Every case has a number.
Finding the appropriate settlement value before a jury decides for you is the entire job. Every case is its own puzzle, and the pieces sit in different rooms. I've spent twenty years working from both of those rooms. Now I sit between them.
Katherine “Katie” Bandy Weber
I tried commercial and intellectual property cases to Texas state and federal juries for more than twenty years. My experience as an advocate prepared me well to take appointments as a neutral. That background is the reason counsel call me: I have read the position statements from your chair, and I know which arguments survive a Daubert motion and which ones a jury will simply not care about.
My docket included technology, online education, real estate, trade secret, trademark, and copyright fights. I also represented plaintiffs and defendants in contract and partnership disputes (business divorces). I have handled personal injury litigation on both the plaintiff’s side and the insurance defense side. I have handled family law matters including divorces with and without children and custody modifications, and I volunteered through the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program to handle pro bono divorces. More recently I have served as an investigator and hearing officer for equal opportunity and Title IX matters at the University of North Texas, and I teach as an adjunct. Both roles are the same discipline as mediation: get the record straight, hear people out completely, and reach a defensible result without theater.
I mediate in person in the DFW area at a mutually agreeable location and by Zoom. Sessions are flat-rate, so you don't spend the afternoon watching the clock.
SMU Dedman School of Law, 2004
The University of Texas at Austin
24-hour family law mediation course
Qualified under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 154.052
Cases where the law is genuinely contested
I handle two-party and multi-party matters, pre-suit or on the eve of trial. If your case is outside these areas, please call anyway; I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right neutral for your case. If I'm not, I'll help you find the right fit free of charge.
Commercial & Business
Breach of contract, partnership and shareholder disputes, business divorce, fraud claims, vendor and distribution fights.
Intellectual Property
Trade secret misappropriation, trademark and copyright infringement, licensing disputes, departing-employee cases.
Employment
Discrimination and retaliation claims, non-competes, wage disputes, internal investigations that have hardened into litigation.
Technology & Education
Software contract disputes, data and platform disagreements, disputes involving colleges and online providers.
Real Estate
Purchase and lease disputes, commercial landlord-tenant matters, brokerage and construction-adjacent claims.
Probate & Fiduciary
Will contests, disputes among beneficiaries, trustee and executor disagreements, and related fiduciary claims.
Family Law
Divorce with and without children, custody and support modification, and property division, guiding both sides toward a mediated settlement agreement that works for the whole family.
Flat rate, per party, paid before we start
One number covers the whole engagement if we close at or before the scheduled session. I don't send an invoice after the fact for time spent reading your file or calling you the following week.
What the fee covers
The fee covers reading position statements and exhibits, pre-mediation calls with counsel, the session itself, drafting assistance on the mediated settlement agreement, and follow-up with both sides if we don't close in the room. Parties represented by the same lawyer or firm count as one party.
In-person rates cover conference space, parking, and lunch on full days, anywhere within fifteen miles of downtown Dallas; sessions farther out are quoted when we schedule. Zoom sessions cost less because those expenses go away. Time past 5:30 is billed at $500 per hour, split evenly. Cancellations more than three business days out are free; within three business days they are nonrefundable but may be applied to a rescheduled date.
No surprises about the shape of it
A full day typically reflects the schedule below. If your case has unique needs (for example, separate rooms from the start, no joint session, or an expert presentation), say so and we'll build the day around it.
Position statements
Send me everything you want me to read, confidential or shared. Ten pages is plenty. Tell me what your client actually needs, which is often not what the pleadings say.
Arrival and caucus
Each side gets its own room. I start with the party that has the most to explain, and I listen before I push on anything.
The shuttle
Offers move, but so does information. Most of the real work is testing each side's theory of what a jury does with the facts they'd rather not discuss.
Working lunch
Brought in for everyone. Momentum is the scarcest thing in the room; however, momentum drives resolution.
The hard part
This is where most cases stall or settle; the last two pieces are always the hardest to fit. If we're genuinely at impasse I'll tell you plainly rather than wasting your time.
Terms on paper
We draft and sign a mediated settlement agreement before anyone leaves for the day. Under Texas law an MSA that meets the statute's requirements is binding, so we get the terms right in the room.
Follow-up
If we don't close, I keep working the phones at no additional charge. A meaningful number of cases settle within two weeks following the session.
Check a date
Now booking · sessions begin September 2026
Hold an open date on my schedule yourself, or email me two or three that work for all counsel with a one-line description of the case. Either way you'll have a scheduling letter and fee agreement within 24 hours.
See open dates →A date you pick is held tentatively until all counsel confirm and fees are paid.
A signed agreement is the last piece. What you leave with is peace of mind.