About Us

Below please find a section entitled "Bio" and one at the bottom entitled "Fees."

A full time mediator of real estate and business disputes since about September 2004, David I. Karp maintains a private mediation practice in Van Nuys, CA, and has assisted various courts with their Alternative Dispute Resolution needs in Southern California. including presently the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District. In each of these contexts, privately and otherwise, Karp applies his skill, training and experience, emanating from a 25 year law practice primarily in real estate and business litigation, to help the disputants reach mutual understanding, if they can, and their own private, consensual resolution of their conflicts with one another.

For three years, Karp also conducted Special Education mediations as a Pro Tem Administrative Law Judge for the Special Education Division of the California Office of Administrative Hearings.

Karp earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1976. He received his Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, in 1979. He conducted a full time law practice in metropolitan Los Angeles from 1979 through August 2004, at which time he turned his full time attention to mediation.

Since 1987, Karp has been consistently given the highest rating available (“AV-Preeminent”) for legal ability, ethics, professional reliability and diligence, through Martindale-Hubbell, Inc., virtually the only nationwide entity that promotes peer ratings of attorneys. By invitation, Karp appeared in Martindale's Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers from 1994-2005, during active law practice. 

Karp’s formal mediation training includes, without limitation: “Mediating the Litigated Case” (2003) offered by the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution of the Pepperdine University School of Law (“Straus Institute”) (Cynthia F. Greer, Peter Robinson, Matt Guasco, Randy Lowry, trainers); “Advanced Mediation Skills Forum” (2004) offered by Los Angeles County Bar Association Dispute Resolution Services, Inc. and faculty of the Straus Institute (Randy Lowry, Lee Jay Berman, trainers); “Cross Cultural Skills Training (2006) (Nina Meierding, trainer); “Appellate Mediation” (2007) (Richard Birke, Dana Curtis, trainers); “LASC Supplemental Training/Sharpening Mediation & Negotiation Skills” (2012) (Straus Institute); American Institute of Mediation Advanced Track Training offered at the annual conferences of the Southern California Mediation Association (SCMA) (2012-2015) (Trainers:  Lee Jay Berman, Kenneth Cloke, James Melamed, Forrest “Woody” Mosten, and others). He has attended many other professional courses and conferences offered by SCMA and other providers.

In private mediation practice, Karp charges for his services at the rate of $450.00 per hour, divisible equitably by the number of “sides” in the dispute, with a four hour minimum commitment paid in advance by checks made payable to "David I. Karp." The mediator prefers to conduct mediation sessions on Zoom; if not on Zoom but in-person, the parties/counsel will provide their own facilities, if they have them (and they are suitable with separate breakout rooms), or they will arrange and pay for suitable rental conference rooms at their own expense and not at the expense of the mediator. Karp charges no administrative fee but does charge a cancellation / rescheduling fee of not less than $500.00 if a mediation session is taken off calendar seven days or sooner before the scheduled hearing date and no substitute matter can be heard in its place. A sample retainer agreement, the terms of which control over this summary, is available upon request. (When appropriate, lower cost mediations may be available for very small cases or for those with demonstrably limited financial resources.)