Mediation mojo

Neal O'Toole, an A-list Polk County litigator once sought after for local high profile cases, is doing something vastly different these days: trying to keep cases out of the courtroom.

He's doing that through his fast-growing firm, Central Florida Mediation Group. The practice, with offices in Lakeland, Tampa and Orlando, has expanded its caseload 10% to 12% a year since 2012. Clients include several large corporate entities, such as Publix, Highlands Homes and Lakeland Regional Medical Center, a lengthy list of insurers nationwide and Polk County. It helps that most civil disputes in Florida are subject to mediation through the court system.

“The reason I got involved in mediation is it always bothered me as a trial lawyer that we offered our clients one thing — let's go to court,” he says. “In my view, lawyers are engaged in a service industry. Yet, we never give our clients any other option. We always order for our client and it's always the most expensive thing on the menu. To me, there's always different ways to approach any dispute, and they should all be considered before the parties heavily invest in litigation.”