In recent years, Todd has dedicated his practice to serving as mediator in litigated and non-litigated matters with an emphasis on employment disputes and personal injury matters. He also provides limited employment-related legal services, including workplace investigations, drafting and negotiating employment contracts and severance agreements, and developing and implementing internal policies and procedures.

Todd began practicing law as an associate in the employment law department of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker. Later he formed the legal partnership of Helmer • Smith, which represented individual and business clients in various personal injury, civil rights, intellectual property, and business matters with a particular focus on litigating workplace disputes including discrimination, wrongful termination, sexual harassment, and ADA actions. He has experience litigating in both state and federal court, and has resolved scores of cases via trial, arbitration, and mediation, including a $1.9 million judgment in an age discrimination suit upheld by the California Supreme Court.

Todd has received mediation training on both coasts -- including Pepperdine’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution on the West and Linda Singer and Michael Lewis on the East. He is co-chair of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association ADR Section and a member of its Mediation Panel, an active member of the Southern California Mediation Association, a frequent speaker and California State Bar MCLE provider, and serves as a court affiliated mediator for the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Todd also serves on the Saturday Seminars Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section and was recently nominated to serve as co-chair of the Beverly Hills Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section.

In addition to his mediation practice, Todd is also Executive Vice President of Mediation Arbitration Resolution Services, Inc., a pioneer in the development of online ADR, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution Education, a non-profit organization dedicated to the research and education of the future of online ADR.

Todd received his law degree, with honors, from the George Washington University, National Law Center. He was selected as a member of the Moot Court Board and editor of The George Washington Journal of International Law and Economics, which published his note “A comparative analysis: The effect of American and Canadian labor laws and economic conditions on union participation.” Todd received his Bachelor of Arts, with honors, from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he served as the Associated Students President.