Skip to main content
BACK TO RESULTS
BACK TO RESULTS

Hon. JoAnne McCracken (Ret.)

  • In-person
  • Virtual
Home Office: Silicon Valley, California View More
Contact Case Manager
McCracken_JoAnne-900x1080.jpg
023 Final 2.jpg

Judge JoAnne McCracken (Ret.) joins JAMS after a distinguished legal career spanning nearly 40 years, including more than 15 years on the bench. Judge McCracken has served as a Trial Judge or judicial mediator in hundreds of trials and settlement conferences. Her broad experience includes presiding over factually and legally complex matters across a diverse range of civil litigation, including commercial, probate and real estate cases. She also brings extensive experience handling family law cases.

In recent years, in addition to conducting trials, Judge McCracken served as the primary Civil Settlement Conference Judge. In this role, she handled mediations and settlement conferences across a wide array of civil matters, earning a reputation for her high settlement rate.

Judge McCracken employs an approachable, case-specific focus to each matter, anchored in thorough preparation and a genuine understanding of the unique interests and concerns of the parties. She is known for her ability to rapidly dissect complex factual and legal issues while skillfully navigating the emotions often involved in intense disputes, allowing her to propose innovative, pragmatic solutions that pave the way to settlement.

What sets Judge McCracken’s mediation, arbitration and neutral evaluation practice apart is her deep trial experience on both sides of the civil and criminal bar. Prior to public service, she practiced at a civil litigation firm focusing on legal malpractice and insurance defense. She then worked for over 20 years as a criminal prosecutor and served as the Chief Trial Deputy for the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, personally trying more than 65 cases to verdict, including lengthy homicide, sexual assault and other serious felony trials—never losing a felony trial. 

This experience gives Judge McCracken an exceptional ability to anticipate how evidence will be received and how a jury will view competing narratives. She uses this perspective to lead candid, respectful and insightful discussions about the strengths and weaknesses of each case, ensuring the parties can realistically assess risk and weigh the costs and benefits of continued litigation, leading to lasting resolutions.

Representative Matters

Business Commercial

  • Trial experience as a judge: Presided over jury and court trials involving commercial breach of contract, contract interpretation, fraud, unfair competition, exercise of stock option rights, executive compensation, consumer fraud, easements and land use
  • Settlement experience as a judge: Conducted judicial settlement conferences and mediations, successfully resolving numerous business and commercial disputes involving breach of contract, fraud, conversion, breach of licensing agreement, compensation, unfair competition, shareholder claims, legal and medical malpractice, commercial leases, landlord/tenant, easements and Unruh Civil Rights Act/ADA claims
  • Attorney experience: Practiced civil litigation with an emphasis on legal malpractice and insurance defense

Employment Law

  • Trial experience as a judge: Presided over multiple jury and court trials, including:
    • Sexual harassment claims against employers
    • Wrongful termination claim by employee terminated for committing sexual harassment
    • Wrongful termination of senior executives
    • Failure to issue share certificates following the exercise of stock options
  • Settlement experience as a judge: Conducted judicial settlement conferences and mediations involving:
    • Wrongful termination
    • California Labor Code violations brought under PAGA
    • Executive compensation
    • Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) claims, including retaliation and age, race and disability discrimination

Estate Probate Trusts

  • Trial experience as a judge: Presided over multiple court trials involving claims of undue influence, fraud, financial elder abuse, breach of fiduciary duties, lost wills, interpretation of conflicting trusts, authenticity of wills (including the evaluation of expert document examiners) and the removal of personal representatives
  • Settlement experience as a judge: Conducted judicial settlement conferences and mediations, successfully resolving complex probate matters and dealing with large estates involving claims of elder financial abuse, undue influence and fraud

Family Law

  • Judicial experience: As a family law judge, presided over trials, evidentiary hearings and judicial settlement conferences involving a broad range of family law issues, including complex property division, tracing and reimbursement claims, child and spousal support and breach of fiduciary duties; prominent experience includes:
    • Presided over a lengthy trial involving the tracing of hidden, substantial cryptocurrency on the blockchain, utilizing extensive expert testimony
    • Presided over trials involving complex property division, tracing issues, Family Code Section 2640 reimbursement claims, Moore/Marsden calculations, Watts/Epstein credits, transmutations, breaches of fiduciary duty and concealed assets
    • Supervised complex child custody matters in high-conflict cases
    • Presided over a multitude of domestic violence cases between spouses
    • Successfully conducted numerous judicial settlement conferences, including Marvin claims, child custody disputes and highly sensitive, confidential matters

Insurance

  • Settlement experience as a judge: Handled judicial settlement conferences and mediations involving insurance issues, including bad faith claims and fraud and failure to pay professional claims
  • Attorney experience: Practiced insurance defense litigation, handling bad faith claims and complex coverage issues

Personal Injury

  • Trial experience as a judge: Presided over jury and court trials involving elder abuse, premises liability, slip-and-fall incidents, animal attacks, domestic violence and related personal injury disputes
  • Settlement experience as a judge: Conducted judicial settlement conferences and mediations, successfully resolving:
    • A wide array of personal injury matters, including motor vehicle accidents and animal attack cases
    • Wrongful death and medical malpractice claims
    • Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) claims related to accessibility
    • Sexual assault cases
    • Elder abuse and financial fraud
    • Insurance coverage disputes
    • Breach of privacy claims brought by parents against school district

 

Real Property

  • Trial experience as a judge: Presided over multiple court and jury trials, including:
    • A lengthy trial between former business partners concerning the ownership of real properties, alleged misappropriation of commissions, fraud and concealment, breach of fiduciary duties and the appointment of a partition referee
    • Easement and land use disputes
    • Numerous commercial and private party landlord/tenant disputes
  • Homeowners’ association (HOA) cases:
    • Presided over a trial lasting more than 60 days involving severe mold and termite damage to an owner's unit after the HOA failed to timely address flooding from an abandoned well; the case involved claims of breach of CC&Rs, Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act violations, nuisance, negligence, fraud and elder abuse, and defenses of the business judgment and judicial deference rules
    • Presided over a jury trial involving breach of CC&Rs and failure to repair against an HOA
  • Settlement experience as a judge: Conducted judicial settlement conferences and mediations, successfully resolving real estate matters involving commercial and private party landlord/tenant disputes, land use, franchises, partnership dissolutions, division of real estate and partition

Sexual Abuse and Misconduct

  • Judicial experience: Presided over sexual assault and sexual misconduct trials; conducted judicial settlement conferences in civil cases involving sexual assault allegations
  • Attorney experience: Litigated child and adult sexual assault cases for more than 10 years as a prosecutor, handling complex evidentiary issues, significant credibility determinations, forensic evidence and trauma-related evidence

Background and Education

  • Judge, Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, 2010–2026
    • Civil Trials, Mediations and Settlement Conferences, 2017–2019, 2022–2026
    • Family Law, 2019–2022
    • Felony Trials, 2014–2017
    • Misdemeanor Direct, Drug Treatment Court, 2010–2014
  • Office of the District Attorney, Santa Clara County, 1989–2010
    • Chief Trial Deputy
    • Supervising Deputy District Attorney
    • Special Operations Unit: Homicide and Sexual Assault
    • Sexual Assault Unit
  • Associate Attorney, Long & Levit, 1986–1989
  • J.D., magna cum laude, Santa Clara University School of Law, 1986
  • B.A., magna cum laude, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1983

Virtual & In-Person Locations

Home Office

  • Silicon Valley, CA

Available to Travel To

  • Sacramento, CA
  • San Francisco, CA
  • Santa Rosa, CA
  • Walnut Creek, CA

Virtual hearings available nationwide

News & Insights

Events

Scroll to top