Meet Our Neutrals — Henry W. “Skip” Jewett II

Four decades of trying personal injury cases on the defense side gave Henry W. "Skip" Jewett II an unusually deep command of the medical and expert-driven questions that sit at the center of the most complex claims. Skip practiced with three Orlando firms over that span, spending nearly 30 years at Rissman, Barrett, Hurt, Donahue, McLain & Mangan before retiring from trial practice at the end of 2024. His formative years came defending asbestos litigation in the late 1980s, when his firm carried more than 600 open files at a time and faced monthly trial dockets of 10 to 20 cases — an experience that required him to master the medicine across oncology, pulmonology, and industrial medicine, and that laid the groundwork for the more than 30 years of medical malpractice defense that followed.

A Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator, Skip graduated with honors from the University of Florida College of Law and is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell, with regular recognition as a Best Lawyer in America and a Florida Super Lawyer. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the Orange County Bar Association, and the Trial Lawyers Section of the Florida Bar. He stepped into mediating full time with ADRsource in January 2025 and has never regretted it. When he is not mediating, Skip can be found behind a camera, in a book, traveling, volunteering at a local food pantry, or on the golf course. We are fortunate to have Skip as part of our team of neutrals and hope that you enjoy learning more about him.

Why did you decide to become a mediator?

I thought about becoming a mediator several times over the course of my career but never took the next step to get certified. I was reasonably satisfied being a trial lawyer.

That changed in 2023. I had been practicing for 40 years and was trying a lot of cases. Richard and Scott had formed ADRsource around that time, so I began talking to them about transitioning to mediation. They were encouraging and supportive.

For various reasons, I wasn't able to retire from my trial practice until December 2024. But I was able to step immediately into mediating with ADRsource the following month. I have never regretted that decision.

What did you do before becoming a full-time neutral?

I was a trial lawyer on the defense side of personal injury cases from 1983 to 2024. I worked for three Orlando firms during that period: Dean, Ringers, Morgan & Lawton; Hannah, Marsee & Voght; and Rissman, Barrett, Hurt, Donahue, McLain & Mangan. I had been with Rissman for almost 30 years when I retired in 2024.

My first real formative period was between 1986 and 1991, when I worked full time defending asbestos cases. It was a tremendous experience that laid the groundwork for my later success in medical malpractice defense. At any given time, our firm carried over 600 open asbestos files, with monthly trial dockets of 10 to 20 cases.

In the late '80s, day-to-day asbestos litigation focused on medical and causation issues: did the plaintiff have a disease, and if so, did asbestos exposure cause it? This meant learning and applying sophisticated medical knowledge across the specialties of oncology, pulmonology, and industrial medicine — and taking and defending a lot of medical expert depositions. The expert depositions were contentious because, not surprisingly, there were very few asbestos-related medical issues on which both sides agreed.

Asbestos litigation wound down in the early 1990s, but my experience in that arena allowed me to move naturally into defending medical malpractice cases. The liability issues are different, but both involve complex medical questions and are driven heavily by expert testimony.

For the next 30-plus years, my practice was primarily defending physicians, nurses, hospitals and other healthcare practitioners. However, I also handled and tried a wide variety of non-med mal claims such as product liability, sovereign immunity, civil rights, motor vehicle accidents, premises liability, insurance coverage and even a government in the sunshine law case.

What is your favorite part of being a mediator?

Two things. First, I enjoy helping parties find solutions that work for them. Second, meeting people: the plaintiffs, the claims representatives, the defendants, and the attorneys. I enjoy "going behind the curtain" to meet and interact informally with plaintiffs — something that was essentially impossible when I was a defense lawyer.

What do you wish people did more often in mediation?

Prepare properly. Plain and simple. Nothing derails a potentially successful mediation more than one or both sides arriving unprepared.

Preparation means that: you have the information necessary to properly evaluate the key issues of negligence, causation, and damages; you have provided the other side with all the documentation they need to prepare; you have a clear goal for the mediation and a game plan to reach it; you have prepared your client to have realistic expectations as to both the mediation and the litigation overall, including the risks of not settling; and you have a realistic understanding of the other side's goals and probable approach to the negotiations.

Of these, information is probably the most important ingredient for successful negotiations. An all-too-common complaint during mediation is that one party has not provided the information needed to support a particular claim or defense.

Each side should understand what information the other needs to properly evaluate the case, and when they need it in order to be ready for mediation. I recommend that the parties communicate well in advance and agree on what information needs to be exchanged and a timetable for doing so.

Preparation isn't just good practice — it's often the single biggest factor within the parties' control that determines whether a mediation succeeds.

What is something about you not too many people are aware of?

I have two grandfathers who fought in the Revolutionary War — one was killed during Washington's retreat from Brooklyn in 1776. His great-grandson (my great-great grandfather) was an infantry captain in the 22nd Indiana Regiment during the Civil War and went on to become a lawyer and judge in Indiana after the war.

What do you do when you're not mediating?

My current non-work diversions are photography, reading, travel, and volunteering at a local food pantry. Travel helps feed the photography habit and reading fills in the gaps. I also play golf when I don't have enough frustration in my life.