For more than 50 years, John R. (Jack) Williams has handled, discovered, negotiated, resolved and taught civil litigation as a trial lawyer, as a mandatory settlement conference pro tempore, as an adjunct professor of law and as a private neutral mediator in the Bay Area.
Since becoming a full-time mediator in 1999, Mr. Williams has successfully mediated thousands of cases. He mediates cases of all subject matters, including personal injury, priest and sexual abuse, wrongful death, employment, high-tech and intellectual property, real estate, construction defect, insurance and bad faith and cases with deep complexity involving multiple parties.
Prior to becoming a neutral, Mr. Williams specialized in insurance defense litigation for 30 years, and he tried to completion more than 200 jury cases during his career as a litigator and the founding partner of three law firms.
Apart from his unrivaled trial experience and success as a mediator, Mr. Williams is noted for being fair, extremely knowledgeable about the law and its nuances, personable, funny and likable, tenacious regarding follow-up and exceptionally prepared.
Read counsel comments about Mr. Williams' skills and style as a neutral.
ADR Experience and Qualifications
- Full-time mediator since 1999, with a high success rate
- Hundreds of hours of specialized mediation training, including at Harvard and Pepperdine law schools
- Mandatory settlement conference judge pro tempore for Santa Clara County Superior Court from the institution of its pro tem program in 1974 to the present
- Private settlement judge selected by attorneys for resolution of lawsuits before mandatory settlement conference, 1985 to the present
- Alternative Dispute Resolution Panel, approved mediator, Santa Clara County Bar Association, San Francisco County Bar Association
- Victim Offender Mediation Program, approved mediator for Santa Clara County Juvenile Probation Department
- Thousands of varied cases since 1965 in settlement conferences, arbitrations and mediations as an advocate for clients
Representative Matters
Mr. Williams mediates cases of all subject matters, including major tort cases resulting in personal injury and wrongful death, as well as cases based in product liability, premises liability and negligence. Associated with those, he mediates insurance bad faith, insurance excess disputes and catastrophe fire subrogation recovery. He has resolved many cases in employment litigation, including race, gender and age discrimination and wrongful termination, as well as unusual mediation of priest and clergy abuse, elder abuse, sexual harassment and molestation.
