Outgoing Mayor Kip Holden will be joining a local mediation and arbitration firm, Perry Dampf Dispute Solutions, when he leaves office at the end of this year after serving three terms.
Holden, who received his law degree from the Southern University Law Center in 1985 and has been an adjunct professor there since the 1990s, will serve as a mediator at the firm.
Mediators act as neutral third parties in helping to resolve civil disputes but generally do not have the legal power to enforce the resolutions. Arbitrators, on the other hand, have binding authority.
John Perry, who founded the firm, says he has known Holden for more than three decades, though they have never been professionally or politically associated. He says the two bumped into each other at Ruth’s Chris one night earlier this fall and Holden said his career would soon be over.
“I said, ‘You need to come join us in the private sector and have a good life,’” Perry says. “I didn’t know if I’d ever hear from him again but I think he took it to heart and he called me a week later and that’s how it came about.”
Perry says even though Holden has a law degree, he will have to undergo several months of training before he’s ready to mediate his first dispute.
“He’ll also have to sit in on some cases to observe,” says Perry. “There’s a learning curve so we’re not going to just cut him loose.”
Perry is also a partner in the law firm Perry, Balhoff, Mengis & Burns. Holden will not be affiliated with that law firm.
For his part, Holden says he’s thrilled to be joining Perry Dampf as a mediator and is excited about the opportunities it presents “to broaden my expertise.”
Mediation and arbitration have become increasingly common in civil disputes over the last 20 years because they are less costly and time consuming than litigation. Demand for mediators and arbitrators is projected to grow nearly 10% over the next decade, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics.
—Stephanie Riegel
