Barbara A. Reeves, Esq. is a highly regarded and well-respected mediator and arbitrator. She is a quick study, prepared, personable, creative, and flexible.
As an arbitrator, Barbara Reeves is known to be fair, practical, and not afraid to make tough decisions. As a mediator, she is strong, good at listening and reading people, and a tenacious closer. She is known for her ability to quickly establish rapport with parties and counsel and enable them to recognize their legal risks. She connects and communicates with clients emotionally involved with their positions and ushers parties toward mutually acceptable solutions. She is adept at working with parties to craft practical and commercially advantageous solutions to disputes at any stage.
Before becoming a full-time neutral, Barbara Reeves had an extensive and varied litigation practice, beginning with the United States Department of Justice, Antitrust Division in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, then a partner at national law firms, and finally Associate General Counsel and Vice President for Southern California Edison and Edison International with responsibility for Procurement/Supply Chain, Real Estate and Transportation, before joining JAMS in January 2006.
Barbara Reeves is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the College of Commercial Arbitrators (Secretary-Treasurer 2020-2021), an arbitrator on the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, and a certified mediator with the International Mediation Institute. She is also a certified e-discovery specialist. She received her J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School.
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Representative MattersRepresentative Matters Handled through Arbitration, Mediation and Special Master Assignments
International dispute between competitors involving standard essential patents (SEP) and FRAND licensing and allegations of Sherman Act violations
Refusal to license and discriminatory licensing disputes between and among industry members in standard setting organizations
Indirect purchaser class actions involving computer components, pharmaceuticals, life insurance and telecommunications industries
Civil damages actions arising from international cartels and price fixing distribution arrangements
Disputes involving joint ventures in the healthcare industry
Served as court-appointed master for discovery and settlement issues in patent/antitrust case in the pharmaceutical industry
Sherman Act, state antitrust issues in the healthcare and bio tech industries, including tying and abuse of patent positions
Business/Commercial
Procurement and supply chain disputes involving distribution to supply, labor shortages, and impact of local regulations on supply contracts
Trade secrets disputes involving alleged theft of technology, strategic plans, confidential information, and customer information of former employees in industries including entertainment, autonomous vehicles, cloud computing, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, electrical equipment, computer chips, sports agency, performance supplements and cannabis
Class actions involving credit card privacy statute and the entitlement to attorney fees under Code of Civil Procedure Section 1021.5 (private attorney general statute)
Breach of contract actions between European sellers of products (including agricultural and technology industries) and U.S. companies
Trademark infringement and copyright suits in industries including bio-pharma, medical testing, jewelry, and sports teams
Partnership and corporate governance disputes involving professional business, legal and medical corporations and partnerships, and valuation of the businesses
Disputes involving investment fraud, investment advisors and breach of contract
Disputes involving a failed partnership involving a large commercial property development
Disputes arising out of mergers and acquisitions, fraud, corporate disclosure issues, franchising, accounting disputes, and partnership dissolution, including professional corporations and partnerships
Disputes arising out of private equity acquisition of health care groups
Disputes involving medical billing services and their clients
Disputes involving breach of fiduciary duty between client and investment advisor
Franchise agreement disputes
Class Actions
Mediated class actions involving consumer fraud, antitrust, health insurance, wage and hour, and employment discrimination issues
Served as special master in employment and civil rights class action matters
Served as special master allocating funds among claimants to a government fund
Served as special master allocating funds among claimants in a real estate investment fund
Settlement distribution issues in class actions involving misclassified employees of gig economy company
Construction and Engineering
Construction disputes involving large residential developments with environmental issues
Engineering dispute involving the construction of highway bridges
International cases involving construction of wind turbines for generating units
Mediator in dispute arising out of the construction of natural gas pipelines and owners of rights of way
Special master to resolve allocation of payments among subcontractors in a highway construction project
Dispute by contractors against a public entity arising out of a tunneling operation that encountered unexpected conditions and weather problems
Claims between a public entity and contractor and insurance companies involving nuclear power plant
Disputes arising out of qualified facility power plant construction
Consumer
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 TCPA
E-Discovery
Court-appointed discovery referee for predictive coding process and protocol for e-discovery disputes in various matters, most often involving competition issues and trade secret disputes
Employment
More than 100 matters involving employee termination, disability discrimination, whistle blower claims, retaliation, wage and hour disputes, sexual harassment, and labor code violations, including wage and hour class actions
Union contract disputes
Disputes arising out of alleged employee theft of trade secrets
Claims by senior executives of alleged breaches of employment contract
Disputes involving allegations of sexual discrimination, hostile work environment, and constructive wrongful termination
Sexual harassment and discrimination cases involving #MeToo allegations
Whistle blower claims based upon retaliation and wrongful discharge
Matters involving sexual harassment and hostile work environment issues, including #MeToo claims
Wrongful termination cases involving allegations of incompetence and insubordination
ERISA cases
Energy
Practiced for many years handling litigation and regulatory matters for electric public utility, alternative energy providers and co-generators
Disputes in energy industry involving public utility matters, natural gas pricing disputes, cogeneration construction disputes, oil and gas environmental issues, and construction contracts
Disputes involving construction of a biogas facility
Claims of breach of Power Purchase Agreement between a power company and a renewable power project developer
Disputes involving the construction of an alternative energy (wind) facility
Disputes between a natural gas pipeline and landowners
Entertainment and Sports
Serve as an arbitrator on the Court of Arbitrations for Sports (CAS)
Disputes involving accounting for royalties and contractual payments arising out of television syndications
Trade secret and employment disputes between studios, new media, and streaming platforms
Dispute between and among artists, agents and art publisher
Dispute between e-sports team and sponsor
International dispute between movie producer in U.S. and distributer in China
Disputes involving international investment in movie production and related international tax credits
Dispute between sports agents and promoters in the United States
Dispute involving investment by well-known athletic brand in launching products in South America
Mediated disputes between celebrities involving #MeToo allegations
Disputes involving post-production services for an international series of television broadcast episodes
Disputes between talent and agents, talent and advertisers, and production and distribution companies
Employment disputes involving employees, on the one hand, and studios, productions companies, and new media, on the other hand
Arbitration between music festival producers involving co-promotion agreement
Numerous arbitraitons and mediations involving insurance coverage issues arising in the entertainment field
Serves as an arbitrator handling cases in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), including cases involving sports federation governance, doping and interpretation of rules, including equestrian and track and field, ice skating, and swimming
Serves as an arbitrator in numerous SafeSport cases, including the sports of equestrian, weightlifting, track and field, sailing, water skiing, and gymnastics
Disputes involving exhibitors and venues for athletic events
Title IX disputes involving sexual misconduct at universities
Equine Law
Disputes involving purchase/sale agreements and disputes involving show managers and exhibitors/vendors
Cases before CAS involving federation governance, rule violations and doping
Claim by owner against an equestrian trainer for misappropriation of proceeds from sale of an elite level show jumper (horse)
Government Contracts, Procurement, False Claims
Served as a mediator in several qui tam cases involving parallel civil and criminal proceedings against government contractors in diverse industries, including health care, aerospace, and food and beverage concessions
Mediated False Claims Act cases involving health care
Health Care
Major reimbursement disputes between hospitals and health care plans and insurance companies involving issues of reasonable value, Medicare coverage, managed care, use of leased networks, stability determinations and alleged inappropriate coding, risk sharing, and administrative issues
Employment dispute in medical groups and hospitals arising out of whistle blower complaints
Disputes relating to Mental Health Parity Act
Disputes preemption issues between state law causes of action and ERISA
Disputes over experimental/investigational disputes where plaintiff contended the drugs or devices had not been determined and effective
Numerous contract and reimbursement disputes between providers, insurers and health plans
Disputes arising out of private equity buyouts of health care systems
Disputes over ancillary services, including laboratory billing disputes
Disputes involving health care joint ventures
Dispute between a hospital and supplier of nuclear medicine equipment and technical assitance
Discovery Referee in qui tam whistle blower case involving drug prices charged to government health care programs
Benefits disputes regarding health plans and insurers with insureds/members
False Claims Act cases involving surgical center and non-physician charges
Dispute between purchaser and seller of dialysis practice
Employment contract disputes between physicians and medical groups or between physicians and hospitals (including covenants not to compete)
Shareholder disputes within physician practices
Disputes between third party vendors, durable medical equipment providers and unauthorized distributors
Accounting dispute over the dissolution of a medical group
International contract dispute involving pharmaceutical company and joint venture partner for distribution
Dispute involving non-contracted providers alleged to have engaged in practices to induce insureds to treat out of network
Medical malpractice cases covering alleged improper prescribing of medication, improper use of restraints, failure to prevent drug-resistant infections, failure to diagnose cancer and numerous instances of failure to prevent medical condition from deteriorating
Action challenging a public health citation against a skilled nursing facility for violations leading to a patient's death
Declaratory relief dispute between major health care providers regarding contract interpretation
Insurance
Disputes involving complex coverage matters including professional liability, specialty lines, D&O and EPLI; environmental; advertising; personal injury; product liability, including asbestos and chemical exposures; and construction defect cases
Claims of bad faith and improper claims handling
Dozens of coverage disputes between FEMA and policyholders arising out of Hurricane Sandy and damage to a variety of structures and whether the damage was covered under existing policies
Sale of life insurance and retirement policies by a major insurer
Claims against surety for failure to pay under construction performance bond
Coverage claims arising out of a major environmental contamination in Southern California
Applicability of directors and officers liability insurance and cyber breaches to allocation of defense costs among insurers in environmental cases
Intellectual Property
Numerous trade secret theft cases arising out of misappropriated computer data, hiring away of corporate executives, joint ventures and corporate acquisitions
Licensing disputes arising by use of copyrighted material in video games
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, GPS applications, development and marketing of a point-of-care screening test
Copyright disputes involving music sampling, screen play submissions, fashion design, and original art works
Contract disputes involving pharmaceutical supply chain performance issues, including patent issues
Disputes involving software piracy claims
Life Sciences
Contract disputes between and among biotech companies and drug manufacturers over failure to use proper marketing efforts
Disputes between biotech company and drug manufacturer over wrongful termination of development agreement
Supply chain disruption disputes and termination of long-term supply agreement
Dispute arising out of premature termination of clinical trial between members of a joint venture
Dispute between development and distribution rights and obligations
Post-acquisition dispute over failure to achieve sales and revenue targets
Valuation of ownership interests in joint venture
Securities violations, including fraud class actions
Professional Liability
Legal, accounting and medical malpractice claims
Legal malpractice cases regarding alleged conflicts of interest and multiple representations
Matters involving breach of fiduciary duty by financial advisers, legal advisers, and talent agents
Real Property
Case involving damage to real property, negligence, and insurance issues
Breach of contract case brought by a landowner and developer against major retail company
Cases involving environmental cleanup liability, contractual indemnifications, and real property leasing issues
Dispute between hotel developer and owner arising out of political unrest in the affected country
Dispute among owners of commerical property over whether and when to sell
Actions alleging involving enforcement of CC&Rs by homeowners' association
Real property purchase/sale agreements, and landlord/tenant disputes
Securities
'34 Act class action claims in retail and financial industries
Securities class action against directors and officers and outside auditor of financial institution
Breach of fiduciary duty claims alleging flawed processes, fraud or fairness of merger transactions
Claims arising out of leveraged buy-out
Disputes arising out of post-closing adjustment claims
Special Master/Discovery Referee
Served as court-appointed discovery referee and special master in cases involving electronically stored information (ESI), corporate dissolutions, partnership dissolutions and division of assets, contract disputes, employment discrimination, civil rights, and professional liability
Trade Secrets
Trade secrets disputes involving alleged theft of technology, strategic plans, confidential information, and customer information of former employees in industries including entertainment, autonomous vehicles, cloud computing, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, electrical equipment, computer chips, sports agency, performance supplements and cannabis
Trade secret dispute between Chinese and US former business partners in the athletic equipment business
Misappropriation of trade secrets case involving aspects of self-driving vehicles
International misappropriation of trade secrets dispute between long-standing supplier-distributor involving the high-tech security business
Theft of trade secret cases in the entertainment industry and fashion industry
Served as special master and court-appointed discovery referee in cases alleging theft of trade secrets in industries ranging from high tech to electrical equipment to entertainment
