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Barbara A. Reeves , Esq., CEDS

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Barbara A. Reeves, Esq., CEDS (Certified E-Discovery Specialist), is an experienced arbitrator and mediator in complex business litigation pending throughout the United States and in cross-border disputes, including intellectual property, trade secrets, construction and infrastructure, antitrust, merger and acquisition agreements and disputes, earn-out agreements, corporate governance, securities and derivative class actions, professional liability, insurance coverage, and managed healthcare.
 
With two decades of experience at JAMS, and with her prior experience as an in-house counsel, outside litigation counsel with extensive experience in technology-intensive and regulatory matters, and as a prosecutor with the Department of Justice, Ms. Reeves is well equipped to manage and fairly arbitrate or mediate complex disputes.
 
As a mediator for more than 20 years, Ms. Reeves has focused on building trust with clients and counsel. She has developed and implemented a pre-mediation protocol of joint and separate conferences with representatives of all parties, facilitating the exchange of information and mediation statements in advance, and preparing an agreed agenda for the mediation session. She carefully reviews all materials and speaks with counsel in advance of in-person sessions to understand the interests of each party. She is strong, good at listening and reading people, and a tenacious closer. She quickly establishes rapport with parties and counsel and enables them to recognize their legal risks. She connects and communicates with clients emotionally involved with their positions and works to find mutually acceptable solutions. As a former corporate counsel and litigator, she is also able to establish the trust and confidence of both in-house lawyers and litigation counsel. She is persistent with follow-up after mediation sessions, keeping discussions alive, often achieving post-session settlements.

Ms. Reeves is ranked on the exclusive "Nationwide Mediators" List, Chambers USA (2016-2025), where she is recognized as “knowledgeable, well prepared and effective” who “combines very strong subject matter [proficiency] across a variety of topics with a deft ability to handle numerous and strong-willed counsel.” She is a certified mediator with the International Mediation Institute. 

As an arbitrator, Ms. Reeves is known to be fair, practical, and not afraid to make tough decisions. She is methodical in her preparation for arbitrations. She encourages combining other ADR techniques with the arbitration process to conserve time and resources. Ms. Reeves has experience conducting domestic and international arbitrations under various institutional rules, including JAMS, JAMS International, ICC, ICDR, AAA, CPR, and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). She was a member of the AAA Complex Case Panel, prior to joining JAMS. She is a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the College of Commercial Arbitrators (past President) and a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, and the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center ("Tech List").
 
A graduate of Harvard Law School (cum laude), she clerked for the Ninth Circuit, was a prosecutor with the Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, a partner in major law firms, and Associate General counsel with Edison International and Southern California Edison, with responsibility for litigation and regulatory matters, as well as Procurement/Supply Chain, Real Estate and Transportation.

Representative Matters

Antitrust & Competition

  • Ms. Reeves has handled antitrust matters since beginning her career with the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice, continuing into her years in private practice, and into her work as an arbitrator and mediator.
    • Arbitrated and mediated domestic and international cases involving antitrust issues in all areas of technology and licensing, life sciences, pharmaceutical, medical, gaming, transportation, financial, and telecommunications, Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) and FRAND licensing, and healthcare. She has mediated class actions across a variety of technology businesses.
    • Mediated antitrust cases involving patent disputes in life sciences, pharmaceutical, medical, gaming, transportation, financial, and telecommunications businesses
    • Served as a mediator in antitrust class actions including “no poach” cases in a range of industries from technology to trucking to fast food franchises, and in price fixing consumer class actions
    • Mediated indirect purchaser class actions involving computer components, pharmaceuticals, life insurance and telecommunications industries
    • Arbitrated and mediated cases in the developing field of competing digital platforms, and the entertainment industry, distribution joint ventures 
    • Mediated civil damages actions arising from distribution arrangements, including refusals to deal, boycotting and tying arrangements
    • Arbitrated and mediated disputes involving joint ventures in the healthcare and biotech industries
    • Arbitrated and mediated numerous cases involving California’s Unfair Competition Act and False Advertising Act
    • Provided antitrust counseling on mergers and acquisitions while in private practice

Business Commercial

  • Arbitrated and mediated business disputes across industries as varied as technology, energy, aerospace, healthcare, hospitality, cannabis, and legal and accounting professionals.
  • Arbitrated and mediated matters involving emerging technologies to track digital currency; telecommunications technology; e-commerce; warranty; false credit reporting; breach of fiduciary duty by former executive; investment fraud and investment advisors; partnership and closely-held corporate dissolution cases; limited liability company investor rights; qui tam and False Claims Act cases; business interruption due to procurement and supply chain problems; post-merger earn-out structures.
  • Mediated broad range of business interruption commercial disputes including procurement and supply chain problems
  • Arbitrated and mediated contract and regulatory disputes arising under FDA regulations and food safety violations
  • Mediated partnership and corporate governance disputes involving professional business, legal and medical corporations and partnerships, and valuation of the businesses
  • Mediated disputes involving investment fraud, investment advisors and breach of contract
  • Mediated qui tam and False Claims Act cases involving a diverse array of industries, including supplies to military bases, aerospace and healthcare
  • Arbitrated disputes involving Standby Letters of Credit and alleged securities fraud
  • Arbitrated and mediated disputes arising out of mergers and acquisitions, post-acquisition integration and accounting, including alleged fraud and corporate disclosure issues
  • Mediated partnership and closely-held corporate dissolution cases, including professional corporations and partnerships, involving payments and ownership, removal of general partner, fiduciary duties, accounting, mismanagement and misappropriation
  • Arbitrated and mediated disputes involving ownership of cannabis businesses
  • Mediated disputes involving violations of state and federal consumer protection acts, including unauthorized collection and use of a consumer's personal information, Unfair Competition Law, false advertising, and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
  • Served as a mediator in several qui tam and False Claims Act cases involving parallel civil and criminal proceedings against government contractors in diverse industries, including health care, aerospace, and food and beverage concessions

Cybersecurity & Privacy

  • Arbitrated and mediated privacy claims filed in mass arbitration, legal malpractice claims arising out of cybersecurity breaches, and insurance coverage cases involving cyber breaches.

Employment Law

  • Arbitrated and mediated numerous employment discrimination matters involving wrongful termination, disability discrimination, whistle blower claims, retaliation, constructive discharge, and sexual harassment, including class actions and mass actions; wage and hour violations.
  • Arbitrated and mediated labor code violations, including wage and hour class actions.
  • Mediated claims by senior executives of alleged breaches of employment contract
  • Mediated US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaints (pre- and post-filing) and assisted in structuring consent decrees
  • Mediated class actions alleging discrimination, PAGA claims, wage and hour claims
  • Mediations of mass arbitrations involving wage and hour violations and discrimination

Energy

  • Practiced for many years handling litigation and regulatory matters for electric public utility, alternative energy providers and co-generators
  • Arbitrated and mediated disputes in energy industry involving natural gas pricing disputes, cogeneration construction disputes, supply agreement in the renewable energy sector, and construction contracts, claims of breach of power purchase agreement
  • Mediated dispute involving construction of a wind farm
  • Mediated and was in-house counsel handling claims of breach of Power Purchase Agreement between a power company and a renewable power project developer

Engineering and Construction

  • Mediated and arbitrated engineering disputes involving the construction of highway bridges, renewable energy facilities, and, qualified facility (QF) power plant construction; multi-party disputes between contractors, sureties, owners, design professionals, construction managers, subcontractors, and suppliers involved in public and private projects regarding disputes on commercial and industrial, projects, including delay claims, disruption, inefficiency and acceleration, differing site conditions, design and construction defect claims, change order claims, bond & lien claims, and surety and financial workouts.
  • Mediated an engineering dispute involving the construction of highway bridges
  • Mediated international cases involving construction of wind turbines for electricity generating units
  • Mediated disputes arising out of qualified facility power plant construction

Entertainment & Sports

  • Arbitrated and mediated multi-party entertainment financing disputes among film producers, investors and insurance companies, both domestic and international, arising from production and distribution of independent films, including international tax incentives, post-production services, cryptocurrency, and completion guaranties; profit participation
  • Arbitrated and mediated claims for copyright infringement and breach of contract involving non-fungible tokens (NFTs), e-sports, video games, film, music, music catalogues, software development projects
  • Mediated business disputes, including partnership disputes, personnel and talent disputes, profit participation, and stock options
  • Mediated trade secret and employment disputes
  • Serves as an arbitrator on the Court of Arbitrations for Sports (CAS), handling a range of cases including cases involving sports federation governance, doping and interpretation of rules, Olympic qualification disputes, involving equestrian, track and field, ice skating, swimming, and  eightlifting.

Environmental Law

  • Mediated environmental coverage/pollution exclusion matters involving Superfund sites throughout the U.S.
  • Mediated Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)/Superfund cost recovery actions
  • Mediated a private CERCLA action, and cross-claims, between owners and neighboring owners of an industrial site

Financial Markets

  • Mediated securities actions alleging misrepresentations in financial documents, restatements, and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) violations
  • Arbitrated and mediated matters involving accuracy and sufficiency of public disclosures surrounding SPAC and failed SPACS with redemptions and professional liability issues, leveraged buyouts, post-closing adjustment claims
  • Arbitrated disputes involving financial advisors and investors, including breach of fiduciary duties and violations of Investment Adviser Act and regulations

Health Care

  • Mediated contract disputes between and among biotech companies and drug manufacturers over various issues, including failure to use proper marketing efforts, wrongful termination of development agreement, and supply chain disruption
  • Mediated insurance reimbursement cases alleging fraud, RICO and False Claims Act violations on the part of out-of-network providers
  • Arbitrated and mediated major reimbursement disputes between hospitals and health care plans and insurance companies involving issues of reasonable value, the “usual, customary and reasonable” rate (UCR), Medicare coverage, managed care, use of leased networks, stability determinations and alleged inappropriate coding; risk sharing; ERISA preemption; health care joint ventures; mergers and post-acquisition disputes and dissolution of practice groups; private equity buyouts of health care systems; reimbursement and fraud disputes involving substance use disorder clinics and healthcare plans alleging unfair and illegal practices; employment disputes in the healthcare sector involving physicians, medical groups and hospitals.
  • Mediated and arbitrated employment disputes in the healthcare sector involving physicians, medical groups and hospitals (including covenants not to compete and whistleblower complaints)
  • Mediated disputes relating to Mental Health Parity Act, including a major out-of-network class action
  • Arbitrated disputes arising out of private equity buyouts of health care systems
  • Mediated qui tam fraud and abuse cases under federal and state False Claims Act (FCA) statutes, both with and without government intervention
  • Mediated reimbursement and fraud disputes involving substance use disorder clinics and healthcare plans alleging unfair and illegal practices

Insurance

  • Arbitrated and mediated insurance coverage cases involving directors’ and officers’ liability, film industry guaranty bonds, errors and omissions policies, professional liability policies, environmental coverage policies, and cyber breaches.
  • Mediated insurance coverage cases involving cyber breaches
  • Mediated class action employment sexual harassment cases and allocation of indemnification and defense costs
  • Arbitrated major coverage  case involving a university and its tower of professional liability insurers arising out of underlying settlements exceeding one billion dollars

Intellectual Property

  • See Antitrust above for a description of recent Antitrust and Intellectual Property matters
  • Arbitrated and mediated trade secrets disputes involving alleged theft of technology, strategic plans, confidential information, and customer information by former employees and by former joint venture partners, in industries including entertainment, autonomous vehicles, cloud computing, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, electrical equipment, computer chips, sports agency, performance supplements and cannabis
  • Arbitrated and mediated patent and technology disputes involving a wide variety of industries and fields, including voice recognition patented technology, licensing of technology used in flat screen panels, SEP and FRAND licensing in several industries, biosimilars, traffic control technology, diagnostic treatment methods, Global Positioning System (GPS) applications, development and marketing of a point-of-care screening test
  • Mediated copyright disputes involving music sampling, screen play submissions, fashion design, artificial intelligence, and original art works
  • Arbitrated cases involving digital assets, crypto currency, and digital advertising
  • Arbitrated disputes involving licensing or validity of software, hardware, semiconductor, switching, internet tool, and interface patents
  • Arbitrated and mediated trademark matters involving major brand names in transportation, hospitality, consumer products and pharmaceuticals.

International & Cross Border

  • Served as an arbitrator in technology arbitrations before the International Chamber of Commerce Court (ICC) involving patent pools, patent licensing disputes, FRAND determination, and Standard Essential Patents (SEP) issues, in telecommunications and video communications

Life Sciences

  • Arbitrated and mediated contract disputes between and among biotech companies and drug manufacturers over various issues, including failure to use proper marketing efforts, wrongful termination of development agreement, and supply chain disruption.

Professional Liability

  • Arbitrated and mediated numerous legal and accounting malpractice claims involving intellectual property, securities, insurance and real estate litigation and transactions, including disputed audits, negligent preparation of financial statements, acquisition-related issues leading to post-acquisition adjustments, and cybersecurity breaches.
  • Mediated claims between law firm and withdrawn partner over division of proceeds from settled litigation

Real Property

  • Mediated disputes involving leases of commercial real estate and difficulties arising out of COVID-19 and related business interruptions
  • Mediated, arbitrated and served as court-appointed referee in disputes arising out of commercial real estate purchase and sale agreements

Barbara A. Reeves

Barbara A. Reeves, Esq. | JAMS Los Angeles Mediator & Arbitrator

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Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

Completed Virtual ADR training conducted by the JAMS Institute, the training arm of JAMS. 

Honors and Memberships 

  • Recognized in Lexology Index: Arbitration 2026 Report – Highly Recommended (in association with Global Arbitration Review (GAR))
  • Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
  • Past President, College of Commercial Arbitrators
  • Fellow, Academy of Court Appointed Masters
  • Arbitrator, Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
  • Certified Mediator with the International Mediation Institute
  • Certified E-Discovery Specialist
  • Board Member, California International Arbitration Council
  • Recognized, Global Arbitration Review, "Who's Who Legal: Arbitration 2023"
  • "Nationwide Mediators" List, Chambers USA (2016-2025)
  • Recognized, Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center (SVAMC)'s List of the World's Leading Technology Neutrals
  • Former President, Association of Business Trial Lawyers (Los Angeles Chapter)
  • Former board member or chair: Antitrust Sections of the State Bar of California and Los Angeles County Bar Association; ADR Committee, LACBA; Trustee, LACBA, Women Lawyers of Los Angeles
  • Current and/or former board member of numerous public interest organizations, including Public Counsel, Western Center on Law and Poverty, and a Founder of the Alliance for Children’s Rights
  • Member, California State Bar and the Bar of the District of Columbia

Recent Publications and Speaking Engagements

  • 2024 - Speaker at ABA programs on arbitration, ACI Advanced Managed Care program, CCA programs on arbitration, California International Arbitration Week program
  • 2023 – Speaker at ABA programs on arbitration, ACI Advanced Managed Care program, Pearlman Surety Conference
  • 2022 - Speaker at ABA Dispute Resolution Section Spring Meeting; speaker at California International Arbitration Week; speaker at various programs on E-discovery; speaker on European webinar on Using Mediation to Resolve Business Interruption Disputes.
  • 2020 and 2021 – Speaker on webinars presented by the ABA, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Intellectual Property Law groups (WIPL, LAIPL).
  • Speaker at the Emerging Issues Conference of the ABA Health Law Section (2016-2019); California Society of Health Attorneys Annual Meeting (2016, 2017); ABA Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Conference (2017-2019)
  • “Uprooting the Decision Tree,” Advocate Magazine, CAALA, September 2018
  • “How Third-Party Funders change the Chemistry of Settlements,” Advocate Magazine, CAALA, September 2017
  • “A Special Master’s Role in Hospital Merger Cases,” LAW360 (2016)
  • Author, Updates to Rutter Group Employment Law Treatise, ADR chapter, 2012-2016
  • "Whose Arbitration is This, Anyway?", JAMS Global Engineering and Construction Newsletter, Fall 2013
  • "Litigation Solutions: Referees and Special Masters," Daily Journal, June 13, 2012
  • "It’s Time to Fix Arbitration Discovery," Los Angeles Lawyer, January 2010
  • "Ordered to arbitration? Take advantage!" Advocate Magazine, CAALA, September 2010
  • "As the Economy Stumbles, Employment Discrimination Claims Climb," Employment Law Strategist, Law Journal Newsletters, December 2008
  • Author or co-author of leading articles of ADR, international and domestic commercial arbitration and mediation, and managing costs in ADR; frequent trainer and lecturer on arbitration, mediation and e-discovery

ADR Profiles

Background and Education

  • JAMS, 2006-Present
  • Associate General Counsel, major company.
  • Partner at major international law firms (Morrison & Foerster; Paul Hastings; Fried Frank)
  • United States Department of Justice, Antitrust Division: various positions including Chief of the Los Angeles office, Trial Attorney, and Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General
  • Law Clerk to Judge Alfred T. Goodwin, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • J.D., cum laude, Harvard Law School
    • Editor, Harvard Journal on Legislation
  • BA, Economics and Mathematics, New College

Virtual & In-Person Locations

Home Offices

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Century City, CA

Available to Travel To

  • Atlanta, GA
  • Boca Raton, FL
  • Boston, MA
  • Chicago, IL
  • Dallas, TX
  • Detroit, MI
  • Houston, TX
  • Inland Empire, CA
  • Las Vegas, NV
  • London
  • Miami, FL
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • New York, NY
  • Orange County, CA
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Sacramento, CA
  • San Diego, CA
  • San Francisco, CA
  • Santa Rosa, CA
  • Seattle, WA
  • Silicon Valley, CA
  • St. Louis, MO
  • Toronto, ON
  • Walnut Creek, CA
  • Washington, DC

Virtual hearings available nationwide

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