About Metcalf

Michael P. “Mike” Metcalf doing business as Metcalf Mediation & Arbitration Services is engaged in the practice of law that centers on the mediation and arbitration of civil disputes. Judge Metcalf has more than 40 years of legal experience that includes service in the United States Army Judge Advocate General’s Corp, as a District Attorney, District Judge and trial lawyer. Mike, a trial lawyer, is board-certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Civil Trial Law and Personal Injury Trial Law.

Judge Metcalf was a judicial pioneer who recognized the need for litigants to seek a resolution to their case before trial. As District Judge of a six county Judicial District with a heavy trial docket, Mike recognized a deeply unfulfilled need to explore settlement of cases pending in his court. Long before mediation became a part of the modern legal system, Judge Metcalf instituted a system of settlement conferences in his Court. The settlement conferences were a precursor to mediation. The settlement conferences were designed to give the parties an opportunity to discuss settlement of their dispute before going to trial.

From a diverse background of having served the legal profession for over forty years starting as an Army JAG officer, then as a trial lawyer and Judge, Mike now focuses his effort exclusively on the Arbitration and Mediation of civil disputes. His work as a mediator has resulted in a track record of having brought hundreds of disputes to an end by settlement.

A strong record of settling disputes springs from a unique mediation process Mike started. His mediation process is one which is calculated to encourage the parties to continue with the mediation process. In cases Mike mediates if the case does not settle at the first session, he recesses the mediation and proffers to the parties the opportunity to return for a free two hour round two “wrap up” session.