“The quality of our lives depends not on whether or not we have conflicts, but on how we respond to them.” – Thomas Crum

Employment disputes are often emotionally charged and deeply personal. As a mediator, Polina Bernstein draws upon over two decades of experience representing both employers and employees to bring a uniquely balanced point of view with an understanding of the emotions, frustrations, challenges, and motivations of both sides. She brings compassion and provides the opportunity for each side to feel heard while also offering a direct approach to steering each dispute toward resolution.

Polina offers deep expertise to each mediation, having specialized in employment law on behalf of both employers and employees and having participated in hundreds of mediations and negotiations. She began her legal career focusing on employment law in the big firm sector where she worked for over eight years. For six of those years, she practiced in the labor and employment department of Winston & Strawn, LLP, a global law firm and one of the oldest firms in the United States. In 2009, Polina founded Bernstein & Friedland, P.C., a law firm focused exclusively on employment law matters where she took on representation of employees who were wrongfully terminated, harassed or underpaid in addition to continuing to represent employers ranging from the largest in the nation to small mom and pop businesses.

Polina has substantial expertise in matters involving discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, retaliatory discharge, defamation, misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract. She frequently litigated and advised clients on pregnancy and disability discrimination and reasonable accommodation issues. She has also handled many single-plaintiff wage and hour and representative PAGA matters involving wage and hour violations, including unpaid commissions claims. 

Polina achieved great success by serving as a passionate advocate for her clients, and her most satisfying moments in practice have been to see the relief her clients have felt after reaching a settlement that ends the stress and uncertainty of litigation and offers a result that changes their lives for the better or makes good business sense for their company.

Her breadth of experience on both sides of the “v” allows Polina to quickly and efficiently understand the issues at play in each case and assess the strengths and weaknesses of the parties’ positions.

Polina developed her strong work ethic and dedication to excellence in her youth as one of the top-ranking athletes in the United States in the sport of rhythmic gymnastics. As a member of the U.S. National Team, she represented the United States in international competition. Polina brings this same work ethic to each mediation with extensive preparation and diligent effort to bring cases to a resolution.

Polina currently serves as a settlement officer in the Resolve Law LA Mandatory Settlement Conference Program in which she has continued to see success in resolving the settlement conferences assigned to her.