Sidney Kanazawa, Esq.

Sidney Kanazawa, Esq.

Mediator/Arbitrator

Sid Kanazawa is a mediator, arbitrator, trial lawyer, and bridge builder bringing people together even when it seems impossible. For over 40 years, he represented plaintiffs and defendants, locally, nationally, and internationally, in jury and non-jury trials, arbitrations, administrative proceedings, crises, mediations, and negotiations.

Sid builds bridges to take parties from anger and distrust to curiosity and hope. In the largest oil spill in the Port of Los Angeles, Sid quelled an angry mob and settled 600 claims within two weeks of the spill and all 2,000+ within three months. For plaintiffs and defendants, he has resolved multi-million matters over lunch and wrote about it in a 2004 article entitled, "Apologies and Lunch" which has been republished multiple times. Recently, at the Edelman Children's Court, he has engaged parents negotiating their parenting time and has converted their long-standing hate, anger, and distrust into solid agreements in nearly 100% of the mediations he has handled.


ORGANIZATIONS & ACHIEVEMENTS

  • General Counsel, National Asian Pacific Bar Association, 2007-2017
  • Recipient, Diversity and Inclusion Award, Litigation Counsel of America, 2019
  • Named "Most Influential Minority Attorneys," Los Angeles Business Journal, 2018
  • Recipient, McGuireWoods, Diversity & Inclusion Excellence Award, 2017
  • Board Member, Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., 2015-2018
  • Board Member, Japanese American Bar Association, 2014-16
  • Recipient, President's Award, National Asian Pacific Bar Association, 2014
  • Recipient, G. Duffield Smith Outstanding Publication Award, DRI, 2007
  • Chair, Vice Chair, Program Chair, Trial Tactics Committee, DRI, 2005-2010
  • Named to "Southern California Super Lawyers," Class Action, Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters, 2004-2019
  • Prolific speaker, panelist, instructor and author on a wide range of topics for legal organizations and publications nationwide, including diversity and inclusion; product liability, mass casualty and cross-border dispute resolution; and negotiation, deposition and trial skills

PRACTICE AREAS

Matters involving admiralty, anti-trust, business/contract, class action, construction defect, education, employment, entertainment, environmental, family law, government, intellectual property, manufacturing, natural disasters, personal injury, product liability, real estate, sports medicine and more

EDUCATION & TRAINING

   J.D., University of Southern California Gould School of Law, 1978
   B.A., University of Hawaii, Education, 1974
   Harvard Program on Negotiation
   Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution (Pepperdine Law School)
   Southern California Family Mediation Program (Edelman Children's Court)
   Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center
   Los Angeles County Bar Association
   FINRA
   Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs Mediation Program (Stanley Mosk Superior Court)
   Dan Simon Transformative Mediation Program
   U.S. District Court, Central District of California Mediation Panel



Mr. Kanazawa is available nationwide.

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