About Kirk D. Yake, Attorney and Mediator

Legal Background

Kirk is a licensed California attorney, practicing law since 1993, with cases in San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles. He has practiced in the areas of construction defect litigation on behalf of homeowners’ associations and individuals, and represented parties in claims including environmental nuisance and contamination, real estate disputes, mobile-home park conversions, personal injury, employment and construction contracts. He has also served as general counsel for homeowners’ associations in many facets of community association law. Kirk is also a credentialed, experienced mediator and an arbitrator. He also prepares wills, trusts, and other estate planning documents for individuals. In 2013, Kirk formed a sole law practice, the Law Office of Kirk D. Yake.

During the first two years of working in his own law firm, Kirk completed preparation and trial of a single-family construction defect and breach of contract case in a six-week trial beginning in August 2014, with settlements approximating $1 million and a net jury verdict for his clients. Following the conclusion of post-trial motions on that matter, Kirk returned to his law, mediation and arbitration practice, serving as a mediator of employment discrimination cases for the Federal Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC), in which Kirk convened and mediated over a dozen cases. He also served as an arbitrator of attorney-client fee disputes for the San Diego County Bar Association. Recently, Kirk completed arbitration training for the Better Business Bureau’s Auto Line arbitration panel. During this time, Kirk has continued mediating various matters, through the San Diego Superior Court’s mediation program, the West Coast Resolution Group panel, and through his private mediation practice.

Kirk also prepares estate planning documents, including wills, health care directives, durable powers of attorney and living trusts for his clients. Mr. Yake recently volunteered for Wills for Heroes, preparing estate planning documents for veterans and first responders.

Kirk’s experience in construction defect claims includes, but is not limited to:

Soils issues: landslides, subsidence, inadequate compaction, consolidation, and differential settlement.
Mold damage and exposure: testing, remediation, and personal injury claims.
Water intrusion: numerous building envelope breach claims, including roofs, windows, balconies, decks, and stucco.
SB 800 Performance Standard violations.

Kirk relies upon principled negotiation and use of mediation to resolve difficult claims. He has been successful in resolving claims through negotiation without the filing of suit. Following the successful mediation of protracted litigation filed against a homebuilder at a La Jolla development, the builder’s counsel hired Kirk to assist it in defense of subsequent, unrelated claims in the same development. In another matter, Kirk negotiated the cost-sharing between the parties for the joint monitoring of a landslide contributing to the destabilization of a hilltop development. In another instance, Kirk created a litigation containment program for a condominium converter in order to minimize and address construction defect claims prior to litigation. When litigation is necessary, Kirk has successfully tried construction defect, contract, nuisance, employment dispute and governmental liability cases before juries and judges.

Mediation Background

In 2005, as an active member in the San Diego, Orange County, and Greater Inland Empire Chapters of Community Associations Institute (“CAI”), Kirk began mediation training and was a founding member of the mediation programs in two of the chapters. He served as a mediator of HOA claims for the Orange County Chapter of CAI, and pursued a mediation credential, which he earned from National Conflict Resolution Center in 2008. In addition to mediating part-time, in 2009 Kirk began serving as a volunteer mediator, both on the San Diego Superior Court panel and at San Diego Small Claims Court, where he mediated cases before they were tried, and mentored law and graduate students in mediation. Kirk has engaged in over 50 hours of ongoing additional training with NCRC and other providers, attended the American Bar Association’s Advanced Mediation and Advocacy Skills institute in November 2011, and completed the Strauss Institute’s interactive training program “Mediating the Litigated Case” in February 2012.

Kirk currently sits on the mediator panel of the West Coast Resolution Group at NCRC and the mediator panel for San Diego Superior Court. He also serves as a private mediator. Since 2011, Kirk has held elected positions for the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the San Diego County Bar Association, which he Chaired from 2012-2016. He currently serves as Vice-chair. Kirk takes an active role in developing educational programming on topics regarding mediation and arbitration, as well as on legislation and legal decisions affecting the practice of mediation.

Work and Education History

Employment

Law Office of Kirk D. Yake, 2013 to Present
Ward & Hagen, LLP, Of Counsel, 2008-2013
Naumann, Levine & Silldorf, LLP, Associate, 2005-2008
Burdman & Benson, LLP / Burdman Law Group, Associate, Partner 1998-2005
Silldorf, Burdman, Duignan & Eisenburg, Associate 1994-1998

Education

University of San Diego School of Law, J.D. 1993
University of California, San Diego, B.A. 1987

Licensing

Attorney, California State Bar (1993-Present)
Real Estate Broker, California Department of Real Estate (2005-Present)

Personal

A fourth-generation Southern Californian born and raised near the beach, Kirk is passionate about the ocean and the environment. A surfer who enjoys many ocean sports, Kirk is a longtime member of the Surfrider Foundation, and was a lifeguard on the City of San Diego’s beaches from 1985-1987. He has been a SCUBA diver since the early 1980s, and has dove worldwide, including Fiji, Palau and Micronesia, most recently Belize and Raja Ampat, Indonesia. Kirk enjoys backpacking, hiking and camping, including hiking locally and in the Andes, Patagonia, and Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. He has traveled through Mexico, Central and South America, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, and Tanzania.