Hon. Janet L. Sanders (Ret.) joined JAMS after over two decades of distinguished service on the Massachusetts Superior Court and six years on the Massachusetts District Court. She presided in the Business Litigation Session of the Massachusetts Superior Court for nine years, the last six as its administrative justice. Throughout her career as a jurist and as an ADR practitioner, she has consistently demonstrated exceptional skill in navigating high-stakes litigation. She is  recognized within the legal community for her diligence, persistence, and innovative approaches to securing mediation settlements and for her skill in conducting arbitrations in a learned, efficient and  streamlined manner. 

• Extensive judicial experience handling complex business and commercial disputes, including class actions, mass torts, multi-party litigation, high-profile cases like the Massachusetts opioid litigation, and a wide range of matters such as personal injury, wrongful death, employment discrimination, Massachusetts Wage Act violations,  insurance, environmental regulation, professional malpractice, and corporate disputes among investors, stockholders, officers, partners, and departing employees.
• Substantial arbitration and mediation experience, including cases involving federal Video Privacy Protection Act violations, predatory lending practices, commercial lease disputes, fraud/misrepresentation in business sales, breach of contract and unfair business practices, disputes over defective products or services, and conflicts between businesses and employees, such as non-compete issues and misappropriation of funds. Her mediation experience also includes claims of wrongful termination, discrimination, retaliation, and breach of contract against private and public employers; disputes over pandemic-related business losses between healthcare entities and insurers; defamation claims involving public employees; and personal injury claims such as slip and fall cases.
• Served on a variety of committees, including the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Committee on Judicial Evaluations and the Superior Court Education Committee. She trained and mentored new judges and took an active interest in continuing legal education, both within the superior court and with outside organizations, presenting on topics that included employment discrimination, the Massachusetts anti-SLAPP statute, evidence, trial advocacy and noncompetition agreements.

Memberships and Affiliations

• Member, Boston Bar Association (BBA)
• Member, American Law Institute, 2018–2025
• Education Committee, Superior Court 2004–2023
• Member, New Judges Training Committee, Superior Court, 2011–2023
• Judicial Mentor, Trial Court Judge-to-Judge Mentor Program, 2011–2023
• Member, SJC Committee on the Judiciary and the Media, 2017–2023
• Member, SJC Committee on Judicial Evaluations, 2013–2019
• Member, Boston Inns of Court, 2006–2025
• Member, Editorial Board, Boston Bar Journal, 2006–2009
• Former Member, National Association of Women Judges
• Former Member, Women’s Bar Association
• Former Co-Chair and Member, Section on Complex Litigation, Massachusetts Bar Association

Selected Publications

• “Jury Selection in Progress: Yes, You May Enter,” Boston Bar Journal, Vol. 54 No. 3, Summer 2010
• Article on Business Litigation Session, Lawyer’s Weekly, March 9, 2017
• “New Standing Order: Hello, Standard Definitions; Goodbye, General Objections,” Boston Bar Journal, Vol. 53 No. 2, March/April 2009
• “Judicial Evaluations: What Would John Adams Think?” Reflections of the Justices, Massachusetts Superior Court, 2009
• “When Everything Slowed Down: Evaluating the Right to Speedy Trial in a Pandemic,” Boston Bar Journal, Vol. 65 No. 2, April 7, 2021

Selected Awards and Presentations

• Judicial Excellence Award, Massachusetts Association of Trial Attorneys, 2010
• Panelist for MCLE, BBA and MBA on topics including employment law, business litigation, anti-SLAPP statute, evidence, trial advocacy and noncompetition agreements
• Annual presentations on business litigation, MCLE and BBA, 2011–2020

Teaching and Academic Work

• Teaching team member in trial advocacy workshops, Harvard Law School, 1998–2005
• Boston University School of Law
  • Instructor in trial advocacy, 2008–2013
  • Instructor in legal writing, 1989–1993
• Instructor in master’s program for criminal justice, Suffolk University, 1998–1999

• Massachusetts Superior Court, 2001–2023
  • Associate Justice, Business Litigation Session, 2013–2014
  • Administrative Justice, Business Litigation Session, 2014–2020
  • Regional Administrative Justice, Norfolk County, 2007–2011
• Massachusetts District Court, 1995–2001
  • Presiding Justice, Concord District Court, 2000–2001
  • Associate Justice, Waltham District Court, 1995–2000
• Partner; Zalkind, Rodriguez, Lunt & Duncan; 1990–1995
• Associate, Hill & Barlow, 1984–1989
• Law Clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Robert Keeton, 1984
• Law Clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Rya Zobel, 1982–1983
• J.D., magna cum laude, Harvard Law School, 1982
  • Board of Student Advisers
  • Research Assistant to Professor Arthur Miller
• Freelance Reporter; National Law Journal, Texas Monthly, UPI; 1977–1979
• Reporter, Houston Chronicle, 1976–1979
• B.A., Stanford University, 1976
  • Phi Beta Kappa
  • Honors in comparative literature