Conflicts Arise
Lawyers have clients who have been in business long enough or grown large enough that they will tangle with a legal dispute. Or on the plaintiff’s side, lawyers have clients who have been fired or injured and never thought they would be a party in a lawsuit. Lawyers and their clients have hired KIM to resolve their disputes before trial for over 18 years and she has come through with terrific results. KIM works exclusively as an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) professional attorney. She has 40 years experience as an attorney and before becoming a mediator, she participated in plenty of mediations as an advocate so she understands that role.
KIM combines thorough preparation, including phone calls and ZOOM calls with the attorneys; jury verdict research; a calm and engaging demeanor at mediation; active listening; practical suggestions; and timely follow-up, to her mediation practice. She can help you to make mediation a better solution for your clients.
Why Choose Kim?
As a Mediator
Kim has conducted thousands of hours of mediation and has a very high success rate in settling cases quickly and effectively. She has mediated cases in employment, real estate, commercial, construction, personal injury, civil rights and uninsured-underinsured motorists.
Kim mediated the first successful mortgage foreclosure case in Madison County, Illinois. Her background in representing both defendants and plaintiffs makes her an ideal neutral. She is available to mediate through MILES MEDIATION, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the Southwestern Illinois Board of Realtors.
In 2015, Kim was named to the Missouri Chapter of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals (NADN).
As an Arbitrator
Kim has experience arbitrating both complicated and not-so complicated cases.
Kim is available to arbitrate through MILES MEDIATION, the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Southwestern Illinois Board of Realtors.
Background
KIM L. KIRN is a full time mediator and ADR professional. She mediates through MILES MEDIATION (formerly US Arbitration & Mediation—US A&M), a well-known ADR provider. Her successful mediations include commercial, employment, slip and fall, civil rights, construction, real estate, motor vehicle accidents, wrongful death, educational disputes, sexual misconduct, insurance coverage and personal injury disputes.
Kim’s background includes being a 1985 honors graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia. She began her law practice with Lord, Bissell and Brook, a large defense firm based in Chicago, Illinois, and later joined Illinois State Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch as Associate General Counsel. In 1995, Kim was named University Legal Counsel at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), and in 2007, she began a legal practice focusing on mediations and arbitrations. For four years, she joined a sole practitioner in a Plaintiff’s employment practice and participated in numerous trials. She worked for over five years as a mediator with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Kim uses her experiences in a big firm, small sole practitioner and as an in-house counsel to look beyond the immediate problem and find a workable long-term solution.
On a personal side, Kim serves as President of the Association of Attorney Mediators-STL. She was elected twice by the voters of Glen Carbon, Illinois, to serve on the Public Library Board, and her fellow board members elected her as Secretary for both of her terms. Kim is active in the international student program in her community and the winner of the 2004 Kimmel Leadership Award, given annually to one SIUE staff member with demonstrated leadership in the community. She actively bikes, plays pickleball, skis and hikes including a hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
My Philosophy
“My own experience as a lawyer tells me that in litigation oftentimes, everyone loses. Litigation is expensive, unbelievably slow and very public. However, alternative dispute resolution can transform the lose-lose paradigm of litigation into a win-win. The parties will be part of the final resolution, not just very interested spectators, and they are far more likely to be satisfied with the end result because they directly participated in the process. I am a specially trained mediator and have experience in employment, real estate, contractual, education, and personal injury. If you have never mediated a case, I can explain the process to you and work as a neutral to bring the others involved in your dispute to a mutually agreed upon resolution. I never give up”
– KIM L. KIRN
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