Speaker:       Brandon Peters

Topic:             The Art of Negotiation for Legal Administrators

Brandon Peters has successfully mediated complex disputes involving nearly 500 parties. He enjoys the challenge of cases in which one or more participants are considered “difficult” by their opponents.

He brings more than two decades of experience as a highly respected civil litigator to his mediation practice. As an attorney, his clients included numerous well-known lawyers and judges.

During mediation, Brandon usually avoids the “soft approach” because he knows it is critical to identify weaknesses and tell each party the truth – even when the truth is unpleasant. Only then can the parties negotiate from the same script with a realistic view of their relative risks and a working awareness of the full spectrum of possible outcomes.

“I work differently,” Brandon says. “I challenge the status quo to achieve better outcomes. I do that by focusing on the people involved in a mediation conference before I focus on the issues. It is important to know my audience and to know what factors – emotional or otherwise – may be driving negotiations. This helps me do my job more effectively.”

His mediation clients characterize him as “firm but friendly.” That style is based on his knowledge that three factors intersect in nearly every dispute: financial interests, human feelings and the law. The more complex a dispute, the more difficult is a mediator’s task of identifying and separating those factors. “Like the game of Jenga,” Brandon says, “you have to be very careful which pieces you pull out and when.”

Brandon and his wife, Stacey, love the outdoors. They especially enjoy spending time with their five boys, four dogs and a cat in the Gulf Hammock region of Florida, near Cedar Key. For fun, they hike, cook, garden and participate in the shooting sports. Brandon is an insatiable reader on a relentless quest for personal growth and professional development.

Professional Education and Qualifications

• J.D. University of Virginia, 1992
• A.B. Princeton University (cum laude) Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, 1989
• Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator
• Florida Supreme Court Certified Appellate Mediator
• Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator
• American Arbitration Association National Roster of Mediators
• Certified US District Court Mediator, Middle District of Florida
• Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Arbitrator
• Florida Qualified Arbitrator

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