PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

Charlotte Venner is an experienced mediator, having mediated hundreds of cases to closure, involving personal injury, wrongful death, property damage, construction, real estate, probate, insurance and employment disputes. She is accomplished at analyzing litigation strategies and possesses strong conflict resolution and leadership skills. She has a firm grounding in facilitative mediation and extensive litigation experience, representing both plaintiffs and defendants. For six years she worked primarily representing plaintiffs in personal injury, employment and real estate matters. Then, as the Managing Trial Attorney for a large casualty insurance carrier for eleven years, she worked with all levels of insurance claims, personally assessing the risks and benefits associated with proceeding to trial on cases ranging in exposure from zero to several million dollars. This combination of plaintiff’s and defense litigation experience, plus her extensive mediation process training and experience, make Ms. Venner keenly able to maintain control of negotiations and facilitate resolution of cases. Her mediation style assures the parties assess the strengths and weaknesses of each side’s case, and then weigh the costs, risks and benefits of proceeding to trial, versus settlement. Oftentimes, she is able to assist the parties in creating options not previously addressed. Ms. Venner conducts her mediations at a location that is convenient to the parties and does not charge for travel time to and from any session held in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Ms. Venner began practicing law in 1982. In addition to her experience as a mediator, she has extensive experience personally representing both plaintiffs and defendants in cases through jury verdict in the state and federal courts. She has successfully represented clients in complex and high exposure personal injury and wrongful death cases alleging products liability and toxic exposures, premises and public entity liability and negligent hiring. She also has extensive experience with complex medical causation and damage issues, as well as catastrophic work-site accidents and major injury auto and commercial vehicle accidents. Many of these cases alleged catastrophic mechanical failure or involved conflicting liability opinions after accident reconstruction, issues arising out of contract interpretation or indemnity, insurance coverage disputes, apportionment, or successor liability. She has also prosecuted and defended employment and partnership disputes, as well as trust, probate and elder law matters.

A significant part of Ms. Venner’s legal practice experience also involved construction defect, earth movement, trespass and nuisance, damage to trees, arson and other property damage cases. Many of these cases involved disputes between design professionals, developers, general contractors and subcontractors. This, plus her experience with real estate purchase and sales disputes, including disclosure, fraud, title and partition disputes, makes her keenly able to manage negotiations in a wide array of property related matters.

Ms. Venner is a panelist on each of the San Francisco Bay Area Superior Court mediation provider panels and the Appellate Mediation Panel for the First District Court of Appeal. Also, she is the past Chairman of the Marin County Bar Association Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution. Ms. Venner, her husband and their daughter live in Mill Valley, CA.

EDUCATION AND BAR MEMBERSHIP