“Mediation should not be a push to settle, but to make the most educated decision possible about what to do next.”
Michael Kelsheimer mediates complex business and employment disputes. He brings to that work 25 years as a litigator who sat on both sides of the table, which means he has been in every chair in the room.
Lawyers who work with Michael know he has read the briefs, understands the exposure, and will not waste their time. His experience in the courtroom and in the boardroom gives him a working knowledge of what disputes cost, what they are worth, and what it actually takes to resolve them, for the lawyers and for the businesses behind them. Where some mediators seek a “W” for themselves in the form of a settled case, Michael’s only interest is whether the parties are satisfied with their decision about how they will proceed when they leave mediation.
Michael trained as a mediator at Pepperdine University’s Straus Institute, and what he encountered there changed the direction of his practice. Exposed to the behavioral psychology of decision-making for the first time, he went all in. He spent years studying the field from every angle: the cognitive science, the negotiation research, the empirical data on how people get stuck in high-stakes decisions and why even reasonable people walk away from reasonable outcomes. That work led to a presentation to the Advanced Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas and a forthcoming article on decision science in the ABA Litigation Journal. In mediation, he uses those frameworks not as theory but as working tools, to help parties see their situation clearly and make the most educated decision available to them.
Before practicing, Michael served as a briefing attorney for the Honorable Sam R. Cummings of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, an early education in how disputes look from the bench rather than counsel table. He is also the author of the Texas Employer Handbook, a plain-English guide to employment law for business owners.
The same instinct that sent him deep into behavioral psychology shows up everywhere. He time trials racing cars and studies military history, not just what happened, but why decisions were made the way they were, and what changed when they weren’t. It is the same question he brings into every mediation.
Experience
Commercial Litigation
- Trade secret disputes, from large-scale data theft across multiple states to disputes over recreating a former employer’s business
- Ownership and partnership disputes, among business partners who must remain together and those working to extract themselves from each other
- Contract disputes, employment agreements, leases, and complex multi-party commercial arrangements
Employment
- FLSA litigation, minimum wage, overtime, and collective actions
- Discrimination claims, prosecution and defense at all stages, across protected classes, in state and federal courts
- Non-compete and trade secret litigation, non-competition, non-solicitation, TUTSA, DTSA, and related claims in both expedited and extended proceedings
- Executive compensation and employment agreements
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