Jeffrey M Batchelor

Jeff Batchelor is a full time mediator and arbitrator. In a career spanning more than 35 years, he has established himself as one of the preeminent appellate lawyers in the Northwest. Jeff still reserves time to counsel his colleagues and select clients on appeals and appellate matters, but most of his energy is channeled to the craft of mediation and the skill of arbitrating civil cases.

Drawing on his diverse appellate background and his experience as a pro tem circuit judge, Jeff began mediating cases in 1995, six years after he arbitrated his first case in 1989. He has served as a special master in Oregon’s U.S. District Court and as a discovery referee in Multnomah County, Oregon Circuit Court. Jeff is listed in Oregon Super Lawyers for Alternative Dispute Resolution and was named the Portland Alternative Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year byThe Best Lawyers in America. He is also recognized by The Best Lawyers in America as a top attorney in Appellate Law, Commercial Litigation, and Personal Injury Litigation. These listings are based on the opinions of Jeff’s peers.

Jeff has mediated hundreds of cases across a broad spectrum of litigation, principally in the commercial setting. In addition to having mediated personal injury cases on occasion, Jeff has confronted a wide variety of contract issues, business torts, real estate transactions gone wrong, and employment disputes, including wage and hour class actions and employment discrimination claims.

Jeff stresses that his job as a mediator is first to provide a forum for litigants to tell their story to a neutral party. Providing this opportunity is particularly important in cases where there is an imbalance of power, real or perceived, between or among the parties.

Seasoned lawyers know that no case is perfect, and Jeff helps both the experienced lawyer and novice alike educate both their clients and their adversaries to the risks they will face in court or in arbitration. His ability to stay with the case until it is resolved sets him apart from others in the crowded field of mediators.

Jeff arbitrates the same kinds of cases he mediates. In contrast to other arbitrators, he permits the parties to try their case, not his. Those who have arbitrated with Jeff know that he is a patient and careful listener, that he understands the law and follows the evidence.

In the mid-1960s, Jeff attended Brigham Young University and Oklahoma State University on wrestling scholarships, and he competed in the 1968 Olympic trials. A native Oregonian, Jeff returned to the state in 1969 to attend law school at Willamette University, where he was a member of the Willamette Law Review. Jeff practiced law with David Markowitz and Barrie Herbold, the founding members of the firm, in the early 1980s. He joined Markowitz, Herbold, Glade & Mehlhaf in 2000.