Ryan C.Kaiser
Since 2013, I have practiced before the judges of the Deschutes County Circuit Court, handling contested civil disputes involving businesses, property owners, families, neighbors, employers, and others in conflict.
That experience is well suited to mediating difficult, high conflict cases where the legal issues are only part of what is driving the dispute. I understand the court, the legal issues, and the dynamics that often make these cases difficult to resolve. I am experienced in managing strong personalities, deescalating conflict, identifying the issues preventing settlement, and helping parties work toward a practical resolution.
- Experience
- Over twenty years in civil litigation. Career began in Dallas, Texas. In Bend since 2013. Selected to Super Lawyers, 2024 to 2026, and to Rising Stars, 2010 to 2012 and 2015 to 2018.
- Firms
- Partner, Kaiser Johnston Keathley LLP, Redmond, 2024 to present
Solo, Broken Top Law, 2016 to 2024
Of Counsel, Miller Nash, 2013 to 2016
Associate, Gardere Wynne Sewell, 2005 to 2012 - Neutral
- Arbitrator, Deschutes County Circuit Court, 2016 to 2023.
- Bar admissions
- Oregon State Bar, 2013
Texas State Bar, 2005 (inactive) - Education
- J.D., 2005, Southern Methodist University
B.A., 2001, University of Colorado
How itworks
Conflicts check and engagement
Send the caption, the parties, affiliated entities, and counsel of record. I run conflicts before I discuss the case. If I am clear, I circulate a short mediation agreement covering fees, confidentiality, and my role as neutral, and I disclose anything that could reasonably bear on my impartiality.
Pre-mediation statements and calls
Confidential statements are due one week before the session. I take a short call with each side beforehand at no additional charge. That call is where I learn what the case is really about, including the parts that are not in the file.
The session
An eight-hour session. Joint session where it helps and caucus where it does not. Decision makers with full authority attend and stay for the day. If we are close as the eighth hour approaches, I stay, and the fee does not change.
Documenting the agreement
If the case resolves, I work with the parties and counsel to finalize a term sheet and get it signed before anyone leaves. Every party should have independent counsel review the terms before signing, and I will say so again on the day. Counsel draft the long-form documents.
Follow-up
If the case does not resolve on the day, it often resolves within the next two weeks. I keep working it by phone at no additional charge. If the parties want another day, the rate drops, because the preparation is already done.
One flatfee
for an eight-hour session, divided equally among the parties unless counsel agree otherwise in writing
- Payment
- Each party's share is due no less than one week before the session. Firm check, cashier's check, or electronic transfer.
- The day
- Sessions are scheduled for eight hours. If the parties are close as the eighth hour approaches, I stay, at no additional charge. If they are not, we stop and I keep working the case by phone.
- Subsequent days
- Every full day of mediation between the same parties after the first is $3,000, divided on the same terms, however many the case takes. The preparation is already done, so the price reflects that. It also means I am not paid more for a case that does not settle the first time.
- Where sessions happen
- In person or by video, anywhere in Deschutes County, at whatever site the parties choose, at no additional charge. I do not take cases filed elsewhere.
- Cancellation
- Cancel at any time more than seven days before the session and there is no charge. Inside seven days the fee is earned, because the date is gone and the preparation is done. Medical emergencies and court-ordered conflicts are excused.
What the $4,000 covers
- Conflicts check and engagement
- Review of the pleadings, motions, and exhibits
- Review of your confidential mediation statement
- A pre-mediation call with each side
- An eight-hour session in the room
- Staying past the eighth hour when the parties are close
- Travel anywhere in Deschutes County
- Working with the parties and counsel to finalize the term sheet
- Follow-up in the two weeks after the session
- Video sessions, on the same terms
Request adate
Two ways to start. Each one places a tentative hold; the date is confirmed once conflicts are cleared and the mediation agreement is signed.
Pick an open day
My online calendar shows the days I have open and takes a request in a few minutes. It asks for the caption, the parties, counsel of record, and whether the session is in person or by video. Nothing is booked when you submit; I review each request and confirm.
Write to me directly
Include the caption, the parties and affiliated entities, counsel of record, whether the session is in person or by video, and two or three workable dates.
What happens next
I run conflicts against the parties and counsel you identify, confirm the date, and circulate a short mediation agreement covering fees, confidentiality, and my role as neutral. Payment and confidential statements are due one week before the session.
I travel to the parties
Tell me where in Deschutes County the session is happening and I will be there, at no additional charge. Video works on the same terms.
I do not take cases filed outside the county, and that is deliberate. The value I bring to a mediation comes from practicing in the Deschutes County Circuit Court and understanding how its judges approach civil matters. A mediator who works every courthouse cannot offer that. I would rather do one county well.
Process
How a mediation with me runs
Conflicts check and engagement
Send the caption, the parties, affiliated entities, and counsel of record. I run conflicts before I discuss the case. If I am clear, I circulate a short mediation agreement covering fees, confidentiality, and my role as neutral, and I disclose anything that could reasonably bear on my impartiality.
Pre-mediation statements and calls
Confidential statements are due one week before the session. I take a short call with each side beforehand at no additional charge. That call is where I learn what the case is really about, including the parts that are not in the file.
The session
The session is scheduled for eight hours. Joint session where it helps and caucus where it does not. Decision makers with full authority attend, in person or by video, and stay for the day. If we are close as the eighth hour approaches, I stay, and the fee does not change. If we are not close, we stop and I keep working the case by phone.
Documenting the agreement
If the case resolves, I work with the parties and counsel to finalize a term sheet and get it signed before anyone leaves. Every party should have independent counsel review the terms before signing, and I will say so again on the day. Counsel draft the long-form documents.
Follow-up
If the case does not resolve on the day, it often resolves within the next two weeks. I keep working it by phone at no additional charge. If the parties want another day, every full day after the first is $3,000 rather than $4,000, because the preparation is already done.
Conflicts, confidentiality, and my role
I serve as a neutral, not as counsel. When I mediate, I do not represent any party, I do not give legal advice to any party, and no party to the mediation is my client. Nothing said in a mediation creates an attorney-client relationship. Every party should have independent counsel review any agreement before signing it.
Conflicts and screening. I am a partner at Kaiser Johnston Keathley LLP in Redmond. I run a full conflicts check against the firm's database before accepting any matter, and I disclose prior or ongoing relationships with counsel, parties, or affiliated entities. After I mediate a matter, I will not represent anyone in connection with that matter, and the firm screens me from it. I do not discuss employment with a party or a party's lawyer while I am serving as the neutral.
Confidentiality. Mediation communications in Oregon are confidential and generally inadmissible in later adjudicatory proceedings, subject to the exceptions the statutes set out. Two points counsel should know going in. The terms of a mediation agreement are not confidential unless the parties agree in writing that they are. And materials that were not prepared specifically for the mediation do not become confidential by being used in one. The mediation agreement I circulate addresses both directly, so the parties are not left to argue about it afterward.
See ORS 36.220 to 36.238; Oregon RPC 2.4; Oregon RPC 1.12.Questions counsel ask
Can mediation substitute for court-annexed arbitration in Deschutes County?
The local rules provide that arbitration is not required if all parties participate in a mediation approved by the presiding judge or the presiding judge's designee, or in a pretrial settlement conference under the settlement conference rule. Settlement conferences are subject to judicial availability and cannot be scheduled so as to delay trial. Confirm the current rule and the approval procedure with the court before relying on it.
Deschutes County SLR 13.065; SLR 6.012.Where does the session take place?
Wherever you want it, anywhere in Deschutes County. I travel to the parties. Most mediations here happen in a law firm conference room, and there is no reason for that to be mine. Your office, opposing counsel's, a neutral site, or a room at the courthouse all work. There is no facility charge either way.
Do you take cases outside Deschutes County?
No. The reason to hire me is that I practice in the court your case is filed in, and that reason does not travel. If your case is in Multnomah County, hire someone who is in Multnomah County.
Does video work as well?
For most commercial cases, yes. Separate breakout rooms, the same schedule, the same price. In-person still carries an advantage where the dispute is personal rather than commercial, which is common in family business and estate matters.
How long is the session?
Eight hours. If the parties are close as the eighth hour approaches, I stay until we finish or until it is clear we will not, and the fee does not change. If the gap is still wide at that point, pushing into the evening rarely helps, so we stop and I keep working it by phone over the next two weeks. That follow-up is included. If the case needs more time, every full day after the first is $3,000 rather than $4,000, because the preparation is already done.
How far out are you booking?
Two weeks. That is the earliest date the online calendar will offer, and it leaves room to run conflicts, circulate the mediation agreement, and receive payment and confidential statements, which are due one week before the session. If a trial date is driving the schedule and you need something sooner, email me and I will work with it.
Will you give a mediator's proposal?
Yes, when both sides ask for one and the negotiation has genuinely stalled. I do not offer one early, because it tends to end bargaining rather than advance it.
Do you take pre-suit matters?
Yes. Cases mediate well before positions harden and before fees make settlement harder to justify. Business divorces and beneficiary disputes are particularly good candidates.
Who needs to attend?
Trial counsel and a decision maker with full settlement authority for each party. Where an insurer is involved, an adjuster with authority, present or immediately reachable, for the duration of the session.