ATTORNEY, MEDIATOR, ARBITRATOR, SPECIAL MAGISTRATE, COURT APPOINTED STATUTORY ARBITRATOR
TERRY SCHMIDT
VIRTUAL & IN-PERSON MEDIATION | JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
YEARS MEDIATING
CASES MEDIATED
CASES ARBITRATED
CALENDAR
REAL TIME AVAILABILITY
STEP 1
SELECT OPEN DATE
STEP 2
SUBMIT REQUEST
STEP 3
RECEIVE CONFIRMATION
To reserve a mediation session, please select a suitable time slot from any of the available dates on the real-time calendar below. A quick interactive APPOINTMENT REQUEST will collect contact details and case information. Once submitted, we will be in touch promptly with confirmation and more details.
Notifications and reminders are also set up to ensure participants are well-prepared and informed.
FEE SCHEDULE
RATES & POLICIES
Mediation Fee
- Two-party mediations: $250 per party, per hour
- Three-party mediations $225 per party, per hour
- Four-party mediations $200 per party, per hour, and
- $800 for larger parties (5+), evenly divided by the number of parties
There is a one-hour charge for mediation administration services and mediation preparation; however, if the parties’ mediation statements require more than one hour of preparation time, the additional time will be billed as preparation time. To avoid confusion, a “party” is defined as all parties who are represented by the same counsel or who appear pro se.
BILLING MATTERS
All fees are calculated using the per hour rate above, and all invoices are due upon receipt. Following the conclusion of the mediation, each party will be billed for their portion of the fee, unless the parties agree otherwise. Payments should be made in accordance with the payment instructions on the invoice.
CANCELLATION POLICY
If the mediation is cancelled or rescheduled less than 5 business days (Monday-Friday) prior to the scheduled session and absent other agreement by the parties, each party will be billed for its portion of the minimum fee, which shall be two (2) hours per party for half-day mediations and four (4) hours per party for full-day mediations. I respectfully remind clients that the cancellation policy is meant as fair compensation for reserving time which I typically cannot fill in less than 5 days. If I am able to schedule a mediation on short notice for the cancelled scheduled time, the cancellation fee will not be charged.
RESOURCES
CURRICULUM VITAE & GUIDELINES
The resource hub contains easy access to essential documents to enhance your mediation experience with Schmidt Mediation. Please download Terry Schmidt’s Rate Card & CV for future reference.
Also find guidelines on best practices for virtual mediation sessions via Zoom, making the experience productive and efficient. Additionally, explore a comprehensive set of Rules for Mediation, providing clarity and structure to the mediation journey.
DOWNLOAD RATE CARD & CURRICULUM VITAE
REVIEW SAMPLE MEDIATION AGREEMENT
DOWNLOAD VIRTUAL MEDIATION HELPFUL HINTS
FIND MEDIATION GUIDELINES FOR SUCCESS
GET MEDIATOR'S IRS W-9 FORM
ABOUT
TERRANCE E. SCHMIDT
Mr. Schmidt grew up in Maumee, Ohio, a suburb of Toledo. He went to college at Wittenburg University in Springfield, Ohio, where he played basketball and was the 1967 NCAA Small College Midwest Regional High Jump Champion.
He attended Duke Law School, starting in 1967. At the end of his first year, he made the Duke Law Journal and married Julie Rawson, his wife of now 56 years. However, at the end of his second year of law school, he left law school to attend the U.S. Navy Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. He served three years in the Navy aboard the destroyer USS William M. Wood (DD-715), first as the ship’s anti-submarine warfare/nuclear weapons officer and then as the weapons officer, completing his tour of duty as a lieutenant in May 1972.
He then returned to Duke Law School, serving on the Editorial Board of the Duke Law Journal, and graduated in May 1973. While on the Law Journal, he co-authored with Kenneth W. Starr, later the Watergate prosecutor and U.S. Solicitor General, an article entitled Inspection Rights of Corporate Stockholders; Toward a More Effective Statutory Model, subsequently published at 26 Fla. L. Rev. 173 (1974).
In May 1973, Mr. Schmidt began practicing law with the Jacksonville, Florida law firm of Mahoney, Hadlow, Chambers, & Adams, the successor to the oldest law firm in Florida. He made partner after five years and then left the firm with three other lawyers to start the firm of Bledsoe, Gallagher, Mikals, & Schmidt, P.A. Three years later, Messrs. Gallagher and Mikals left that firm to start the Jacksonville office of Holland & Knight. Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Bledsoe then practiced together and with others in the firm of Bledsoe & Schmidt, P.A., until July 2021 when Mr. Schmidt formed Terrance E. Schmidt, P.A., to perform only mediation and arbitration services.
While at Mahoney, Hadlow, Mr. Schmidt was primarily a commercial litigator, trying a variety of cases, including breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, commercial foreclosure, creditors’ claims in bankruptcy, antitrust, securities, trademark infringement, inverse condemnation, and incompetence and undue influence cases. However, he also litigated personal injury (representing plaintiffs and defendants), products liability, and legal and medical practice cases, successfully trying an obstetrical medical malpractice case to a jury in Tallahassee, Florida.
In subsequent years, he continued to litigate the same broad range of civil cases, including also construction defect, insurance insolvency, officers and directors’ liability, legal and medical practice, Jones Act, FELA, ADA, ADEA, ERISA, FDCPA, FCCPA, and securities cases. Notable cases in which Mr. Schmidt successfully represented clients include:
Re: Continental Southeast Land Corporation, in Florida U.S. Bankruptcy court
… originally a Chapter 11 case which subsequently evolved into litigation in Florida circuit and appellate courts, the Federal District Courts of Florida and Nevada, the Ninth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal, the United States Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court of Ontario over a 17-year period in which Mr. Schmidt successfully represented the trustee and obtained a $3 million alter ego judgment against Sidney L. Jaffe, the principal of the company; during the course of that litigation, Mr. Jaffe sued Mr. Schmidt and others for extortion and kidnapping arising out of Mr. Jaffee’s arrest for land sales fraud following a bankruptcy court hearing; Mr. Jaffee was convicted, served 18 months in prison, and then sued Mr. Schmidt and others in Tornoto, Ontario, Canada; that lawsuit lasted 8 years after which Mr. Schmidt and the other defendants prevailed, and the trustee successfully enforced his $3 million judgment against Mr. Jaffe’s residential condominium.
VKK, Inc. and Victor Kiam v. The National Football League
21 of its teams, and Touchdown Jacksonville, Inc. in New York Federal District Court; an antitrust case in which Mr. Schmidt successfully represented Touchdown Jacksonville, Inc. in defending claims that it conspired with the National Football League to unlawfully terminate relocation discussions with Mr. Kiam, the then owner of the New England Patriots.
The Insurance Commissioner of North Carolina v. Mason, et al
North Carolina Federal District Court; an action by the North Carolina Commissioner on behalf of American Assurance Life Insurance Company to declare the company insolvent and seek damages against its officers, directors, and certain employees in which Mr. Schmidt represented one of the employees.
Roby v. Koger, et al
… in the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida; an action by participants in the Koger Properties, Inc. profit sharing plan against the outside directors of the company and others serving as trustees of the plan for having wrongfully invested the plan’s assets primarily in Koger Properties’ stock in which Mr. Schmidt successfully represented three of the outside directors, individually;
Jones v. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company
… in Florida State Court; an ADA and fraud case in which Mr. Schmidt represented a disabled senior vice president of the company to whom the jury awarded $5.4 million in compensatory and punitive damages and the court awarded an additional 16 years of front pay and attorneys’ fees.
Edwards v. Property Corporation
… in Florida State Court State; a shareholders’ derivative action in which an heir of an original shareholder from 1950 sought a determination that the sales proceeds from the sale of the first Jewish country club and golf course in Jacksonville should be distributed to the heirs of the original shareholders rather than retained and used to build a Jewish community center; Mr. Schmidt successfully represented the entity that owned the property, and the proceeds of the sale were ultimately used to build the current JCA Community Center.
Andrews v. United States of America and Waste Management, Inc.
… in Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida; a toxic tort case in which the defendants deposited toxic chemicals into the Hipps Road Landfill in which Mr. Schmidt and others represented 134 plaintiffs who lived in close proximity to the landfill and suffered injuries from toxic chemicals that infiltrated the water table.
The Florida Bar v. F. Lee Bailey
… in the Florida Supreme Court; Mr. Schmidt, as Special Counsel for The Florida Bar, successfully prosecuted a disbarment proceeding against Mr. Bailey for having misappropriated and commingled funds held by him in trust to be ultimately forfeited to the United States in connection with the criminal prosecution of Claude Duboc, an international drug smuggler. It is noteworthy with respect to Mr. Schmidt’s relationship skills and/or Mr. Bailey’s capacity for forgiveness that 20 years after the disbarment case ended, Mr. Bailey and Mr. Schmidt met again for drinks and to renew acquaintances when Mr. Bailey traveled to Jacksonville to give a seminar.
Mr. Schmidt added mediations and arbitrations to his litigation practice in 1997, starting with one whenever and building the mediation and arbitration practice solely by word of mouth. He continued to litigate, mediate and arbitrate until 2001 when he took his last litigation case. Thereafter, he wound down his litigation practice and only mediated, arbitrated and served as a special master or special magistrate.
Since 1997, Mr. Schmidt has mediated more than 6.000 cases in state and federal courts and for the American Arbitration Association, including successful mediations of, among others, a breach of contract claim in the telecommunications industry involving a claim of more than $400 million; an international patent case involving patents in Germany, France, and the United States with claims in excess of $100 million; a breach of fiduciary duty and theft of trade secrets case by a major insurance broker against its former officers who began a competing company seeking in excess of $130 million; a post-judgment mediation of a $90 million verdict in a wrongful death trucking company accident case; a commercial breach of contract and breach of warranty case involving claims of over $30 million; a first party bad faith insurance claim for over $25 million; a consolidated action involving multiple securities fraud and negligent supervision claims in excess of $20 million; a dispute between FDIC and a borrower and a subsequent dispute between the borrower and a third party involving real property valued in excess of $20 million; a dissenting stockholder’s rights dispute involving claims in excess of $15 million; a catastrophic burn case involving claims for two minors in excess of $10 million; a dispute between a sponsor and a cigarette manufacturer over a NASCAR promotion involving a claim in excess of $5 million; numerous condominium construction disputes involving claims in excess of $5 million; and numerous personal injury, employment discrimination, construction, and commercial cases involving claims in excess of $1 million.
BAR & COURT ADMISSIONS
- Admitted to the American Bar Association, Section on Dispute Resolution
- Admitted to the Florida Bar (1973)
- Admitted to the Jacksonville Bar Association
- Admitted to the United States Supreme Court
- Admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits
- Admitted to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida
Professional Affiliations
- Florida Academy of Professional Mediators
National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals
Chester Bedell Inn of Court
The College of Master Advocates and Barristers
Certifications & ADR Appointments
Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator (Since 1997)
Certified Federal Court Mediator, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida (Since 1997)
Appointed to AAA’s Commercial Panel of Neutrals (1998)
Certified Mediator, American Arbitration Association (1999)
Qualified Arbitrator, American Arbitration Association
Appointed Special Master and Statutory Arbitrator by the Circuit Court in commercial disputes
EDUCATION & TRAINING
Education
- B.A., Political Science, Wittenberg University (1967)
- J.D., Duke University School of Law (1973)
- Editor, Duke Law Journal (1972–1973)
Alternative Dispute Resolution Training
- Florida Dispute Resolution Center, 40-Hour Mediation Training (1995)
- Florida Bar CLE Course on Alternative Dispute Resolution (1998)
- AAA Commercial Arbitrator Training Workshop (1999)
- Florida Bar Seminar on Private Judges, Mediation, and Arbitration (2000)
- AAA Commercial Arbitrator II – Advanced Case Management (2001)
- ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, Collaboration in the Capital: The Power of ADR (2001)
- ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, New Vistas in Dispute Resolution (2002)
- AAA Advanced Mediator Skills for Court-Based Settlement Programs (2003)
- DRC 13th Annual Conference, Framing Our Future (2004)
- Fourth Annual Institute on Advanced Mediation-Advocacy Skills Training (2005)
- ADR Section of Dispute Resolution (JBA), Fifth Annual CME Seminar (2012)
- National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, Advanced Mediation Training Retreat (2011, 2012)
AWARDS & HONORS
- Master, Chester Bedell Inn of Court
- Senior Counsel, The College of Master Advocates and Barristers
- Legal Elite for Mediation, Florida Trend Magazine (2007–present)
- Super Lawyers – Alternative Dispute Resolution, Florida Super Lawyers (2006–present)
- Best Lawyers, Jacksonville, Commercial Litigation, Mediation (2001–present)
- Resolution of Appreciation, The Florida Bar (2002) — for pro bono service as Special Counsel in the F. Lee Bailey disbarment proceeding
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS & PUBLICATIONS
- “The Florida Bar v. F. Lee Bailey: A Cautionary Tale” – Speaker, Raymond Ehrlich Trial Advocacy Seminar (2002)
- “Winning Without Trial: The Mediation Roundtable” – Panelist, Raymond Ehrlich Trial Advocacy Seminar (2003)
- Panelist – Chester Bedell Inn of Court (2004)
- Panelist – Florida Coastal School of Law ADR Presentation (2005)
- “Local Issues Facing Mediators and the Ethical Implications” – Speaker, 2nd Annual N.E. Florida CME Seminar (2009)
- Co-author (with Kenneth W. Starr): “Inspection Rights of Corporate Stockholders: Toward a More Effective Statutory Model”, 42 Fla. L. Rev. 173 (1974)
CASE EXPERIENCE
Terry has significant experience in high-stakes mediation and multi-party dispute resolution in various complex areas including contract disputes, insurance claims, securities fraud, real estate, stockholders’ rights, personal injury, employment, civil rights, antitrust, ERISA, toxic torts, and construction litigation.