BENNETT ROOT
Bennett Root
Executive Director of the Mediation Center of Los Angeles
Bennett (Ben) Root serves the community as a mediator, arbitrator, and fact finder. As a neutral, Ben is able to marshal years of legal and business experience to assist businesses and individuals in resolving disputes discreetly through negotiations or mediations, and when needed, to decide contested issues through arbitration. In appropriate cases, for example when harassment is an issue, Ben serves as an independent and neutral fact investigator to help bring contested matters to a fair and balanced resolution.
ADR/Mediation Experience
Bennett Root has over 40 years’ experience as an advocate, a negotiator, and a counsellor at law. Ben has refined the skills and techniques that make him a master at resolution of disputes—business and commercial disputes, labor and employment disputes, personal, public interest, and community disputes. He is trained, certified, experienced, and highly skilled.
• Current Executive Director for the Mediation Center of Los Angeles
• Mediator, Arbitrator & Fact Finder for Let’s Settle Now from 2022 to date
• Serving as a Mediator through the Riverside Superior Court from 2022 to date
Legal Experience
As a senior partner at a very large, international law firm, Ben tackled major disputes in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Washington DC. After his first retirement, he founded a small firm to represent dreamers, entrepreneurs and start-up businesses in Southern California. He was also a Partner at Nano Law Group from 2004-2022. He has developed and overseen implementation of dispute resolution processes for employers who wanted to maintain a positive work environment for their employees. Ben has been helping people resolve their disputes for his entire professional career.
In addition to his work as an attorney, Ben has served as a corporate CEO, as a Chief Legal Officer, and as a member of a business development and patent development teams. He has served on Boards of Directors for private and charitable organizations, including on the Board of Visitors for the Humanities Institute of the University of Michigan, and as a member of various Executive Committees for the California Bar and community organizations, including serving as a Commissioner and an Officer for Los Angeles County’s Mental Health Commission and Commission on Alcohol and Other Drugs.
Professional Affiliations
• American Bar Association (05816674) Active
• California Bar Association (045847) Active
• SCMA, 2022, Active
• Commissioner, Los Angeles County Mental Health Commission (Dept. of Mental Health)
• Commissioner, Los Angeles County Alcohol and Drug Commission (Dept. of Health Services)
• Board of Visitors, University of Michigan, Institute for Humanities 1976-1990
• Aspen Institute, Fellow 1985 to 1992
Dispute Resolution Training and Teaching
• J.D., Harvard University, cum laude
• LLM through Pepperdine University
• Certified 2023 – Harvard University Program on Negotiation
• Certified 2021 – 40 hours training through Mediate.com, DRPA compliant
• Certified – Dispute resolution: Mediating the Litigated Case
Education
• B.A, University of Michigan, Economics, with distinction
• J.D., Harvard University, cum laude
• LLM, Pepperdine University
• Certified 2021 – 40 hours training, Mediate.com, DRPA Compliant
• Various post graduate programs, including Straus Institute Dispute Resolution certificate, Comparative Labor Law at Oxford University, MBA, marketing at University of Phoenix, and Executive Program at Aspen Institute.