Resume

Debra Bogaards, Esq. has served as a private mediator for over five years, as well as a mandatory settlement conference officer in San Francisco for over five years and in Marin County for almost 30 years. She has successfully mediated hundreds of cases with a consistent settlement rate well above 98%. Ms. Bogaards has an advantage and presents a clear balanced point of view, having represented both plaintiffs and defendants in her career.

Ms. Bogaards’ subject matter expertise includes matters brought as an individual as well as multi-party actions covering the full range of employment matters; catastrophic injury and wrongful death; toxic tort; sexual abuse, Uber cases, as well as landlord-tenant disputes including wrongful eviction and breach of the covenant of habitability, such as mold and carbon-monoxide exposure.

In terms of employment matters, Ms. Bogaards has handled a wide array of issues such as wage and hour, discrimination (all protected classes, including maternity leave, age, race, disability accommodation, sexual harassment), retaliation, wrongful termination, whistleblowing, defamation, fraud and reductions in work force.

As to personal injury, Ms. Bogaards managed two insurance defense firms for almost 25 years, so she understands how claims representatives set reserves, review and roundtable cases to determine their value with team managers at headquarters as well as how to get more money than their settlement authority at mediation. Debra has also practiced on the plaintiff’s side, overlapping with her defense work, for 15 years, and handled solely plaintiff’s work for over five years. In a personal injury case, she understands how to calculate the Howell medical specials, how to analyze a wage loss/income loss claim, how to review a life care plan as well as other economic damages. She can discuss the retention of various experts and trial budgets. Understanding the basics after almost 40 mostly successful jury trials helps Ms. Bogaards be an effective mediator.

Ms. Bogaards is warm, compassionate, and empathetic but also straightforward, direct and no nonsense. She can discuss with the attorney or the party directly the strengths and weaknesses in their case, in a polite, respectful, and professional manner. She is able to get experienced trial attorneys to listen, as they respect her years in the trenches. Ms. Bogaards has the grit, perseverance, and dogged determination to get your case settled.

As a mediator, Ms. Bogaards has earned a reputation as a quick study capable of identifying the key issues in the heart of a dispute. A “secret” of her success as a mediator is her thorough preparation before the mediation itself. She will review your mediation brief and all exhibits (such as excerpted deposition transcripts, medical records, investigations, inspections, witness statements, videos, photos, financial statements). During your pre-mediation phone conference, be prepared to discuss your case’s strengths and weaknesses in detail. Ms. Bogaards may give you homework, to obtain more documentary evidence, updated liens, etc. In the event that your case doesn’t settle at the hearing, Ms. Bogaards will at no extra cost continue to have phone calls and follow up until the case does settle.

PERSONAL INJURY: motor vehicle accidents; bicycle and motorcycle accidents; pedestrian accidents; train accidents; public entity liability; premises liability; trip and fall; traumatic brain injury (TBI); sexual abuse; dog bite; product liability; wrongful death and catastrophic injury; psychological injury. 

LANDLORD/TENANT: habitability issues arising from noise, mold, vermin, heating, plumbing, roof leaks, and electrical; inadequate repairs; constructive evictions; multi-unit buildings.

EMPLOYMENT: sexual harassment; wrongful termination; retaliation; discrimination (across all protected classes); failure to accommodate.

SEXUAL ABUSE: by teachers and coaches in a school district; religious leaders in a church; peer on peer abuse in a residential home for teenage students.

ELDER NEGLECT AND ABUSE: failure to provide medication; failure to prevent bed sores leading to the death of the patient.

ADR Services, Inc.    2024-Present
Full-time mediator and arbitrator specializing in resolving Personal Injury, Landlord/Tenant, Employment, Sexual Abuse, and Elder Abuse disputes.

UC Law San Francisco’s Center for Negotiation & Dispute Resolution    2023-Present
Adjunct Faculty teaching “Negotiation and Settlement” class.

Bogaards Law    2017-2023
Solo practice on behalf of plaintiffs in personal injury, wrongful death, landlord/tenant, medical malpractice, sexual abuse, elder abuse, toxic tort and employment law.

Pave & Bogaards and Bogaards Davis    1994-2017
Managing Partner and Senior Trial Attorney handling insurance defense and plaintiffs’ work.

Associate with Various Insurance Defense Firms    1983-1993

Holman Fenwick (London) and Loeff & Van De Plufg (The Netherlands)    1982-1983
Post-J.D. law student in Salzburg, Austria as well as clerkships at two maritime firms.

• Harvard Advanced Mediation Training    2019
• Certificate of International Law, McGeorge School of Law, Salzburg, Austria    1983
• J.D., University of California College of the Law, San Francisco    1981
• B.S. in Accounting & Finance, University of California at Berkeley    1978