Hon. Julia M. Nowicki (Ret.) has been a full-time arbitrator and mediator since joining JAMS in 2006. She focuses her practice on a wide variety of arbitrations, including complex commercial arbitration, sitting as both a single arbitrator and on tripartite panels.
Prior to joining JAMS, Judge Nowicki presided for more than twenty-two years in several divisions of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Chicago, Illinois, where she resolved a variety of matters including commercial disputes; corporate and partnership governance matters; class actions; insurance coverage disputes; professional malpractice; product liability, wrongful death, and Structural Work Act cases; employment, restrictive covenant, and executive termination cases; injunctive and declaratory judgment matters; trust disputes; and administrative review.
ADR Experience and Qualifications
Judge Nowicki has extensive experience in the resolution of complex multi-party disputes in the following areas:
- Business Commercial
- Class Action
- Corporate Governance
- Employment/Restrictive Covenants/Executive Compensation/Discrimination
- Health Care
- Insurance Coverage
- Professional Liability
- Real Estate
Representative Arbitration Matters
- Business Commercial
- Accounting negligence and breach of contract claim by publicly chartered and regulated mutual insurance company
- Breach of contract and fraud case involving substantial corporate financing arrangements
- Breach of contract claims involving contract interpretation principles in multiple areas of commerce (e.g., railroads, energy, lumber/paper, sponsorship agreements, securities/brokerage agreements, real estate)
- Breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, and corporate governance matter in hospital, provider, and PPO collections matters
- Post-closing adjustments due to acquisition of business
- Shareholder and partnership disputes
- Stock Purchase Agreement disputes
- Class Actions
- Employment
- Executive termination matters and related claims to bonus and base compensation in a wide variety of business ventures, including dental practice, sports agency, executive search firm, hospital and healthcare agreements
- Restrictive covenant disputes
- Discrimination claims
- Wage and Claim disputes
- Insurance
- Coverage claim, breach of contract and fraud action against mortgage insurer related to current national mortgage foreclosure crises
- Professional Fees
- Attorneys’ fees disputes in the context of patent litigation, class actions, wrongful termination, including claims of breach of professional ethics
- Fee disputes ancillary to substantive cases, pursuant to fee shifting provisions
- Fee disputes in other professional practices such as dental and medical
Representative Mediations and Trial Matters
- Business/Commercial
- Mediated and conducted trials in commercial matters involving breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and fraud involving closely held corporations, REIT’s, joint ventures, and partnerships
- Class Actions
- Handled multiple nationwide class actions, including claim and settlement against a major insurance broker
- Professional Malpractice and Torts
- Heard and mediated multiple professional malpractice matters with and without coverage issues
- Heard pretrial and dispositive motions before a $100 million settlement of theWillis v. Transamerica matter, which involved the tragic deaths of six children as a result of the negligence of a truck driver implicated in the “licenses for bribes” scandal, which included a rule to show cause why the Secretary of State, then Governor of Illinois, should not be held in contempt of court
- Real Estate
- Handled multiple zoning matters, including the last undeveloped property on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago
- Mediated a dispute between development entities and major Chicago law firm in claim that attorneys aided and abetted a breach of fiduciary duty on behalf of its client
- Tried and mediated multiple matters concerning real estate developments, commercial leases and other real estate related agreements
