About Sam Imperati

Sam Imperati, J.D. is the Executive Director of the Institute for Conflict Management, Inc.  He has been highly effective in resolving complex disputes, facilitating public policy issues, mediating multi-party cases, managing matters where emotions run high, and training individuals and groups to help them navigate the intersection of logic and emotion.  His peers recently selected him for inclusion in the 2007 and 2008 editions of The Best Lawyers in America for mediation. 

Sam has been an attorney for over twenty-eightyears, is AV rated, and has managed countless disputes – some he even started!  His legal background includes plaintiff and defense work, management and labor, along with litigation and appeals.  He was formerly Assistant Corporate Counsel with Nike, in private practice, and has handled litigation and mediated everything from “Admiralty to Zoning.”  He has served as a Judge Pro Tem, as Chair of the Oregon State Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Section, and as an Executive Committee member of the Portland Neighborhood Mediation Center Advisory Committee.  

As a seasoned mediator, Mr. Imperati is accustomed to being a guest at the parties’ negotiation, working under deadlines, and collaboratively developing effective press relations, along with public involvement processes.  His credibility rests solely on his ability to remain neutral and impartial.  The codes of ethics to which he subscribes mandate, and his professionalism depends on, his strict adherence to these principles.  His judicial and Bar ethics service underscore his reputation for competent fairness. 

Mr. Imperati's specific skills lie in his ability to organize mass amounts of information in a short period, synthesize it, present it clearly, and facilitate/mediate a large, diverse group of stakeholders. He displays a tireless work ethic, models impartiality, and has endless energy. Mr. Imperati has the ability to motivate people and to break an apparent impasse. He creates an environment where stakeholders can explore the issues rather than debate them. Simply stated, he gets the job done. 

His law review articles, “Mediator Practice Models: The Intersection of Ethics & Stylistic Practices in Mediation,” 33 Willamette Law Review 703 (1997), and “If Freud, Jung, Rogers and Beck Were Mediators, Who Would the Parties Pick and What are the Mediator’s Obligations,” 43 Idaho Law Review 3 (2007), explore the practical and ethical issues surrounding the competing practice styles of mediators.  Frequently, each party wants the mediator to be “facilitative” with them and “evaluative” of the other side’s position.  In response to this typical dynamic, he uses “results-oriented” processes: effective option generating, realistic risk analysis, numerous impasse-breaking techniques and diligent follow-up. 

Mr. Imperati graduated magna cum laude from the University of Santa Clara, and from the University of California at Davis – King Hall Law School, where he was a law review volume editor.  He co-authored two articles on water law and worked at the California State Water Resources Control Board.  He was co-founder/editor of Environs, an environmental law and policy publication and did a judicial internship with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle.   

Professional Activities (Present & Past)

• American Society of Training and Development (ASTD)
• Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR)
• Court-Connected Mediator Qualifications Advisory Committee
• International Association of Public Participation (IAP2)
• Lane County Community College Panel of Mediators
• Multnomah Local Professional Responsibility Committee Chair
• ODOT Right of Way Roster of Neutrals
• Oregon Court of Appeals Settlement Conference Panelist and Trainer
• Oregon Dispute Resolution Commission Advisory Committee
• Oregon State Agency Mediator Roster
• Oregon 1998 Work Group on Mediator Competencies
• Oregon Mediation Association (OMA)
• OMA 2007 Quality Assurance Task Force Reporter
• OMA’s Standards and Practices Committee
• Oregon State Bar Ethics Committee(OSB)
• OSB ADR Legislation Contact and OSB House of Delegates
• OSB Debtor-Creditor Section ADR Subcommittee
• Portland and East Portland Metropolitan Associations of Realtors: Panel of Mediators
• Portland Civil Rights Mediation Program
• Register of Mediators: U.S. Bankruptcy Courts (Southern District of New York & Oregon)
• U.S. Dept. of Justice-U.S. Attorneys Offices (OR) Qualified Third-Party Neutral
• U.S. District Court’s Environmental Mediation Pilot Project
• U.S. General Services Administration Nationwide Source List ADR Provider