Alternative Dispute Resolution
May 3, 2014
Shaaron A. Bangs
Attorneys praise Bangs for her toughness and ability to resolve construction disputes.
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Shaaron A. Bangs' status as a name partner was, for a brief time, intended to be a casualty when the firm where she was at years ago decided to merge with another. Then the other partners got a taste of how tough Bangs could be.
"I said, 'No, you're not taking my name off that,'" she said.
One reason for her insistence: "I wanted to have my granddaughter see my name on that firm."
Another reason? Bangs began practicing in the 1980s, when law was still very much a male-dominated profession, and, on top of that, she'd decided to focus her practice on construction. She had to fight to survive.
"You had men, contractors, who wanted to carry my briefcase for me," she said. "They were used to treating women a certain way."
Bangs was undeterred.
She brings that same determination to her mediation and arbitration work, lawyers say.
Dan Qualls, a Riverside attorney, brought a construction dispute to mediation before Bangs last year in which one of the parties was especially emotional.
"Shaaron was able to calm him down and get him to focus on the fact that there were two innocent parties here," Qualls said. "Plus, she got information we didn't get previously, even through discovery."
Barry Swan of Reynolds, Jensen & Swan LLP also praised Bangs for her ability to work through people's emotions, adding that she has a keen eye for facts. In a fee dispute arbitration he handled alongside Bangs, he said, the parties kept repeating their positions.
"She did a good job of letting them know ... that she understood the evidence and positions they'd already taken," Swan said.
Bangs said she believes her ability to identify with business owners involved in contracting and construction allows her to develop trust with parties quickly.
"You have the experience of what happens in the industry," she said. "I understood those issues and could discuss those issues with the separate parties."
Additionally, Bangs said, years of working through contract disputes has helped her understand how easy it is for honest disagreements to arise.
"Contract documents can be vague," Bangs said.
Resolving disputes should be about salvaging a relationship, not settling a score, she said.
Contractors' work is often regional and interdependent. "It's OK to have a legitimate dispute but it shouldn't destroy their relationship."
After 25 years in practice, Bangs said she got into mediation and arbitration, first as a solo in Riverside and last year with IVAMS Arbitration and Mediation Services in Rancho Cucamonga, because she wanted to focus on settling rather than fighting.
"Mediation these days is really the practical thing. The cost of litigation is so outrageous," she said. "You win the case, get the judgment and, a week later, you get the bankruptcy case. The loser shuts down the business, and you can't get a settlement."
More important, Bangs said, she hopes her career move will inspire her grandchildren to keep pushing boundaries.
"Three of them are girls," she said. "I have a grandchild going into engineering. I've got another one - just smart as a whip ... she's going to go into politics." href="mailto:
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paul_jones@dailyjournal.com <!-- Shaaron A. Bangs Shaaron Bangs' construction law practice requires tenacity and grace -->
Paul Jones
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