Bracketing in Civil Mediation: Breaking Impasse and Closing Cases

Michael B. Murphy, Mediator & Arbitrator | JAMS

Michael B. Murphy is a mediator, arbitrator, court-appointed neutral (referee/special master) and neutral evaluator with JAMS, with home offices in San Francisco and Northern California. An internationally recognized attorney, he brings more than 40 years of experience in matters ranging from straightforward to complex and high-value, across the United States and abroad, spanning insurance, construction, professional liability, personal injury, mass tort, energy, entertainment, sports, class action, and international and cross-border disputes. His participation in alternative dispute resolution over four decades reaches back to the very genesis of modern ADR practice.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Murphy earned his J.D. from the University of Santa Clara School of Law in 1983 and his B.A. from the University of Santa Clara in 1980. He was admitted to the State Bar of California and the State Bar of Indiana in 1984 and holds the AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell.

• Recognition & Leadership

Before joining JAMS, Mr. Murphy served as chair of Severson & Werson’s Insurance Practice Group and as the firm’s General Counsel and Risk Managing Shareholder. Clients routinely engaged him as monitoring counsel for neutral, honest case evaluations independent of defense counsel, and he was particularly sought out to resolve high-profile, media-sensitive and politically sensitive matters requiring discretion.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. Murphy has presented internationally on insurance and catastrophic-loss topics, including “California Wildfires and Inverse Condemnation” at the 8th Annual Bermuda Insurance Market Conference of the Bermuda Insurance Institute (2018) and a session on the producing broker’s role in catastrophic and mass tort events at TechAssure’s International Members’ Conference in Baden-Baden, Germany (2018).

• Experience

Mr. Murphy practiced at Severson & Werson from 1987 to 2025, following positions at Tabbert & Capehart and as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of Indiana. His work has included coordinated mass tort proceedings arising from the San Bruno underground gas pipeline explosion, utility-related wildfires in California, Oregon, Texas, Colorado and Oklahoma, some of the largest natural-resource damages claims in the history of California and Alaska, a billion-dollar construction-related professional liability claim in Australia, and insurance and reinsurance disputes across the U.S., European, London, Bermuda/offshore and Asia-Pacific markets, including numerous Lloyd’s of London syndicates. He has served as mediator, arbitrator, and Superior Court– and federal court–appointed special master, resolving dozens of bodily injury claims as a neutral.

Diana Maier, AWI-CH, Founding Partner and Co-Owner | Maier Law Group

Diana Maier is the founding partner and co-owner of Maier Law Group in San Rafael, California. She is a skilled mediator and a recognized expert in employment law, workplace and educational-institution (Title IX) investigations — which she conducts in both English and Spanish — and executive coaching and training. Her negotiation instincts were shaped by a distinctive path: before law school she worked on Capitol Hill as a foreign policy aide to Congressman Henry Waxman and as a legislative aide and lobbyist, and after law school she served as a public defender with trial results above county acquittal rates in both felony and misdemeanor court.

• Education & Credentials

Ms. Maier earned her J.D. from Stanford Law School and her B.S. in Foreign Service, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University. She holds the Association of Workplace Investigators certificate (AWI-CH), a 40-hour mediation training certificate, the Northern District of California mediator’s training, Title IX investigation and hearing officer training, and over 100 hours of coaching fundamentals coursework at the Coaches Training Institute. She was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1998 and to the U.S. District Courts for the Northern District of California (2003) and Central District of California (2021).

• Recognition & Leadership

From 2022 to 2025, Ms. Maier was named a Northern California “Super Lawyer” for employment law and mediation, an honor reserved for the top five percent of attorneys in the region. She was named Solo & Small Firm Attorney of the Month by the California Lawyers Association in September 2021, and in 2024 was elected to the Board of Directors of Marin Water. She also created the Joy in the Law® conferences held in 2016 and 2018.

• Professional Involvement

Ms. Maier received mediation training from The Center for Understanding In Conflict and serves as an empaneled mediator for the Northern District of California. She also mediates privately and through the Central District of California, the Contra Costa County and Alameda County Superior Courts, and the San Mateo Bar Association fee dispute panel. She is the current chair of the Marin County Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section and past chair of its Labor and Employment Section, a member of the Association of Workplace Investigators and Queen’s Bench, and a past board chair of OneJustice’s Resource Development Committee.

• Experience

Ms. Maier’s practice spans mediation, workplace and Title IX investigations, employment advice and counsel, and executive coaching — including coaching leaders on professional image and efficacy, particularly after allegations of harassment or discrimination. She is known as an effective advocate and strategist, recognized for achieving strong results on limited budgets and for explaining the law in plain terms rather than legalese.

SESSION 1 – Mediation: From Beginning to Bracketing | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

This session offers a comprehensive walkthrough of the mediation process, from initial consideration through the negotiation strategies that drive resolution. Attendees will gain a clear understanding of what mediation is—and, just as importantly, what it is not—along with practical guidance on identifying the scenarios in which mediation should be considered as a path to resolving a dispute. The presentation will explore the benefits of mediation as an alternative to litigation, including cost savings, efficiency, confidentiality, and party control over outcomes. Attention will be paid to effective preparation for both counsel and clients, covering best practices for mediation briefing and the strategic presentation of exhibits. Finally, the program will demystify the mechanics of the mediation event itself, walking attendees through how a typical mediation day unfolds—from opening sessions and private caucuses to bracketing and other negotiation techniques used to bridge the gap and reach settlement.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 2 – Mastering Brackets: A Strategic Guide to Bracketed Negotiation in Mediation | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

This session is designed to teach attorneys and mediators how to effectively use brackets in settlement mediations. It begins by defining what brackets are and then explains how brackets can help narrow settlement gaps, when brackets are best used, and the pitfalls of brackets. The presentation breaks down the less accessible parts of brackets, such as tracking midpoints vs. endpoints, figuring out who proposes a bracket, who moves next, etc. so that attorneys who wish to use brackets no longer need to be intimidated by them. Finally, the presentation will also cover the mechanics of blind/confidential brackets and give attorneys many practical takeaways that will increase their fluency with this very valuable mediation tool.