Services & Process
Mediating with Polaris Resolution means that you retain control over the outcome: no one is forced to settle, and you decide what an acceptable solution looks like.
Areas of practice
Contract disputes, partnership and shareholder conflicts, business divorces, buy-sell disagreements, and the breakdowns that follow a deal one side has outgrown. These cases turn on money and on relationships that often have to survive the resolution.
Trademark and brand conflicts, licensing and royalty disputes, ownership and assignment fights, and infringement matters where a public trial threatens the very asset in dispute. Mediation lets the parties protect the brand instead of gambling it on a verdict.
High-stakes civil disputes with several parties, competing interests, or intertwined claims, where the difficulty is as much in managing the room as in the merits. A neutral who can hold the whole board together keeps the process from collapsing into side-fights.
Disagreements over real property and the transfer of wealth, where relationships and long-held expectations are often as much at stake as the assets. Mediation resolves them privately, without the delay and public exposure of a court fight.
The best time to resolve a dispute is often before anyone files. Mediating early, while positions are still forming and legal spend is low, can preserve a working relationship and settle the matter before it hardens into a lawsuit.
It sometimes feels like there is no good time to extend a hand to an adversary, but there is usually value in a frank and confidential conversation. If a matter is stuck, expensive, or headed somewhere neither side actually wants, reach out. If mediation isn't right for your case, I'll say so.
The process
No mystery, no theater. The cases that resolve are the ones where the preparation was real and both sides came in clear-eyed about their own interests and preferred outcomes, not just the other side's.
Each side submits its position and key documents in confidence. I read them and prepare questions and thoughts to broaden perspective and set the stage to brainstorm solutions.
Short calls with each side to narrow the issues that actually decide the case and set aside the ones that only feel urgent. We agree on logistics, timing, and who needs to be in the room with authority to settle.
After a few opening remarks from me, positions get pressure-tested privately and honestly; the parties move from what they demanded to what they actually need. Nothing shared in caucus leaves it without permission.
When the parties reach agreement, the essential terms are committed to writing before anyone leaves, while the room is aligned. A signed term sheet on the day is a deal that survives second-guessing the day after.
Where a matter needs a short bridge to a final settlement agreement, I stay available to keep momentum until the ink is dry.
Formats & engagement
Sessions in person or remote in the Chicago region, or by secure video nationally, whichever best serves the matter and the parties.
A flat full-day rate of $7,000 and a half-day rate of $4,000, split between the parties. Preparation is built into the fee, not billed separately.
The fee is agreed before we begin and is not contingent on any outcome. The only time it changes is by advance agreement if there is an exceptionally voluminous record.
Tell me the matter and the parties. If mediation fits, we'll set a date and get to work.
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