mold claims, coverage disputes, bad faith claims, premium disputes, appraisal-related disputes, and homeowner-carrier disputes. Mediations have involved disputes between insureds and primary carriers, excess carriers, surplus lines insurers, and assignees of benefits, with regular use of structured pre-mediation agendas and offer-tracking tools to manage complex valuation negotiations. Complex commercial contract and finance disputes mediated include breach of contract, purchase and sale of goods and services, vendor and supplier disputes, lender-borrower disputes, guaranty enforcement, intercreditor and subordination disputes, lien priority disputes, workout and forbearance disputes, partnership and joint venture disputes, shareholder and member buyout matters, operating agreement and LLC governance disputes, fraudulent transfer and asset recovery disputes under the Florida Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (FUFTA), and Florida civil theft and clawback disputes. Appointed by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida as panel mediator in a large multi-party commercial fraud matter involving multiple parallel proceedings with fraudulent transfer claims, requiring coordination among numerous defendants and a court-appointed trustee. Real estate and title disputes mediated include residential and commercial purchase and sale disputes, partition actions, landlord-tenant disputes, broker and agent disputes, and title-related controversies including coverage and lien priority issues. Personal injury and wrongful death matters mediated include high-exposure and catastrophic injury cases, premises liability, motor vehicle and trucking matters, and product liability, with parties spanning plaintiffs, primary carriers, excess carriers, self-insured corporations, and government entities. Consumer financial disputes mediated include matters involving consumer credit, mortgage servicing, lending, debt collection, and creditor-debtor disputes. Consumer goods and services disputes mediated include warranty disputes, service agreement disputes, vendor performance disputes, and consumer-business contract disputes. Industries served across the mediation practice include aviation, construction, financial services, food service and hospitality, insurance, manufacturing, automotive, real estate and development, and retail. Multi-party experience: a meaningful share of complex commercial and personal injury mediations have involved three or more parties, including multi-defendant adversary proceedings, multi-carrier coverage disputes, and multi-stakeholder business dissolution matters.

Insurance coverage and first-party property: hurricane and wind damage causation, water damage origin and scope, mold causation and exclusions, replacement cost versus actual cash value, recoverable depreciation, matching of interior and exterior building elements, law and ordinance and code upgrade coverage, loss of use and additional living expense, business income and extra expense, concurrent and anti-concurrent causation, prompt notice and late notice defenses, examination under oath, sworn proof of loss, cooperation clause issues, misrepresentation and rescission defenses, statutory bad faith and civil remedy notice issues, premium disputes, coverage exclusions and endorsements, appraisal proceedings, assignment of benefits disputes, water mitigation and emergency services billing disputes, and homeowner-carrier valuation disputes. Commercial contracts: breach of contract, anticipatory repudiation, warranty enforcement, contract interpretation, fraudulent inducement, negligent misrepresentation, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, quantum meruit, and unjust enrichment. Lending and finance: commercial note default and interpretation, acceleration and cross-default provisions, letter of credit honor and dishonor, standby letter of credit draws, guaranty enforcement defenses, intercreditor and subordination disputes, UCC Article 9 issues, lien perfection and priority, mechanics and mortgage lien priority, equitable subordination, workout and forbearance, and lender liability claims. Business ownership and governance: LLC member buyout valuation, operating agreement interpretation, distribution and allocation disputes, manager removal, partnership dissolution, shareholder buyout, buy-sell trigger events, veil piercing and alter ego claims, and partnership and joint venture disputes. Fraudulent transfer and asset recovery: actual and constructive fraudulent transfer claims under the Florida Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (FUFTA), reasonably equivalent value, insolvency at time of transfer, insider transactions, reach-back periods, asset tracing and forensic accounting, constructive trust, disgorgement, Florida civil theft, and clawback disputes. Real estate and title: purchase and sale agreement disputes, specific performance, earnest money disputes, title defects, easements and boundary disputes, quiet title, partition, landlord-tenant disputes, lease interpretation, holdover tenancy, broker commission disputes, disclosure failures, title insurance claims, mortgage priority, and foreclosure-related disputes. Personal injury and wrongful death: negligence and comparative fault, premises liability, slip and fall, maritime, motor vehicle negligence, failure to warn, damages valuation including future medical expenses and loss of earning capacity, pain and suffering, wrongful death damages, medical lien priority, letters of protection, and bad faith exposure. Consumer financial: mortgage servicing and loan modification disputes, foreclosure-related disputes, Truth in Lending Act, Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, consumer credit and lending disputes, auto loan and lease disputes, and repossession disputes. Consumer goods and services: express and implied warranty disputes, Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act claims, service agreement disputes, refund and cancellation disputes, Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA) claims, vendor performance disputes, and consumer-business contract performance disputes.

I lead mediations. I prepare in advance, review submissions, identify the issues most likely to drive resolution, and arrive ready to engage substantively. In commercial and complex matters, that means engaging with valuation, coverage, and structural questions, not waiting to be asked. In session, I lead through questions. I press parties to test their assumptions, surface the strengths and weaknesses they have not fully evaluated, and stress-test the consequences of impasse. I help parties understand what their offers communicate to the other side and what messages drive or stall negotiation. I share my views on positions when asked. I do not push parties toward settlement. I push them to think rigorously about what they are deciding. I conduct most mediations by video. My virtual setup uses high-definition video, studio-quality audio, and a custom application I developed that tracks monetary and non-monetary terms in real time and visualizes brackets and zone of possible agreement (ZOPA) movement as offers shift. Multi-party sessions with separate caucus rooms are routine. I expect the parties and counsel to come prepared, with settlement authority appropriate to the matter, and to engage candidly. The parties decide. I run the process.

Conducts mediations on Zoom and Microsoft Teams, including breakout rooms, document annotation, and multi-party caucus. Versatile across other virtual platforms when the parties prefer. Developed and uses a custom mediation application that visualizes negotiation in real time, tracking monetary and non-monetary terms and displaying brackets and zone of possible agreement (ZOPA) movement as offers shift. Active and ethical user of artificial intelligence in mediation practice. Uses AI tools, including Claude, ChatGPT, and NotebookLM, for pre-mediation case analysis, issue identification, agenda preparation, and submission review, settlement drafting, all with strict confidentiality protections for party communications and privileged information. Certified Cryptocurrency Tracing Examiner (CTCE).

University of Miami School of Law (J.D.-2007); University of Miami School of Business (M.B.A., finance concentration-2007); Emory University Goizueta Business School (B.B.A., with Honors, minor in Economics-2002); CipherTrace (Certified Cryptocurrency Tracing Examiner-2022).

Admitted to the Bar: Florida (2007). Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator (2019); Qualified Arbitrator, Supreme Court of Florida; Panel Mediator, State of Florida Department of Financial Services Alternative Dispute Resolution Mediation Program; Registered Mediator, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida; Registered Mediator, United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida; Registered Mediator, United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida; Licensed Title and Closing Agent, The Fund and CATIC.

National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals; The Florida Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, Executive Council Member; American Bankruptcy Institute; Bankruptcy Bar Association for the Southern District of Florida (Past President, 2016-2017); Broward County Bar Association; ProVisors.

Speaking Engagements: "Practical Use of AI for Mediators, Counsel, Clients, and Pro Se Individuals: Leveraging Claude AI as a Mediator Tool", Palm Beach County Bar Association, 2026. "The New Mediation Formula 2.0: Efficiently Prepare to Succeed in First Party Property Cases", Florida Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Section CLE InReach, 2026. "Beyond the Basics: Practical AI Tools and eSignature Devices for Modern Mediators" (Faculty and Speaker), Florida Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Section Mentoring Academy, Tampa, Florida, 2025. "The New Mediation Formula: Preparation = Success!", Windstorm Insurance Conference, Dallas, Texas, 2025. "Is There a Place for Artificial Intelligence in Arbitration?", Florida Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, Virtual Arbitration Advocacy Institute, 2024. "What is Going On In the Other Room? First-Party Mediation Case Strategies", Windstorm Insurance Conference, Orlando, Florida, 2024. "First-Party Property Mediations", Florida Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Section Annual Retreat, 2023. Publications: "Crypto In Your Everyday Bankruptcy Case: Trustee's Introductory Guide", American Bankruptcy Trustee Journal, May 2023.

Hourly Rate: $450.00 Daily Rate: Not provided Study Rate: $450.00/hr Cancellation: $450.00/hr Cancellation Period: 4 Days Comment: Compensation rates, established by the AAA, are set forth in the applicable Consumer Mediation Procedures.

English; Hebrew

United States of America

Davie, Florida