Check back here regularly to find out what's new.
[This page constitutes a place simply to record interesting subjects, events or ideas, and any announcements, as they relate to David Karp's mediation practice and other things. The entries are in reverse chronological order, with the most recent first.]
October 16, 2024 -- Mediator David I. Karp has been notified that, as in prior years, he has earned for 2025 the Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent™ Rating, the highest possible rating for legal ability and ethical standards.
October 5, 2023 -- Mediator David I. Karp has been notified that, as in prior years, he has earned for 2024 the Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent™ Rating, the highest possible rating for legal ability and ethical standards.
January 1, 2023 -- Recognizing that three hours usually is insufficient to explore settlement, including the time to prepare and conduct a first mediation session, the minimum commitment from parties/counsel is increased from three to four hours and the required deposit is increased accordingly. The hourly rate remains the same as in 2022.
November 29, 2022 -- 43rd anniversary of admission to the State Bar of California.
November 1, 2022 -- Mediator David I. Karp has been notified that, as in prior years, he has earned for 2023 the Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent™ Rating, the highest possible rating for legal ability and ethical standards.
October 21, 2021 -- Mediator David I. Karp has been notified that, as in prior years, he has earned for 2022 the Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent™ Rating, the highest possible rating for legal ability and ethical standards.
December 10. 2020 -- David I. Karp received the prestigious Hiram Award from his Masonic Lodge for dedicated service to the Lodge and to Freemasonry in general. He has been a Master Mason since 1991 and serves the Lodge as its newsletter editor and in other ways.
November 29, 2020 -- 41st anniversary of admission to the State Bar of California.
April 1, 2020 -- David I. Karp is now available for online mediations re video-conference.
November 29, 2019 -- 40th anniversary of admission to the State Bar of California.
October 23, 2019 -- Mediator David I. Karp has been notified that, as in prior years, he has earned for 2020 the Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent™ Rating, the highest possible rating for legal ability and ethical standards.
August 26, 2019 -- i have been honored. Today I received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Los Angeles Superior Court signed by the Presiding Judge, the Supervising Judge of the Civil Division, and the Exectuve Officer/Clerk of the Court. The certificate reads: "By helping civil litigants resolve their disputes before trial, you have provided a great benefit to those litigants, the public, and the Los Angeles Superior Court. Your generosity, dedication and service are greatly appreciated."
January 9, 2019 -- On the forms page of this website, a sample form as required by Evidence Code Section 1129 has been made available as a professional courtesy for use by an attorney when the client's preferred language is English.
November 29, 2018 -- 39th anniversary of admission to the State Bar of California.
October 10, 2018 -- Mediator David I. Karp has been notified that, as in prior years, he has earned for 2019 the Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent™ Rating, the highest possible rating for legal ability and ethical standards.
November 29, 2017 -- 38th anniversary of admission to the State Bar of California.
October 18, 2017 -- Mediator David I. Karp has been notified that, as in prior years, he has earned for 2018 the Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent™ Rating, the highest possible rating for legal ability and ethical standards.
July 14, 2017 -- I have once again registered in the mentorship program of Loyola Law School and have thus offered to mentor an incoming first year law student for the 2017-2018 academic year. This is a continuation of my passion to volunteer and to give back. See my page on Volunteerism for more informaton.
November 29, 2016 -- 37th anniversary of admission to the State Bar of California.
October 19, 2016 -- I have been informed that, for 2017, I have once again earned the AV-Preeminent rating as bestowed by Martindale-Hubbell. The AV-Preeminent rating is the highest possible rating in both legal ability and ethical standards. Every year, I am both elated and humbled by this.
September 22, 2016 -- The American Registry, a manufacturer of custom recognition products, has offered to sell to me an "Official Martindale-Hubbell® Plaque," for my office wall, to promote the fact that I have been rated "AV-Preeminent®" for the last 25 years (1991-2016). According to Martindale-Hubbell®, "AV Preeminent® [is the] highest peer rating standard. This rating signifies that the lawyer's reviewed peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence for their legal knowledge, communication skills and ethical standards." I’m not sure that I need the plaque but the recognition is nice.
November 29, 2015 -- 36th Anniversary of admission to the State Bar of California!
Thanksgiving 2015 -- Annual donations to honor family, friends and business colleages, as more particularly described at https://karpmediation.wordpress.com/2015/11/22/donations-at-thanksgiving-time/
October 6, 2015 -- Mediator David I. Karp was notified today that, as in prior years, he has earned for 2016 the Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent™ Rating, the highest possible rating for legal ability and ethical standards.
January 19, 2015 -- David I. Karp is one of Southern California's Top Rated Lawyers of 2014, in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution, as shown on page 46 of the publication of the same name available at http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/law/southcalifornia_TRL.pdf .
January 7, 2015 -- David I. Karp is delighted to announce that, to assist the public in learning more about mediation, and to augment his continuing private and independent mediation practice, he is now on the mediation panel of the Valley Bar Mediation Center.
November 29, 2014 -- 35th anniversary of admission to the State Bar of California.
October 23, 2014 -- Mediator David I. Karp was notified today that, as in prior years, he has earned for 2015 the Martindale-Hubbell® AV Preeminent™ Rating, the highest possible rating for legal ability and ethical standards.
October 16, 2014 -- Consistent with the aims and ideals of the American Bar Association’s National Pro Bono Celebration (October 20-25, 2014), David I. Karp has again renewed his commitment to provide pro bono or low-cost time for mediation for litigants of demonstrated limited means. This reflects Mr. Karp’s long standing commitment to social justice and his belief that every lawyer has a professional responsibility to provide such services in appropriate circumstances.
October 9, 2014 -- David I. Karp was pleased to learn today that his name will be included in the November publication of “Southern California’s Top Rated Lawyers of 2014,” which will be distributed with the Los Angeles Times. In the 2013 publication, Mr. Karp’s name was included under the specialty heading of “Alternative Dispute Resolution.”
August 20, 2014 -- Along with a select group of mediators from several other States, David I. Karp attended an excellent one-day program in Seattle on managing the multi-party mediation. The fact pattern that was analyzed involved six sides to the dispute, very complex, very challenging, and ultimately very useful for the larger cases.
April 30, 2014 -- So nice to receive email, as I did the other day, saying, "Thank you, Mr. Karp. You were a great help in managing my client's expectations."
April 24, 2014 -- Gratified to hear this after a recent business mediation: “Not only did you help us to settle our dispute, you also helped us to restore our friendship.”
March 17, 2014 -- Please note my new business address and phone number!
January 1, 2014 -- As 2014 begins, fees and charges for mediation services will remain as they were in 2013. Happy New Year!
November 29, 2013 -- Swearing In Ceremony to practice law 34 years ago today!
October 17, 2013 -- David I. Karp is delighted to report that American Lawyer Media and Martindale-Hubbell™ have sent congratulations to him on being selected as a ‘2013 Top Rated Lawyer in Real Estate.' Also, he is very proud to say that he has received notice that his AV-Preeminent Rating continues for 2014.
September 19, 2013 -- David I. Karp is delighted to announce that, to augment his continuing real estate mediation practice, he is now on the mediation panel of the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® Real Estate Mediation Center for Consumers.
September 18, 2013 -- As a program panelist, David I. Karp is pleased to promote a joint program of the Beverly Hills Bar Association and the Southern California Mediation Association on October 2, 2013, entitled "Resolving Cases Without the Court's ADR Program -- What do Lawyers do now?"
May 24, 2013 -- David I. Karp continues to "blog" at http://karpmediation.wordpress.com/ and is pleased to announce that today he published his 100th blog post there.
May 7, 2013 -- As the era of court mediations for the Los Angeles Superior Court now comes to a close, my records show that I have conducted 595 mediations just for the Los Angeles Superior Court (2,388 hours at the mediation table) since December 2003. Amazing.
April 9, 2013 -- David I. Karp is pleased to announce that he has been designated as a "Principal Mediator" by "The Mediator Registry." Also, through the "random assignment" feature of The Mediator Registry, Mr. Karp is available at lesser cost, in smaller cases filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court, to assure access to mediation.
March 6, 2013 -- The text of an email received today: "Thank you for your valuable assistance in getting this matter resolved. I was truly impressed with your skill as a mediator...." Brightened up the whole day for me!
January 28, 2013 -- Due to recently changed market conditions, I have updated my fees and charges for private mediation. More information is available on the "About Us" page of this website.
January 24, 2013 - A recent "thank you" letter from a satisfied attorney/participant in private mediation was added with permission to the "Letters" page of this website.
January 7, 2013 - In her "Statement by Presiding Judge on the Court's Reorganization Plan, as published in the January 2013 edition of Valley Lawyer by the San Fernando Valley Bar Association, Judge Lee Smalley Edmon advises that the Los Angeles Superior Court anticipates eliminating "all non-mandatory elements of the Court's Alternative Dispute Resolution Programs" by June 30, 2013. To help others transition to private mediation, David I. Karp does not charge for the fourth hour of mediation as a courtesy.
November 29, 2012 -- Today, David I. Karp celebrates the 33rd anniversary of his admission to the State Bar of California!
November 20, 2012 -- In lieu of holiday greeting cards this year, David I. Karp made the following donations in honor of his friends, family, colleagues and business contacts: (1) to the Emergency Response Campaign of the American Friends of Magen David Adom, for victims of rocket attacks in Israel; and (2) to the Disaster Relief Fund of the American Red Cross, for victims of Superstorm Sandy. In the tradition of Tikkun Olam ("Repairing the World"), best wishes for peace, contentment, good health and well being for each of us and for all those in distress in our communities and around the world.
November 3/4, 2012 -- David I. Karp immensely enjoyed two days of intensive, advanced mediation training this week via the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution of the Pepperdine University School of Law and the American Institute of Mediation/Southern California Mediation Association.
April 16, 2012 -- Today, David I. Karp completed his transition from semi-retirement in Scouting to full retirement. It has been a very worthwhile experience, and now it's someone else's turn.
April 2, 2012 -- Now there's a Facebook PBage for David I. Karp, Mediation Services, too. See if you "like" it.
March 9, 2012 -- David I. Karp continues to volunteer for the benefit of young people in the community. Last eventing, Karp enjoyed assisting the UCLA Alumni
Scholars Club, and participated in its annual career event, by speaking to UCLA undergrads about his careers in law and mediation.
December 11, 2011 -- In lieu of holiday greeting cards and such, David I. Karp has made year-end donations this week, to Temple Beth Hillel (Reform) Boy
Scout Troop 36 and to The UCLA Foundation, in honor of counsel and their clients and colleagues and friends. Best wishes for the holiday season and a Happy New Year.
November 13, 2011 -- This month, David I. Karp's mediation practice is listed first in the Courtroom Resource Guide of California Lawyer magazine (November 2011, p. 59). This was also announced on the Blog of David I. Karp, which has many other entries as well at http://karpmediation.wordpress.com .
June 10, 2011 -- Uncle Teddy suggested that I start blogging. For awhile, I will try adding text on my blog rather than here. We'll see how this
goes. The address of the blog is http://karpmediation.wordpress.com/
June 6, 2011 -- David I. Karp begins a lifetime of kvelling about his daughter's marriage on June 5, 2011, to a most wonderful young man. The
family is elated.
April 22, 2011 -- [This entry and the others preceding it, going back to 2009, have been deleted as ancient history.]