Michael Spink

Practice Areas

Mediation

Career

I have been in law practice for 45 years. I had a commercial and real estate practice, which included litigation. I represented business owners, landowners, title companies, brokerages, construction companies, and a variety of buyesr and sellers. In 2010 I received my initial mediation training at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution (Pepperdine University). In 2016 I began limiting my practice to dispute resolution, and no longer engage in litigation. I mediate primarily in Idaho, but also in Oregon.

Professional Memberships

Idaho State Bar

Oregon State Bar, inactive

National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, Diplomate Member

Idaho Mediation Association

Dispute Resolution Section of the Idaho State Bar

Personal

After serving in the USAF as a lieutenant from 1972 to 1975 at Shepard AFB in Texas, I moved to Colorado for law school. I was admitted to practice in Idaho in 1978. I spent two years as a Deputy AG for the Idaho State Tax commission, but primarily engaged in firm practice, and started my own firm in 1993.

Mediation was a natural fit for me. My negotiation style was to try and find common ground and resolve disputes out of court. But I was comfortable taking cases to trial when having a third party decide the fates of litigants was the only real option.

I take mediation training and skills very seriously, and still love helping parties find their own solutions to disputes. I used to "think like a lawyer." But now I always "think like a neutral." Although I might have enjoyed starting mediation sooner, the years of resolving disputes for my clients, in and out of litigation, make me a better mediator.

Clients

In a sense I no longer have clients. Lawyers and judges send work my way, and I strive to earn their trust. But my work is problem solving rather than zealous representation, and I work very hard for ALL of the parties in my mediation rooms.

Awards

Education