Alice Graham Mediation and Law

03/05/2025

California civil litigators, beware of the language in new Judicial Council mediation form ADR200. More to come on this.

10/19/2022

Our new website is live. Visit us at

We are a boutique law firm in Marina Del Rey, California, with emphasis on real estate transactions, civil appeals and mediation. Ms. Graham has practiced law in all aspects of real estate for over 30 years. Ms. Graham’s law practice focuses on real estate transactions, title and rights to real pr...

06/02/2022

Former American darling and presidential hopeful Michael Avenatti was just sentenced to four years in jail for defrauding Stormy Daniels and taking money that was hers. He represented himself at trial. Ouch. He has another conviction and yet another pending trial on top of this. Ouch again.

03/30/2022

The Los Angeles Daily Journal recently published an article I co-wrote with Jan Frankel Schau, "Leveling the Playing Field through Mediation: Tips and Strategies for Small and Solo Firms Mediating in a Post-Pandemic Era". If you'd like me to send you a copy, please send me a private message with your email address.

03/23/2022

Litigator friends, looking for some useful MCLE? Check out this one-hour program on mediation insights I am presenting with Jan Schau and Marina Kats Fraigun on April 6.

Learn how small and sole practitioners can harness the power of on-line mediation. From persuasive briefs to preparing your mediator, your client and your opposing counsel, you will achieve better results and gain confidence and competence.

07/08/2021

SQUATTERS, WATCH OUT!

The California Court of Appeal, Fifth District, recently held that a lender’s foreclosure can wipe out a squatter’s claim of title by adverse possession. The squatters took possession of real property on June 28, 2013. The lender foreclosed on the record title holders and took title by trustee’s deed which recorded almost five years later, on April 12, 2018. Shortly thereafter, claiming adverse possession of the property for five years, the squatters claimed to have title on that basis.

The court disagreed. The claim of adverse possession was not hostile as to the lender until the lender took title in 2018. Before that, the lender’s position was a non-possessory interest as lien holder, so the squatter’s possession was not adverse to the lender. The squatter’s possession did not become adverse to the lender until the lender took title and became the owner. Bailey v. Citibank, decided 7/6/21, 2021 Cal.App. Lexis 560

05/11/2021

How Not to Be an Arbitrator
If you want to know how not to be an arbitrator, see Grabowski v. Kaiser, decided 4/19/21, Court of Appeal 4th District no. D076968.
As it turns out, the arbitrator is not supposed to joke ex parte with defendant's lawyer about how awful plaintiff is handling her case, and not tell plaintiff about the secret communication.
Obvi, you think? Not to that arbitrator.
Also, as dicta but the appellate court thought it important enough to mention, if the arbitrator has arbitrated for defendants a couple of times, the arbitrator is supposed to disclose that information to the plaintiff.
If your arbitrator does any of this, you might be able to get the arbitrator's decision thrown out..
P.S. Per fn 3 in the opinion, it was defendant's lawyer's error in judgment that led to this decision. And that's how we get these nice opinions.

06/01/2017

Calling all immigration lawyers, tax lawyers and all interested others! Santa Monica Bar Association announces its monthly First Friday Lunch on June 2 on International Legal and Tax Aspects of U.S-EU Estate and Trust Planning with Marco Q. Rossi.

Marco is an Italian-born Tax and Estate Planning Attorney with offices in Genoa, New York, Miami Beach, Beverly Hills, and Milan.

The speaker is a brilliant attorney with relationships within Italy's international business community. He has presented on this subject to the Arizona State Bar.

The lunch event is at at Inotheke Restaurant, 606 Broadway, Santa Monica. The event will be from 12 to 1:30 p.m. One hour MCLE.

Register at: http://www.smba.net/event-2542628

Marco Q. Rossi & Associati (MQR&A) is a innovative boutique international law firm based in Italy and the U.S. specialized in legal and tax advice to global-minded business and individual clients engaged in cross border investments or business transactions, including cross-border Joint Ventures and…

11/03/2016

Join the Santa Monica Bar Association this Friday on EPA Civil Enforcement Actions. If you own, buy or sell real property, find out about the Environmental Protection Agency: what your real estate broker can't tell you. The EPA Director for our region will be our speaker.

Here's the link: http://smba.net/event-2245776

01/19/2016

Score one for borrowers. In a recent decision, the California Court of Appeal found that the borrower properly stated a cause of action for wrongful foreclosure where the lender failed to meet with the borrower to try to work out a loan modification, foreclosed while supposedly considering modification of the loan, and falsely claimed the borrower did not submit requested documents. The appellate court easily could have gone the other way because the borrower failed to name a necessary party and failed to make essential allegations. But the court kept its eye on the ball, and found those deficiencies were easily corrected by amendment. Majd v. Bank of America, California Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 3, no. G050250, filed 12/21/15 and partially certified for publication on January 9, 2016.

11/03/2015

In a new Second District case, the court agreed the appeal was frivolous, but respondent asked for such an unreasonable amount of attorney's fees as sanctions for having to respond to the frivolous appeal (around 20 times what they should have asked for), that the court just said no. Motion denied, sanctions denied.

The court quoted the California Supreme Court which reasoned, in an earlier case, ‘If . . . the Court were required to award a reasonable fee when an outrageously unreasonable one has been asked for, claimants would be encouraged to make unreasonable demands, knowing that the only unfavorable consequence of such misconduct would be reduction of their fee to what they should have asked for in the first place.’ Olive Properties v. Coldwaters Ent., Ct. of App. Case No. B261105. Moral: don't be a jerk.

Reasonable people sidestep the entire morass by going to mediation instead.

12/01/2013