Biography
Jay Folberg, Esq. has been a family and divorce mediator for over 30 years. Considered one of the founders of the ADR practice, he is particularly skilled at getting to the heart of financial issues and dealing with the emotional factors that create obstacles to settlement. A former Dean and now professor Emeritus at the University of San Francisco School of Law, he has taught and written extensively about family law.
Representative Mediations
- Marital separation agreement involving multiple vineyard properties and other assets, as well as parenting plan that responded to mother’s concerns about father’s “new age” religious practices
- Dispute between divorcing spouses over division of royalties and residuals from existing films and value of works in progress
- Valuation of stock options and other contingent compensation in dissolution of long term marriage
- Matter regarding value of medical practice and creation of parenting plan between physician undergoing sex change operation and wife who was business manager of his group medical practice
- Divorce settlement involving contested prenuptial agreement that attempted to protect a growing multimillion dollar closely held corporation and appreciating family estate
- Mediated terms of a postnuptial agreement in lieu of divorce, as well as other prenuptial agreements in aid of marriage
- Resolved several contested adoptions as part of inheritance disputes
- Mediated same-sex and heterosexual partnership agreements
- Settled intra-family and intergenerational business and property disputes of all types
- Mediated move-away parenting plans and financial arrangements for multi-home parenting
Completed Virtual ADR training conducted by the JAMS Institute, the training arm of JAMS.
- Lifetime Achievement Award, American College of Civil Trial Mediators
- Bernard Witkin Amicus Curiae Award for leadership in alternative dispute resolution and outstanding service to the California courts, Judicial Council of California
- Distinguished Contribution to Mediation Award, Mediation Society
- Distinguished Mediator Award, Academy of Family Mediators
- 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
- Chair, Judicial Council Task Force on Alternative Dispute Resolution
- President, Academy of Family Mediators
- Chair, Section of Dispute Resolution, Association of American Law Schools
- President, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts
- Chair, Oregon State Bar, Family Law Section
- 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, Board Chair (Non-profit, charitable foundation)
- JAMS Institute, Executive Director (Training and continuing education)
- Publications:
- Selected Books:
- Mediation: The Roles of Advocate and Neutral, 4th Ed. Aspen (2021)
- Lawyer Negotiation, 4th Ed. Aspen (2021)
- Resolving Disputes: Theory, Practice and Law, 4th Ed. Aspen (2021)
- 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)
- 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 School of Law (formerly Boalt Hall School of Law), 1968
- B.A. (Economics and Finance), California State University, San Francisco, 1963
Counsel Comments
- “[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
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- Construction Defect
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- Environmental
- Estates/Probate/Trusts
- Family Law
- Governmental/Public Agency
- Higher Education & Title IX
- Professional Liability
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