Hon. John A. Flaherty (Ret.)

T: 408-288-2240
F:408-295-5267
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Hon. John A. Flaherty (Ret.) served over 20 years on the Santa Clara County Superior Court before joining JAMS. He applies his extensive experience from the bench toward the resolution of a variety of cases. Judge Flaherty's expertise, persistence, and patience have made him an accomplished mediator, arbitrator, and discovery referee.

ADR Experience and Qualifications

  • Business/commercial transactions
  • Complex construction defect
  • Construction accident
  • Employment
  • Environmental
  • Insurance
  • Intellectual property
  • Personal injury
  • Product liability
  • Real estate
  • Toxic tort

Representative Matters

  • Mediated and arbitrated multi-million dollar securities, business, and real estate disputes
  • Mediated and resolved an estate matter where beneficiaries disputed the loan and gift of real property
  • Successfully mediated several multi-million dollar toxic tort disputes
  • Served as court-appointed referee on many high-profile cases involving trade secrets and class action litigation
  • Mediated and settled a $12 million catastrophic personal injury case involving an accident between a school bus and a pedestrian rendered quadriplegic as a result
  • Successfully mediated many business and employment cases
  • Successfully mediated numerous employment disputes involving allegations of discrimination, wrongful termination, theft of trade secrets and employee benefits issues, including ERISA
  • Successfully mediated complex intellectual property dispute over the confidential coding and algorithms for software that provides an automated valuation model for real estate appraisals; the case involved complex issues of patent infringement and theft of trade secrets
  • Successfully resolved breach of contract and fiduciary duty disputes related to real estate loans arising from the financial crisis and recession

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

  • Silicon Valley Campaign for Legal Services, Board Member, 1999-2009
  • Selected as One of the Top Ten Mediators in Silicon Valley, San Jose Magazine, 2002
  • Trial Judge of the Year, Santa Clara County, 1987
  • Member, California Judges Association
  • Member, Santa Clara County Bar Association
  • Member, President's Advisory Council, Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, 2001-present
  • Chair, Trial Court Coordination Advisory Committee to the Judicial Council, 1993-1998
  • Chair, Judicial Council Committee on Arbitration in the early 1980's
  • Lectured at Stanford Law School and the University of Santa Clara Law School on mediation, arbitration, and civil procedure; and for the CEB on real estate, probate, and business litigation issues

Background and Education

  • Judge of the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, 1977-1998
    (Presiding Judge, 1986; Supervisor of the Civil Division, 1997)
  • Founding partner, Berliner, Cohen & Flaherty, now Berliner Cohen
  • J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, 1963
  • B.A., Stanford University, 1960