Sejal H. Patel is a long-time mediator, investigator, and trial and appellate attorney. For over 25 years, Patel has worked through the entire life cycle of disputes from grand juries and investigations, through pretrial motions and trials, and finally to state and federal Supreme Court appeals. In every case, she honors three core pillars of her practice, as developed in her graduate studies in law and in ethics – to listen with care and without judgment, to respect everyone involved, and to resolve conflicts efficiently and effectively.

Patel has worked as a Trial Attorney in the Criminal Division/ Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice through the Attorney General’s Honors Program, a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia in the Sex Offense and Domestic Violence Unit, an Associate at Pillsbury Law in the White Collar and Corporate Investigations Group, Senior University Counsel at Stanford University’s Office of the General Counsel, and a solo practitioner. Her career highlights include litigating a wrongful conviction in 2008, trying a complex federal terrorism case in the U.S. District Court in Boston in 2012, her published decisions in the Massachusetts and California courts, and investigating and adjudicating highly sensitive, high-profile matters for Bay Area institutions, including extensive expertise in Title IX and employment matters. She is known for her caring and compassionate approach to problem-solving through what can feel like life’s most intractable problems.

In the interest of helping parties find peace in high-stakes conflict, Patel was certified as a mediator in 2005 in Boston and mediated hundreds of matters there. She recertified in 2025 at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. In addition to her panel service for the BASF, Patel also serves as a Court Settlement Officer for the San Francisco Superior Court’s Mandatory Settlement Conference program and as a mediator for the Alameda Day of Court and Court Mediation Programs.

Patel is a graduate of Northwestern Law School (J.D. 2000) and Harvard Divinity School (M.T.S. 2014). She continued studies of trauma, compassion, cultural sensitivity, and wellness at the Institute of Buddhist Studies from 2022-2025. She has written and published extensively on these topics and is fluent in Spanish, Gujarati, and Hindi. Her full biography and publications are available on her website at www.sejalhpatel.com.

Hourly rate: $800