SENG ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION SERVICES
Michael J. Seng U. S. Magistrate Judge, RetiredServices Offered
Arbitrator
Private Judge
Litigation Consultant
Discovery Referee
Seng Alternative Dispute Resolution Offers Litigants:
An individual with almost fifty years of litigation experience, ten as a Federal Judge, five as an Arbitrator, and thirty-three as a civil litigator.
An individual who genuinely enjoys presiding over expedited, abbreviated, cost-saving hearings and striving for fairness for all parties.
An individual particularly proud of his success in informally resolving discovery disputes and other law and motion challenges quickly and inexpensively.
An individual who sees arbitration as a way to enable all, not just large companies or the wealthy, to benefit from dispute resolution procedures far less overwhelming and expensive than state or federal court cases which linger for years.
In short, a qualified individual who strives to provide fair, expeditious and reasonably priced, cost-effective proceedings for all.
Examples?
While serving on the federal bench and as a private arbitrator, Judge Seng initiated methods to substantially reduce time spent on interim disputes and even trial without diminishing the quality of the procedure or the outcome. Virtually every discovery dispute he addressed during his years on the bench was resolved to the parties’ satisfaction after a thirty-minute conference call with the judge. Those not happy with the outcome were free to file a more formal motion, but few did. Moreover, Judge Seng has always made himself available on short notice—even in the midst of party depositions—to address and resolve conflicts before they become wars.
Judge Seng encourages the parties to consider time-saving alternatives to traditional trial procedures. He welcomes written opening statements and arguments and even direct hearing testimony (subject to live cross-examination). He will consolidate evidence and other procedures where the parties agree, particularly in mass arbitration cases against a single Respondent. (In presiding over a group of wrongful discharge employment cases, he allowed each of four different Claimants to present his/her unique facts and damage claims, and the Respondent, after cross-examining each Claimant, presented a single uniform defense to all. All four hearings were concluded in one and the same week.) In sum, Judge Seng is flexible and very receptive to novel arbitration procedures.
Why Choose Seng ADR
Three reasons stand out:
1. Judge Seng is exceptionally experienced and relishes digging into and deciding new and challenging issues and cases.
2. He strives to streamline and economize the arbitration process.
3. He sets out the reasoning behind his decisions simply, directly and thoroughly to enable litigants, not just counsel, to evaluate for fairness and accuracy.
First, Judge Seng offers a unique breadth of experience, acquired over thirty years of active civil litigation practice, ten years on the federal bench and five years as a private Judge/Arbitrator. The “About Seng ADR” page in this website identifies some of the many diverse areas in which he has litigated or judged.
As an Arbitrator Judge Seng’s focus has been on business disputes of all and every kind and the full range of employment-related cases. He also will accept the occasional Consumer Case if it presents unique factual or legal issues. However, what he, like most retired judges, brings to the arbitration table is experience taking on and resolving virtually any and all kinds of litigation, regardless of novelty and complexity. Judge Seng’s preference for the new and challenging was born of a private practice litigating professional errors and omissions issues in the legal, accounting, banking, and other fields, regardless of the specialty or sub-specialty involved. He relished being asked to – and being given the opportunity to — bring himself up to speed and address issues in entirely new areas of the law and other professional fields. He still does.
In short, Judge Seng truly enjoys serving as an Arbitrator. That enjoyment is his primary reason for taking on cases.
Next, from an arbitration management point of view, Judge Seng strongly endorses the concept that Arbitration exists to provide less formal, more expeditious and economical resolution of legal disputes. To that end, he reduces formal discovery by requiring full voluntary disclosure of evidence and witnesses (consistent with Federal Rule 26 (a) (1) (A) and California CCP 2016.090) within two to three weeks of the first scheduling conference and makes disclosure an ongoing obligation. Beyond that, recognizing that each case is unique, he invites agreement between the parties as to what discovery is truly necessary. Absent agreement, he will err in the direction of limiting discovery.
He also substantially reduces the time and expense of formal law and motion activity by forbidding the filing of any motion without first convening an informal conference to try to identify an agreed alternative; this effort has been successful in well over 90% of his cases both on and off the bench.
Further, he encourages setting and holding the final, dispositive, hearing within nine months of the initial conference, and, in all events, within 60 days of the close of discovery. He discourages extending hearing dates except where all parties agree. Finally, he is open to party proposals for speeding up hearings, to include written openings and arguments, written presentation of testimony (subject to in person cross examination), and consolidation of evidence and briefing where appropriate.
On the final note, Judge Seng delays making final decisions on an issue or case until he has laid out in simple English the facts and arguments on both sides. He does so to ensure he has weighed all significant evidence and positions fairly. He includes that summary in his decisions so that even litigants without legal experience can understand his reasoning and judge for themselves its accuracy and fairness.