— Clay Sides, Esq.
Lori Sanford
Lori Sanford, Esq. M.B.A., is a full-time attorney neutral working in the field of arbitration and mediation. Lori is a member of the commercial, consumer, healthcare, employment, and mediation panels of the American Arbitration Association. Lori also is an arbitrator and mediator for Resolute Systems, LLC. Lori serves on mediation panels for the California Association of Realtors, Riverside County Superior Court, and the Riverside County Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Service, where she facilitates case resolutions right before trial. She also volunteers through the Desert Bar Association as a settlement facilitator for the First Friday Voluntary Settlement Conference program.
Lori is highly regarded for her ability to resolve disputes through advanced case preparation, enthusiasm, a collaborative approach, and strong communication skills. Her dedication ensures resolutions that are efficient, economical, and fair. As an experienced arbitration and mediation professional, Lori has conducted several hundred arbitrations and mediations. Ms. Sanford was the panel chair for a consumer matter that involved a three-day hearing and final award. She also served on a three arbitrator panel in a complex commercial case and on several healthcare payor-payee disputes.
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With experience as a trial attorney in Los Angeles and New York, and as a full-time neutral since 2009, Lori has handled a wide range of civil cases across numerous subject areas, including:
- Business and Commercial: Disputes involving breach of contract, transportation carriers, business ownership, property issues, and conversion.
- Financial Services: Breach of financial agreements, accounting and other billing disputes, and collections.
- Consumer: Disputes regarding interpretation of terms of service or terms of use agreements, retail sales installment contracts, lemon law, rideshare apps, solar installation, cryptocurrency, and mass arbitrations with vehicle manufacturers and delivery services.
- Healthcare Industry: Payor-payee disputes, network provider agreements, emergency injunctive requests to remain in-network, equipment purchases, and business asset disposition.
- Employment: Wage and hour disputes, misclassification, discrimination, retaliation.
- Personal Injury: Private arbitration of uninsured/underinsured motorist claims, motor vehicle accidents, slip-and-falls, elder abuse, professional liability (dental, legal, medical malpractice), dog bites, premises liability, property damage, and wrongful death.
- Real Estate: Residential purchase agreements, failure to disclose, mold, nuisance, construction defects, contractor claims, HOA disputes, and home inspections.
Lori has been an active member of her local bar associations and the Inn of Court throughout her career. She is a recent past president of the Desert Bar Association (“DBA”) and has held various leadership roles, including DBA Mediation Chair, Fee Arbitration Chair, and volunteer administrator of the Court’s First Friday Voluntary Settlement Conference program at the Palm Springs Courthouse—a role she served in for 15 years. Lori continues to volunteer for the First Friday program, Court settlement days, and the Court’s Civil Bench-Bar Committee. As a member of her local Inn of Court, Lori actively promotes civility between attorneys and judges. Lori has served as a team leader for her local Inn of Court and is currently leading a team of judicial officers and attorneys in a community outreach program for an underserved middle school in the Coachella Valley.
Lori has served as an adjunct professor at La Sierra University’s Zapara School of Business, teaching business law to medical professionals in an MBA program at Eisenhower Medical Center, where she also earned her own MBA with a specialization in healthcare management.
