Brian started as a Public Defender in 1971. He tried felony and misdemeanor jury cases.
After his Public Defender service, Brian practiced with an experienced three attorney firm where he concentrated on business, personal injury and divorce matters.
The Law Offices of Spolter, McDonald and Mannion was established in 1975 by Jerry Spolter, Brian McDonald, and Tom Mannion, friends since St. Ignatius High School in San Francisco. The firm focused on litigating a wide variety of cases including numerous successful personal injury, family, probate, estate planning, and maritime matters.
Over time, Brian’s practice emphasis shifted from litigation to mediation. Brian was a mediator on the panel of the American Arbitration Association from 1992 through 2003. In 2003 Brian was selected to be on the prestigious ADR Services mediation panel where he remains today. In 2005, the firm changed its name to McDonald and Mannion when Jerry Spolter joined JAMS as a full-time mediator.
Brian McDonald, a Certified Family Law Specialist, provides individuals and families throughout the San Francisco Bay Area with skilled mediation services in cases of divorce, premarital agreements, personal injury matters, probate, trust and business disputes.
Brian has the expertise and knowledge to guide you and your family through difficult negotiations and legal disputes with a focus on a flexible and positive outcome for everyone involved.
Mediation is more than just an alternative to litigation. A quicker, more cost-effective method of resolving disputes, mediation helps parties find common ground peacefully and amicably so that they can achieve closure. Brian has assisted over 1,000 successful mediations. This divorce mediation experience extends to premarital agreements.
While the traditional divorce process meets the needs of some clients, other approaches to divorce-such as mediation and collaborative divorce are appealing to other couples because the approaches of mediation and collaborative divorce tend to save time, money and conflict.
Advocates of the divorce mediation process point to the time and cost-saving benefits of mediation compared to traditional divorce proceedings. The additional benefits the process provides is its ability to be tailored to each family situation instead of a “cookie-cutter” approach.
If you are thinking about divorce in California, consider the beneficial alternative to a lengthy and costly divorce process-mediation. A divorce mediation attorney can discuss other options, deviating from the traditional divorce approach that requires litigation. You save time. You save money. You have efficient direct communication.
Brian McDonald brings legal and practical experience to each case. He has been certified as a Specialist in Family Law by the California Board of Legal Specialization since 1981 (32 years). For his efforts in this area of law, Brian has earned Martindale-Hubbell’s prestigious “AV” rating, and has been named to Northern California Super Lawyers since inception in 2002. In addition to his own practice, Brian has taught in law school and has trained hundred of mediators, both at the trial and appellate court levels.