While attending Pepperdine University School of Law, Ron Akasaka graduated from the school's prestigious Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, the number one ranked dispute resolution program in the nation.

For the past several years, Ron has been a full-time mediator, privately mediating a variety of cases, including actions involving the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, Consumer Legal Remedies Act, Business and Professions Code, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, fraud, personal injury, employment disputes, and business disputes. Ron currently serves as a panel mediator for the Central District of California Federal Court Mediation Program, mediating a variety of federal actions. He has also served as a mediator on the former Los Angeles County Superior Court ADR Panel, the Personal Injury Settlement Conference program, and the Civil Harassment Mediation Program. 

Prior to forming SMART ADR Inc., Ron worked for a national civil litigation firm specializing in the representation of various Fortune 500 companies, before becoming a partner at a boutique litigation firm specializing in consumer litigation.

Ron is a member of the Southern California Mediation Association and the U.S. Central District Court Mediation Panel and has presented at numerous industry events on various mediation topics.

Before he became a full-time mediator, Sean Ramia was a co-managing partner from a national civil litigation law firm. After 28 years of practice involving the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, Consumer Legal Remedies Act, fraud, product liability, construction, and personal injury, Sean turned his focus to helping parties resolve their disputes. Sean currently serves as a panel mediator for the Santa Clara County Superior Court, and was previously an arbitrator for the court issuing rulings in various personal injury actions. During his career Sean has represented a number of Fortune 500 companies and is very familiar with all aspects of litigation and trial.