ADR Services

Mediation

Specialty Areas

Water Rights; Land Use; Environmental

ADR Services

Arbitration; Mediation; Special Master.

Specialty Areas

Early Neutral Evaluation; Private Judging;

Specialty Areas

Judicate West is one of California’s leading providers of private dispute resolution services with a distinguished roster of proven neutrals, including retired state and federal court judges and attorney mediators and arbitrators from a variety of practice areas. Founded in 1993, the firm prides itself on delivering quality service through integrity, flexibility and a commitment to being the gold standard in alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Judicate West has offices in Santa Ana, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco.

ADR Services

Mediator; Arbitrator

Specialty Areas

Construction, Real Estate, Commercial Disputes

ADR Experience/Training

Twenty-five years experience as AAA Construction Industry and Large and Complex Case Panel member. 40 Hour Mediator Training. Mediator for Tuolumne County and Contra Costa county Superior Courts. Early Neutral Evaluator work for several Bay Area courts. 34 years experience representing parties in construction, real estate and business disputes.

Education

BA, Political Science, UC Berkeley, 1979; JD, Law, University of San Francisco, 1985

Licenses/Certification

California State Bar

Affiliations

BASF; AGC of California Legal Advisory Committee; Mediation Society, Member

Honors/Awards

Rated Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell

Articles/Publications

ADR Practice Guide

ADR Services

Arbitration; Mediation

ADR Services

Mediation and Arbitration

Specialty Areas

Real Estate, Fee Disputes, Entertainment, Contract, Business, Intellectual Property, Partnership Disputes

ADR Services

Mediation

Specialty Areas

Fee Disputes; Business; Contract

Education

BA, Education, University of Central MS, 1967

Licenses/Certification

BASF Mediation - California Registered Tax Preparer

Affiliations

American Bar Association

Honors/Awards

Congressional Certificate of Recognition; KQED - Local; ABA Council on Racial & Ethnic and Ethnic Justice

ADR Services

Special Master; Arbitration; Mediation.

Specialty Areas

Construction; Real Estate; Insurance; Business; Contracts; Professional Malpractice.

ADR Services

Mediation.

Specialty Areas

Early Neutral Evaluator.

Specialty Areas

Labor and Employment; Civil Litigation; Wage and Hour; ADA Access; ERISA Benefits.

ADR Services

Arbitration; Mediation.

Specialty Areas

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, and sits on mediation panel for the 1st District Court of Appeal.

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.

Specialty Areas

Early Neutral Evaluation, Arbitrations

Specialty Areas

Contract; Construction; Trusts and Estates; Personal Injury; Property Damage; Business; Partnership Dispute, Divorce and other family matters; Neighbor/Boundary Disputes.

ADR Experience/Training

Over twenty years' experience as a mediator and arbitrator; over 150 hours training in fundamental, business, elder law, family law, and collaborative mediation practices; has conducted mediations and arbitrations since 1996; conducted Mandatory Settlement Conferences for the Sonoma County Family Law Division from 2016-2018: Dean, Empire College School of Law, Santa Rosa, California since August 2018

Education

JD, Law, University of San Francisco, 1984.

Affiliations

Mediator and Arbitrator with Arbitration & Mediation Center, Santa Rosa since 1996 to the present; Past Board Member of Integrative Mediation of the Bay Area (IMBA); Former Chairperson, Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the Sonoma County Bar Association; current member of Sonoma County Bar Association Board of Directors

ADR Services

Arbitration; Mediation

Specialty Areas

Personal Injury, Product Liability, Real Estate, Commercial and Business Disputes, Consumer Disputes, Contract, Proposition 65, Neighborhood Disputes

ADR Experience/Training

Trained and certified by Steven Rosenberg - Mediation Training; Arbitration and Mediation experience in Multiple Bay Area Counties.

ADR Services

Mediation; Arbitration.

Specialty Areas

Facilitation; Partnering Contract.

Specialty Areas

Business; Contracts; Commercial; Real Estate; HOA. Landlord Tenant; Corporate; Partnership; Trust/Estate; Intellectual Property; Securities; Construction.

ADR Experience/Training

Full-time neutral. 30 years legal and mediation experience. Mediator in hundreds of disputes in litigation. Hundreds of hours of ADR basic and advanced training, including courses by Steve Rosenberg, Gary Friedman, US Northern District Court, BASF, Dispute Resolution Board Foundation, Caltrans. Mediator mentor and supervisor for Congress of Neutrals.

Education

J.D. and M.B.A, Taxation, Golden Gate University, 1981; M.A., Health education, 1977; B.S., Health sciences, Towson State University, 1973.

Licenses/Certification

California State Bar, Dispute Resolution Board Foundation Certifications for basic, proficiency updated and advanced skills in dispute resolution in construction industry; NASD Qualified Representative (Series 7 License) 1982.

Affiliations

American Arbitration Association Mediator and Arbitrator; The Mediation Society, Director and Officer; Association for Conflict Resolution, Commercial Section; American Bar Association, ADR Section; Bar Association of San Francisco; Dispute Resolution Board Foundation; FINRA; Queen's Bench and California Women Lawyers.

Honors/Awards

San Francisco Police Commissioner, Mayor Newsom appointee; San Francisco Ethics Commissioner, City Attorney Louise Renne appointee, twice elected chair; San Francisco Women Lawyers Alliance, President and Director; The Congress of Neutrals Mediator of the Year award.

Articles/Publications

You May Want to Mediate Your Dispute: Why Businesses Like Mediation, Westside Observer, a monthly newsletter of the West of Twin Peaks and West Portal community. Monthly column on construction, general business and tax topics for "Law Talk" in Turning Point, a monthly newsletter for Women Construction Owners and Executives, USA. A series of articles on tax topics for Commercial Property Guide, a publication for real estate professionals. Authored Chapter 4: "Tax Classification of Limited Liability Partnership," Limited Liability Partnerships, Formation, Operation and Conversion, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (1997). "Build Strong Work Relationships and Protect Your Bottom Line," Daily Pacific Builder, a construction industry publication (March 1996). Editor, "Tax Exchange" (Golden Gate University tax alumni newsletter) (1990). Ninth Circuit Survey, Golden Gate University Law Review---Starker II: Non-recognition of Like-Kind Exchanges is Stretched to New Limits, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 493 (1980); The Davis Decision: Expansion of Non-recognition of Involuntary Conversions, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 507 (1980).

ADR Services

Arbitration; Mediation; Special Master

Specialty Areas

International Disputes Consulting; Mock Arbitrations

Specialty Areas

Business; Commercial; Contracts; Energy; Intellectual Property; International; Real Estate; Technology.

ADR Experience/Training

Head of International Litigation and Arbitration Practice of 1000 Lawyer Firm; US Head of the International Arbitration Practice of 4200 Lawyer Firm; sat as ICC and SIAC Arbitratior; Completed AAA, ICDR, and CIArb training; Lectured on Arbitrators’ Jurisdiction, Arbitrator Ethics, Discovery, Remedies, Expedited Proceedings, adjusting Advocacy to meet contrasting rules and expectations in US Jury, Domestic and International Arbitration settings, etc.

Education

BA, Economics, Stanford University; J.D., Harvard Law School

Licenses/Certification

California State Bar; admitted to practice in all US District Courts in California; Ninth, Fifth and Tenth US Circuit Courts of Appeal; US Supreme Court.

Affiliations

Elected Member, American Law Institute; One of 31 Advisors to the ALI Project to Draft the Restatement of the US Law of International Commercial and Investment Arbitration; US Member, ICC Arbitration Commission; Member, AAA/ICDR Council; Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America; Former Chair, Litigation Section of the State Bar of California.

Honors/Awards

Named by The Daily Journal as one of California's "Top 100 Lawyers" (September 2018); Named by Best Lawyers in America as the "2018 San Francisco Arbitration Lawyer of the Year," and the "2020 San Francisco Mediation Lawyer of the Year;" Recipient of the Daily Journal's prestigious "2019 California Lawyer Attorney of the Year" award for thought leadership and longstanding efforts to bring International Arbitration to California; Listed in Global Arbitration Review's "International Who's Who in Commerical Arbitration" and in Euromoney's Commercial Arbitration Expert Guide.

Articles/Publications

Co-author (with Hon. Daniel Weinstein) of the chapter on mediation in Thomson Reuters' treatise Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts (4th Ed. 2016); Author, "Six Trends that Will Shape Future International Commercial Disputes," Law 360 (2017); Author, "Should Technology Companies Arbitrate?" Corporate Counsel (2017).

ADR Services

Arbitration; Mediation.

ADR Services

Arbitration; Mediation; Special Master.

Specialty Areas

Neutral Evaluation; Discovery Referee.

Specialty Areas

Real Estate law (transactions and litigation); Mortgage Law; Landlord Tenant
(Commercial and Residential); Construction Defects; Neighbor's Disputes; Homeowners Association; Broker Malpractice; Purchase and Sale; Common Ownerships Formation and Litigation; Divorce; Child Custody; Child Visitation; Business Valuation, Property Division

ADR Experience/Training

Christine has mediated and counseled high conflict real estate matters and has extensive experience in crafting creative, cost-effective, and collaborative strategies aimed at streamlining the process of resolving disputes; has acted as mediator in several family law cases involving clients with high assets cases located in the United States and abroad.

Education

LLM Tax- Masters in Law of Taxation, Golden Gate University, 2004; Juris Doctorate Degree, Golden Gate University, 1984; BA Psychology, University of San Francisco, 1980, with honors. Languages: French, Arabic, Armenian, Spanish.

Licenses/Certification

California Bar 1985; Washington DC Bar 2005; Certified Family Law Specialist by California State Bar since 2003; Broker License 1997; Mediator­ Certified by the Bar Association of San Francisco.

Affiliations

Member of the California State Bar since 1985; Member of the Washington D.C. since 2005; Real Estate Broker Since 1997; California Association of Realtors; National Association of Realtors; Member and Candidate to the Certified Commercial Investment Member Institute; Member of the Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo and Contra Costa Bar Associations; Real Property and Family Law Sections of the California State Bar and ABA.

Honors/Awards

Christine has been recognized as a Super Lawyer by her peers.

Articles/Publications

Coauthor with Bernhardt's California Real Estate Cases 2000- Continuing Education of the Bar; Real Property Law Reporter, Continuing Education of the Bar;
Article on Mediation - April 2005; Real Property Law Reporter, Continuing Education of the Bar;
Article on Shared Use and Ownership Community/separate property- January 2006; Real Property Law Reporter, Continuing Education of the Bar;
Article on Section 1031 Exchanges and Tenancy in Common Interests-July 2006; Real Property Law Reporter, Continuing Education of the Bar;
Article on Elder Abuse-Three Lessons for Lawyers (Elder Abuse), November 2008; Real Property Law Reporter, Continuing Education of the Bar;
Article on Partition-May 2010; Real Property Law Reporter, Continuing Education of the Bar;
Article on Marriage of Fossum-March 2011I; Real Property Law Reporter, Continuing Education of the Bar;
Article on Marriage of Valli, July 2011, Continuing Education of the Bar; Article on Marriage of Valli, May- 2014 (Supreme Court); Real Property Law Reporter, Continuing Education of the Bar; When Is An Elder’s Property "Taken" - Bounds v Superior Court-November 2014; Real Property Law Reporter, Continuing Education of the Bar; Forty Grand Prospects for Cotenancy Provisions in Shopping Center Leases- May 2015 Real Property Law Reporter, Continuing Education of the Bar;
His, Hers, or Theirs-November 2015; Real Property Law Reporter, Continuing Education of the Bar;
When Does Separate Property Become Community Property (Or Vice Versa)-July 2016.

ADR Services

Mediation.

Specialty Areas

Early Neutral Evaluation; Wage and Hour Class Actions; Training; Neutral Fact-Finding/Workplace Investigation.

Specialty Areas

Hundreds of successful mediations over the last decade, including: Business/Contract; Employment Discrimination and Harassment; Disability/ADA; Internal Workplace Claims; Partnership Disputes; Wrongful Termination/Retaliation; Wage and Hour; Landlord/Tenant; Probate/Will Contests.

ADR Services

Arbitration; Mediation; Special Master.

Specialty Areas

Collaborative Law.

Specialty Areas

Marital and non-marital dissolution; Division of assets; Spousal and child support; Custody and visitation; Elder and Adult Child disputes; Partnership and business disputes.

ADR Services

Mediation.

Specialty Areas

Business; Employment.

ADR Services

Arbitration; Mediation.

Specialty Areas

Probate/Trust; Elder Abuse.

ADR Services

Mediation.

Specialty Areas

Discovery Master; Project Neutral; Settlement Conference; Dispute Review.

Specialty Areas

International Banking; International Fraud; Offshore Trusts; International Investments; Project Neutral; Settlement Conference; Dispute Review.

ADR Services

Arbitration; Mediation.

Specialty Areas

Early Neutral Evaluation.

Specialty Areas

Employment; Business; Contract; Personal Injury.

ADR Services

Arbritation; Mediation

Specialty Areas

Financial expert witness; Independent expert; Single joint expert

Specialty Areas

Forensic Accounting; Business Valuation; Financial Investigation; Economic Damages

ADR Experience/Training

Frank Wisehart is a court approved expert witness with 25 years of experience in: forensic accounting, business valuation, IP valuation, family law, transaction due diligence, damages, bankruptcy/reorganization. He is a trusted advisor on the financial implications of strategic transactions and business disputes.

Education

MBA, Cornell University; BS, Business Administration, Miami University

Licenses/Certification

CPA, ABV, CFE, CVA, MAFF

Affiliations

Baker Tilly International

ADR Services

Mediation; Special Master.

Specialty Areas

Personal Injury; Wrongful Death; Construction; Construction Defect; Maritime; Environmental; Products Liability; Commercial / Contracts / Transactions; Real Estate; Employment.

ADR Experience/Training

Mediating the Litigated Case Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University School of Law; Over 100 hours of one-on-one training with Charlotte Venner, SFTLA "Mediator of the Year"; "Drafting Effective Settlement Agreements" Ron Kelly; The Mediation Society 2013 Public Education Conference.

Education

Juris Doctorate, University of San Francisco School of Law, 1991; Bachelor of Arts, Science, Boston University, 1979; Engineering, Northeastern University, 1977.

Licenses/Certification

One-Man Submarines, Non-destructive Testing, Deep Sea Diving College of Oceaneering, Los Angeles CA
400 Ton Master's License, All Oceans, Republic of Panama.

Affiliations

California State Bar Association; California Dispute Resolution Council; Bar Association of San Francisco, ADR and Mediation Sections; Santa Clara County Bar Association, ADR Section; Marin County Bar Association ADR Section; Contra Costa County Bar Association, ADR Section; Solano County Bar Association, ADR Section; Sonoma County Bar Association, ADR Section.

Honors/Awards

Managing Editor University of San Francisco Maritime Law Journal 1991; Student Bar Association Award for Most Significant Contribution to the Character of the Law School Through Outstanding Service 1991; John Meehan Fellow (Recognition of a distinguished alumnus who has contributed to the growth and development of future lawyers by serving as a mentor to the profession). University Honors Research Grant, University of California at Santa Barbara. Allowed to complete degree in absentia, at U.C.S.B., Boston University.

Articles/Publications

Cultural Awareness in Mediation THE TRIAL LAWYER Magazine, San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association. "How Confidential Is Mediation Anyway?" PLAINTIFF MAGAZINE. Numerous other articles addressing Risk Management.

ADR Services

Mediation, Arbitration, Special Master

Specialty Areas

Real Property Referee Services; Case Evaluation; Collaborative Consulting Services.

Specialty Areas

Family; Real Estate; Environmental; Same-sex partnership disputes; Non-Marital Dissolutions; Land Use; LGBT Issues; Construction.

ADR Experience/Training

My mediation practice focuses on the resolution of conflicts between co-owners of property in a personal relationship - marital, non-marital, friendship, and parent/child or siblings - as well as Tenancy-in-Common disputes, and other real property and business disputes. I have more than 25 years litigation experience, and have been trained through Gary Friendman and the Federal Court program. My goal is to integrate the personal issues into a comprehensive approach to practical problem solving.

Education

JD, Berkeley, 1981; MA, Urban Planning/Geography, Berkeley, 1991;

Licenses/Certification

State Bar of CA, 1981; Federal Court Bar, 1983.

Affiliations

The Mediation Society, board member.

Articles/Publications

Counseling Unmarried Couples: A Guide to Effective Representation, American Bar Association 2014. Making It Legal: A Guide to Same-Sex Marriage, Domestic Partnerships & Civil Unions, Nolo Pres 2014.