BROCKTON — When Mayor John T. Yunits Jr. leaves office he will go to work in the private sector with a mediation firm that has negotiated multi-million-dollar settlements for hundreds of clergy sex abuse victims, among other high-profile cases.

Yunits, 53, said Tuesday he has accepted an offer to work at Commonwealth Mediation and Conciliation Inc. at 130 Liberty St. The mayor said he intends to complete his full term of office, which expires in January, but is looking forward to his future.

"I think it challenges me to do what I do best and that is to find solutions," Yunits said Tuesday. "Mediation is not necessarily about finding facts, it's about finding solutions. I think I will be extremely good at this."

Yunits announced last month he will not seek re-election to a sixth term. Before being elected mayor in 1995, he worked as a defense attorney at McCluskey, Yunits & Buckley. He holds degrees from Boston College and the New England School of Law.

Once he leaves office, Yunits will work with attorney Paul A. Finn, who has been a lead negotiator on settling clergy sex-abuse cases including those between victims and archdioceses in Boston, Fall River and Providence.

"His business has taken off recently," Yunits said.

Among the settlements Finn has negotiated is the $85 million settlement that was reached with the Archdiocese of Boston in 2003, settling claims for more than 500 clergy sex-abuse victims.

He also mediated the cases involving defrocked priest John Geoghan in 2001 and mediated the 1992 clergy sex-abuse cases involving the late James Porter.

In 2003, Finn also reached a $20 million settlement in a case out of Attleboro stemming from the death of two department of public works employees who were killed in an explosion.

Finn ran a private practice in Brockton from 1977 to 1992 before founding Commonwealth Mediation and Conciliation Inc., of which he is the president. In 2003, he was named the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly "Lawyer of the Year."

Finn met Yunits years ago while both were handling court cases and has now tapped him to help work on expanding his business.

Commonwealth Mediation and Conciliation Inc. employs four full-time employees and has 25 independent contractors. Finn estimated the business handles between 700 and 850 claims a year.

"With Jack we plan on obviously increasing that number," Finn said.

Commonwealth Mediation and Conciliation Inc. works to resolve disputes before they land in court, Finn said.

"We do a lot of medical malpractice mediation, business disputes, real estate disputes," Finn said. "I think with Jack we'll be able to get more of that kind of business. He's going to add to our credibility."

Yunits said he hopes to help grow the business in the area of municipal mediation. After he leaves office he will not handle any Brockton-related cases for at least a year, he said.

He also plans to do some of his own consulting on the side and as his tenure winds to a close, take time here and there to help build a client base for his new position.

"It's good, clean, honest work," Yunits said. "There's no risk of conflict. There's just so much work outside of the city, it works out well."

One area in particular where Finn expects Yunits to drum up some business is within the construction industry.

"I think he brings to the table a vast wealth of information and experience," Finn said. "He is a known conciliator. He's a consensus builder."

Jennifer Kovalich can be reached at jkovalich@enterprisenews.com.