Dispute resolution pioneer joins Signature Resolution

Bruce A. Edwards, a major figure in the building of the dispute resolution industry in California, will join Signature Resolution beginning Aug. 1. He is based in the Bay Area.

“We are honored to welcome Bruce, a true pioneer in the field of mediation, to our esteemed Northern California panel. His unwavering commitment to full-time ADR practice and unparalleled name recognition make him an invaluable addition to Signature Resolution,” said Dario Higuchi, managing director at Signature Resolution.

Higuchi said Edwards will be a significant addition to the office that Signature opened in Oakland in February.

“The addition of our new office and growing regional team in the Bay Area will further solidify our presence and enhance our ability to serve the Northern California communities. Additionally, it will provide attorneys with a sophisticated and professional setting for settling disputes quickly and fairly,” Higuchi said.

Edwards, a litigator at Sedgwick early in his career, founded a mediation firm in the early 1990s. A merger of his Endispute LLC into JAMS in 1994 made JAMS the largest private arbitration and mediation service in the country.

“I’m proud of what we accomplished at JAMS. I think we created the country’s preeminent ADR institution, and it’s a model that others aspire to,” Edwards said. “I’ve now co-founded three separate mediation companies and, along with mediating every day, my passion is growing the field of ADR and seeing the highest quality of skilled professionals engage in this profession and developing this profession not just within the legal industry but beyond.”

Chris Poole, JAMS CEO, said: “We are grateful for Bruce Edwards’ hard work and service throughout the years, which helped to contribute to the continued growth and extraordinary success of the JAMS business. We wish Bruce well on his new endeavor.”

Edwards writes on mediation and, through his Edwards Mediation Academy, produces online course materials and teaches advanced mediation skills to mediators, attorneys, and judges throughout the country and around the world. He is also affiliated with the Weinstein International Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making mediation available and accessible worldwide. He said his motivation for joining Signature now was a desire “to collaborate with a group of talented, ambitious, quality-driven people.”

“It was just too compelling an opportunity to pass up, and so I’m still young enough and ambitious enough to feel I can make a difference,” he said.

“One doesn’t make that decision lightly, I assure you,” Edwards continued. “The hardest part, as you might expect, is leaving behind many friends. However, I know JAMS is in the capable hands of skilled ADR professionals, many of whom I still consider friends. It’s a small community ADR, so I have no doubt that we will continue to collaborate in a variety of ways, and some of my projects, beyond daily mediation, will involve me directly with a lot of my former colleagues at work.”

Edwards said he is looking forward to getting started at Signature Resolution next month.

“I’m going to focus my energy on mediating every day and devoting the kind of high-quality mediation service that I have honed my skills over the last 35 years, and somewhere along the way, I hope to be of some value to the company based on my prior experience and co-founding and leading other companies, including JAMS,” he said. “To some degree, I hope to be there as a magnet for those who might be interested in working with a smaller collection of quality-driven professions and just to see where this adventure takes me.”