ADR Services

Arbitration; Mediation.

Additional Services

Court Discovery Facilitator/Referee; Private Judge; Parenting Coordinator.

Specialty Areas

Tree and Neighbor Law; Real Estate Disputes; Complex Commercial Issues; Construction; Land Use; Personal Injury; Insurance; Product Liability.

ADR Experience/Training

Initial training in 1990's at Pepperdine University's Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution & the Center for Mediation In Law; dozens of courses (training & teaching) since; neutral since 1996; Founder and Principal of Bonapart Resolution.

Education

JD, Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley, 1985; BA/BA, Poli Sci/Mass Comm, UC Berkeley, 1982.

Affiliations

Referee, facilitator & pro tem settlement judge in various jurisdictions.

Honors/Awards

Nominee Real Property Person of the Year - 2013.

Articles/Publications

Understanding Tree Law: A Handbook for Practitioners (Thomson Reuters 2014); dozens of articles on mediation and real property law.

ADR Services

Arbitration; Mediation; Special Master.

Specialty Areas

Construction; Real Estate; Business Litigation; Intellectual Property; Insurance Coverage; Personal Injury; Professional Liability.

ADR Experience/Training

Successfully mediated more than 2,000 cases, serves as Special Master for all Bay Area courts: sits on mediation panel for the 1st District Court of Appeals and the mediation panel for the 6th District Court of Appeals.

Education

BA, Poli-Sci, Chico State, 1978; JD, U.C. Davis, 1982.

Affiliations

Association of Trial Lawyers, ABA; American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).

ADR Services

- Mediation
- Arbitration

Additional Services

Gary Benton is an internationally recognized Arbitrator and Mediator with expertise in international business, corporate investment, high tech, telecom, life sciences and emerging growth matters.

Specialty Areas

- Business
- Commercial
- Contracts
- Employment
- Energy
- Entertainment
- Intellectual Property
- International
- Intra– Organizational
- Partnership Disputes
- Patent/Trademark
- Securities

ADR Experience/Training

Over 35 years - has handled hundreds of cases around the world and serves on the panels of AAA, ICC, CPR and other leading ADR institutions in the US, Europe and Asia.

Appointed USDC NDCA Early Neutral Evaluator.

Education

AB cum laude, Washington University (Political Science, International Development and Earth & Planetary Sciences)
JD cum laude. Tulane University
Legal studies, UC Hastings (non-matriculated)
International studies, Stanford Univ. (non-matriculated)

Licenses/Certification

Qualified as a US lawyer (California and DC) and an English solicitor
Admitted US S.Ct., 9th Cir., Fed Cir. and all California federal district courts

Affiliations

Full time Arbitrator and Mediator;
Adjunct Professor of Law at Santa Clara University;
Founder/Chairman of Founder and Chairman of the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center (SVAMC);
Previously a partner with Coudert Brothers and Pillsbury.

Honors/Awards

CIArb Chartered Arbitrator and Fellow; College of Commercial Arbitrators Fellow, NADN Appointee.
Named by the National Law Journal as one of the 25 ADR Trendsetters and Visionaries in the US. Also named to IAM 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategists.

Articles/Publications

See website www.garybentonarbitration.com for full publications listing

Additional affiliations: CIArb, CCA, NADN, ICCA, IBA, ABA, CLA, SVAMC, iTechLaw, AIPLA.
Co-Chair of the California Lawyers Association (CLA) International ADR Committee.

ADR Services

• Mediation
• Arbitration

Additional Services

Discovery facilitation

Specialty Areas

• Personal Injury
• Employment
• Discrimination/Sexual Harrassment
• Business
• Partnership Disputes
• Commercial
• Construction
• Real Estate
• Securities
• Credit/Financial
• Elder

ADR Experience/Training

Has mediated and settled hundreds of commercial cases. Dispute resolution (mediation and arbitration) has been Kevin's profession since 2006. He has well over one hundred hours in various mediation trainings and has coached mediation trainees.

Education

Santa Clara University School of Law, J.D., 1988
University of San Diego, B.B.A. (Bachelor of Business Administration), 1982

Licenses/Certification

California State Bar

Affiliations

Marin County Bar ADR Panel
Marin County Superior Court Judge Pro Tem
San Francisco Superior Court Settlement Conference Officer
Alameda County ADR Panel
Contra Costa Early Settlement Program Mediator

Articles/Publications

Marin County Bar Association Newsletter
Bulletin of Bar Association of San Francisco
Plaintiff's Magazine, October, 2021

Additional Services

• Mediation
• Arbitration
• Special Master

Specialty Areas

Business; Intellectual Property (Trade Secrets; Patents; Trademarks; Copyright); Consumer Class Actions; Employment Class Actions; Commercial; Legal Malpractice

ADR Experience/Training

• Mediator-Arbitrator-Referee, ADR Services, Inc. (Mediating since 1999)
• Adjunct Faculty, UC Berkeley School of Law and Haas Graduate Business School (since 2018)
• Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Ross Stores, Inc. (2007--2012)
• Vice President & General Counsel, Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, Inc. (2000-2007)
• Partner, Freeland Cooper LeHocky & Hamburg (1988--2000)

Education

J.D., University of California Berkeley School of Law; B.A., University of California, Los Angeles

Licenses/Certification

California State Bar; Admitted to practice in all US District Courts in California; Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; US Supreme Court

Affiliations

Former Co-Chair, American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section Mediation Committee; Co-Chair, BASF ADR/Arbitration Section; Former Member, Board of Directors, Contra Costa County Bar Association

Honors/Awards

Named "2022 Mediator of the Year" for the San Francisco area by Best Lawyers; Named among the "Best Lawyers in America for Mediation" for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 by Best Lawyers; Fellow, American Bar Foundation

Articles/Publications

"Road to Somewhere: Steps to Improve Settlement Efforts and Avoid Unpleasant Surprises", US News--Best Lawyers' "Best Law Firms of 2022" (Nov 4, 2021); "Reassessing Litigation in a Pandemic: 4 Questions Worth Asking", Daily Journal (July 31, 2020).

ADR Services

- Mediation
- Arbitration

Additional Services

Investigator, Trainer & Expert Witness

Specialty Areas

- Employment

ADR Experience/Training

Panels

American Arbitration Association (Commercial and Employment)
Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service
Superior Court of California, Counties of San Francisco, Alameda & Contra Costa
United States District Court, Early Neutral Evaluation

Education

Vanderbilt School of Law, J.D.
Cornell University, B.S., Labor Relations

Licenses/Certification

State Bar of California

Affiliations

Alameda County Bar Associations; American Bar Association; American Corporate Counsel; Bar Association of San Francisco (Insurance Section Chair), National Bar Association, ADR Section, and State Bar of California, Employment Section.

ADR Services

Arbitration; Mediation.

Additional Services

Dispute Resolution Consulting; Dispute System Design.

Specialty Areas

Business; Commercial; Employment; Entertainment - IP; Technology; Construction; Real Estate; Law Practice Disputes; Insurance Coverage; Partnership Disputes; International Commercial Arbitration.

ADR Experience/Training

Vice President and Managing Director of JAMS' Arbitration Practice; Conducted over 1,900 arbitrations and mediations before all major administering institutions (domestically and internationally); Former Chair of the Dispute Resolution Section of the ABA; Founding President of the College of Commercial Arbitrators; Served as ABA's Advisor to the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act; Frequent trainer and lecturer on arbitration and mediation topics

Education

J.D., University of Southern California (USC); A.B., University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)

Affiliations

Member of Advisory Board of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration; Board Member of California Dispute Resolution Council & Western Justice Center; Past President of LACBA and Legal Aid Foundation; Member of the following panels: (1) Hong Kong International Arbitration Center; (2) Beijing Arbitration Commission; (3) JAMS/Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration; (4) Japan Commercial Arbitration Association; (5) Korean International Arbitration Board; (6) Asian International Arbitration Centre; (7) Chicago International Dispute Resolution Association (CIDRA)

Honors/Awards

Lawyer of the Year for Arbitration, Best Lawyers (2016, 2020); "Best Lawyers in America," Best Lawyers (2005-2016, 2020); "Champion of Justice" Award, Western Justice Center (2019); "ADR Champion," National Law Journal (2016-2018); Los Angeles ADR Lawyer of the Year, Best Lawyers (2011, 2015); Los Angeles Mediation Lawyer of the Year, Best Lawyers (2013); Leader Among World's Commercial Arbitration Specialists, Global Arbitration Review (2013); Top California Neutral, Daily Journal (2003, 2006-2010, 2012)

Articles/Publications

Author of monthly ADR Practitioner column in Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal; "California is missing out on international arbitration business," Co-Author, Daily Journal (2018); "Resolve large fee disputes effectively," Co-Author, Daily Journal (2017); "Making Arbitration Work: Best Practices," Co-Author, Bar Bulletin (2016); "Witnesses in Arbitration - California Arbitration Act (Parts I & 11)," Author, Law.com (2015, 2016); "Enforcing Arbitration Agreements: The Choice of Procedural Law," Author, Law.com (2015); "First Things First: Design the Arbitration Process You Want," Author, Law.com (2015); "The Mediator as Process Designer," Author, Law.com (2014); "Reimagining Arbitration," Author, Law.com (2014); "Selecting Party Arbitrators," Author, ABTL Los Angeles (2014); "A Primer on Arbitrability," Author, Law.com (2014); "Expediting Arbitration," Co-Author, Just Resolutions (2012); "Reimagining Arbitration," Co-Author, ABA Litigation Journal, Volume 37, Number 4, Summer 2011; "The Search for Cost Effective and Efficient International Commercial Arbitration: There is a Solution," Co-Author, International Comparative Legal Guide to International Arbitration (2011).