Rande Sotomayor - Approaching life with curiosity and kindness

With over 35 years of civil litigation, business, and dispute resolution experience, Rande Sotomayor takes a down-to-earth, common-sense approach to helping people solve problems and conflicts. Tenacious, intuitive, and with exceptional ability to perceive and manage the emotional component of any conflict, Rande’s approach delivers consistently excellent results.

With significant trial, arbitration, and appellate experience, Rande has helped parties resolve hundreds of disputes, with specialties in the following subjects: Real Estate, Personal injury, Insurance, Employment, Business, and Contracts.

Rande conducts MCLE programs on ADR, serves as a guest speaker for undergraduates and law students, and has taught and participated on panels for the U.S. District Court (C.D. Cal.) Mediator Panel, the Southern California Mediation Association, local bar and business associations, the Toronto Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and other professional groups.

Rande has transitioned from litigation attorney to mediator to afford parties the opportunity to settle their legal disputes before spending precious resources on fighting it out in court. She has transformed from a desk-bound sedentary person to an athletic mountain hiker and then mountain trail runner (including ultra-marathons), and then to mountain trail racer, beginning at age 56. With training and practice, Rande has evolved into an optimistic peacemaker who can’t help but constantly search for ways to manage inevitable conflict. She purports that we should not be surprised when conflict arises; we should be prepared to accept that it’s normal, and learn how to manage it.

Rande have been fortunate to participate as a professional mediator, judge, trainer, and team coach at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Commercial Mediation Competition in Paris from 2016 – present. Students from 66 law and business schools from around the world compete as advocates in commercial mediation proceedings. 130 professional mediators from around the world serve as mediators and judges in what is best described as a tournament. This year (2020) she also have served as a judge at the virtual Asia-Pacific Commercial Mediation Competition, run in a similar format. She has volunteered for these events because it is incredibly rewarding to see how mediation of commercial disputes is becoming more widespread and a “normal” process in the minds of future leaders who will be responsible for managing conflict in more productive and less expensive ways than through litigation. 

Rande's current passion is urging the world to see “kindness” as a strong tool for overcoming conflict by improving the quality of our communication and uncovering opportunities to collaborate. Her article entitled “It’s All about Us – How to Win with Kindness” can be found on Medium.com at https://medium.com/@rande_87451/its-all-about-us-how-to-win-with-kindness-64efd0e7d71?source=friends_link&sk=dcd52d31df8135ff5fb05c9d1a12dac9. 

Rande's motto: “Replace judgment with curiosity.”

Website: sotomayorlaw.com

Email: rande@sotomayorlaw.com

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Music

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