Biography
Rachel Ehrlich mediates nationally. She focuses on insurance coverage and bad faith, catastrophic injury and wrongful death, construction, landlord-tenant, and complex commercial disputes. Counsel on both sides bring her the cases they expect to be hardest to settle: many parties, layered coverage, competing indemnity claims, and entrenched decisionmakers. As one lawyer put it: “You have a gift to get things done. It’s rare. ... Both plaintiffs and defendants agree on that.”
She arrives knowing the facts, the law, and what matters to the people making the decisions. Command of the merits lets her test each side’s assumptions candidly and credibly. She discusses risk in terms the decisionmaker can act on, whether that is an individual plaintiff, a claims professional, a volunteer board, or a C-suite executive.
She is skilled with the human side of a dispute. In wrongful death, sexual abuse, habitability, and first-party insurance cases, grief and anger can matter as much as liability. Her patience, respect for everyone in the room, and sense of humor help defuse tension and keep the parties at the table.
Insurance is where many negotiations stall, and it is where Rachel can be most valuable. Attorneys have called her “the insurance whisperer.” She has worked on every side of the table: as coverage and casualty counsel, claims professional, underwriter, and insurance executive with final settlement authority. As a result, she understands how carriers authorize settlements and what policyholders and claimants need before they can say “yes.”
Rachel doesn’t stop when the session ends. Many of her cases settle in the days, weeks, or months afterward, and she stays involved until the agreement is signed. She also developed Seriatim Mediation™, which works like that follow-up without the lengthy opening session, and matters often resolve before a traditional session would take place.
Areas of Focus
- Abuse / Molestation / Sexual Assault
- Business / Contractual
- Class Actions
- Construction Defects & Mold
- Employment
- Insurance Coverage & Bad Faith
- Government Liability
- Landlord-Tenant / Habitability
- Personal Injury
- Real Estate
Career
- 2014–presentFull-time neutral
- 2013–2014Chief Claims Officer & Vice President, CAMICO Mutual Insurance Company
- 2009–2013Senior Vice President, US Casualty Claims, Navigators Management CompanyAlso Vice President, Specialty Claims (2009–2012)
- 1997–2009Managing Counsel, Claim Legal Coverage, The Travelers Indemnity CompanyAlso National Team Leader for Regulatory Compliance (2004–2006), Claim Legal Coverage Counsel (1998–2005), and Staff Attorney (1997–1998)
- 1996–1997Associate, Robinson & Wood, Inc.
- 1996Judicial Extern to the Honorable Sandra Margulies, Alameda County Superior Court, Law & Motion Department
- 1992–1993Assistant Underwriter, Wexford Underwriting Managers
- 1991–1992Claims and Office Administrator, American E&S (now RT Specialty)
Court & Bar Panel Appointments
- Mediator, United States District Court, Northern District of California (2015–present)
- Mediator, Superior Court of California, Alameda and Contra Costa Counties (2015–present)
- Arbitrator and Mediator, California State Bar and Contra Costa County Bar Association Fee Arbitration & Mediation Programs (2015–2018)
Education
- J.D., University of California Law, San Francisco (1996)
- B.A., University of California, Santa Cruz, Phi Beta Kappa, College Honors (1990)
Professional Affiliations
- The Mediation Society, Board of Directors (2015–2019); Member through 2025
- ABA Committee on Mediator Ethical Guidance, Co-Chair (2019–2022); Appointed Member (2015–2022)
- ABA Section of Litigation, Member (2014–present)
- ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, Member (2014–present)
- Alameda County, San Francisco, and Contra Costa County Bar Associations, Member (2015–present); San Francisco Bar Association Ethics Committee (through 2019)
- California Dispute Resolution Council (CDRC), Board of Directors (2023–present); Member (2014–present)
- Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM), Mediator/Arbitrator Member (through 2021)
- Dean, CLM Claims College, School of Claims Mediation (2015–2019)
- Executive Council Member and Instructor, CLM Claims College, School of Construction (2014–2016)
- Guest Lecturer, Mediation Advocacy, University of California (2015, 2016)
Achievements & Awards
- Super Lawyers, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Northern California (2018–present)
- American Jurisprudence Award & CALI Award for Excellence, Negotiation/Mediation Process & Practice, UC Law SF (1996)
Outside the Office
When she’s not mediating, Rachel is cooking, listening to audiobooks, spoiling her sister’s kids, and keeping the peace between a dignified senior rescue German Shepherd and a younger Bouvier des Flandres who is determined to get the Shepherd to play.