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Jay Folberg, Esq.

T: 415-982-5267
F:415-982-5287
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“[Jay possesses] the temperament and patience that made it possible to settle an extremely complicated and contentious issue. Without you, there simply would not have been a deal.”

-Chairman of prominent Bay Area non-profit organization

Lifetime Achievement Award, American College of Civil Trial Mediators, 2011

Case Manager

Scott Schreiber
JAMS
Two Embarcadero Center
Suite 1500
San Francisco, CA  94111
415-774-2615 Phone
415-982-5287 Fax
Email:

Specialties

Locations

Available to hear cases nationwide.
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Jay Folberg, Esq., former Dean at the University of San Francisco School of Law, has resolved complex disputes on a wide variety of subjects. Considered one of the founders of ADR practice with decades of experience as a mediator and arbitrator, he is particularly skilled at getting to the heart of multifaceted issues and dealing with the human factors that create obstacles to settlement.

ADR Experience and Qualifications

  • Successfully mediated multi-party institutional and public policy disputes, complex business, education related, employment, healthcare, construction, housing, environmental, land use, estate and probate, family, intellectual property, non-profit organizations, partnership, civil rights, and sexual harassment cases
  • Trained judges and lawyers in mediation throughout the world and has extensive international ADR experience
  • Authored several books and numerous articles on ADR

Representative Matters


  MEDIATIONS:
 
  Business/Commercial
  • Corporate restructuring based on minority shareholders' suit
  • Complex trade secrets, unfair competition claims and cross claims between major nonprofit healthcare organizations
  • Dissolution of family business, including federal libel and slander claims
  • Fraud and breach of contract claims involving sale of car dealership
  • Trade secrets and unfair competition claims between biotech companies regarding testing methods, evaluation protocols, and marketing strategies for cancer treatment
Education/Schools
  • Faculty disability and age discrimination cases
  • Special Education disputes
  • Tenure, promotion, and dismissal cases
  • Title IX sports discrimination claims
  • Class action by Native Americans against school closure
Employment
  • Employment discrimination and sexual harassment claims against major companies and federal agencies
  • Wrongful termination claims of executive employment contracts
Environmental
  • Environmental conflict involving water quality and CEQA issues for a large residential development
  • Land use and traffic impact dispute between municipality, county, and environmental groups regarding residential development involving over 8,000 new homes
Estates/Probate/Trusts
  • Contentious dispute between descendents over stock in closely held corporation owning a destination resort
  • Intergenerational family dispute between siblings and their children over use and expense allocation for multimillion dollar estate
  • Multi-party dispute over descendant’s family trust
Family Law
  • Divorce, family, and intergenerational conflicts of all types
Government/Public Agency
  • Federal housing discrimination suit involving multi-unit residential units
  • First amendment and false arrest claims by protestors against private and public theme park and entertainment facilities
  • Public policy conflict between State of California and county energy assistance programs over allocating an ongoing $70 million a year federal grant
Professional Liability
  • Legal ethics and malpractice claims against attorneys

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

  • Lifetime Achievement Award, American College of Civil Trial Mediators, 2011
  • Bernard Witkin Amicus Curiae Award for leadership in alternative dispute resolution and outstanding service to the California courts, Judicial Council of California, 2003
  • Distinguished Contribution to Mediation Award, Mediation Society, 2000
  • Distinguished Mediator Award, Academy of Family Mediators, 1999
  • Chair, Ethics Committee, American Bar Association, Section of Dispute Resolution
  • Member, American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA)
  • Chair, Judicial Council Blue Ribbon Panel of Experts on Arbitrator Ethics, 2001-2002
  • Chair, Judicial Council Task Force on Alternative Dispute Resolution, 1998-1999
  • President, Academy of Family Mediators, 1989-1990
  • Chair, Section of Dispute Resolution, Association of American Law Schools, 1985-1986
  • President, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, 1983-1984
  • Chair, Oregon State Bar, Family Law Section, 1979-1980
  • Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust - National Arbitration Panel
  • California Court of Appeal Mediation Panel
  • Federal Court (NDC) Mediation Panel
  • CPR Panel of Distinguished Neutrals
  • JAMS Foundation, Executive Director (Non-profit, charitable foundation)
  • JAMS Institute, Executive Director (Training and continuing education)
  • Publications:
    • Selected Books:
    • Mediation: The Roles of Advocate and Neutral, Aspen (2006)
    • Lawyer Negotiation, Aspen (2006)
    • Resolving Disputes: Theory, Practice and Law, Aspen (2005)
    • Divorce and Family Mediation, Guilford Press (2004)
    • Mediation: A Comprehensive Guide, Jossey-Bass (1984)
    • Selected Articles:
    • Arbitration Ethics - Is California the Future? 18 Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, Issue 2 (2003)
    • Alternative Dispute Resolution: An Empirical Analysis, 46 Stanford Law Review 1487 (1994)
    • Use of ADR in California Courts: Findings and Proposals, 26 USF Law Review 343 (1992)

Background and Education

  • Experience as a litigator of commercial and insurance cases (Rives & Schwab, now Stoel Rives), as well as civil rights, education, consumer related disputes, including class actions, in state and federal courts (founding Executive Director of Oregon Legal Services)
  • As a professor, taught trial practice, civil procedure, family law, and ADR courses at the University of San Francisco (Dean 1989-1999), Northwestern School of Law - Lewis and Clark College, the University of Washington, and the National Judicial College
  • Extensive experience as a judge pro tem
  • J.D., University of California Berkeley (Boalt Hall), 1968
  • B.A. (Economics and Finance), California State University, San Francisco, 1963