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Jay Folberg, Esq.

Jay Folberg, Esq.

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General Biography
Practice Areas
Business/Commercial
Construction Defect
Education/Schools
Employment Law
Environmental
Estates/Probate/Trusts
Family Law
Government/Public Agency
Higher Education & Title IX
Professional Liability
Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities
Background and Education
Jay Folberg, Esq., former Dean at the University of San Francisco School of Law, has resolved complex disputes on a wide variety of subjects. Considered one of the founders of ADR practice with decades of experience as a mediator and arbitrator, he is particularly skilled at getting to the heart of multifaceted issues and dealing with the human factors that create obstacles to settlement.

ADR Experience and Qualifications

  • Successfully mediated multi-party institutional and public policy disputes, complex business, education related, employment, healthcare, construction, housing, environmental, land use, estate and probate, family, intellectual property, non-profit organizations, partnership, civil rights, and sexual harassment cases
  • Trained judges and lawyers in mediation throughout the world and has extensive international ADR experience
  • Authored several books and numerous articles on ADR

Representative Matters

  • Business/Commercial
      • Corporate restructuring based on minority shareholders' suit
      • Complex trade secrets, unfair competition claims and cross claims between major nonprofit healthcare organizations
      • Dissolution of family business, including federal libel and slander claims
      • Fraud and breach of contract claims involving sale of car dealership
      • Trade secrets and unfair competition claims between biotech companies regarding testing methods, evaluation protocols, and marketing strategies for cancer treatment
  • Education/Schools
      • Faculty disability and age discrimination cases
      • Special Education disputes
      • Tenure, promotion, and dismissal cases
      • Title IX sexual harassment and sports discrimination claims
      • Class action by Native Americans against school closure
  • Employment Law
      • Employment discrimination and sexual harassment claims against major companies and federal agencies
      • Wrongful termination claims of executive employment contracts
  • Environmental
      • Environmental conflict involving water quality and CEQA issues for a large residential development
      • Land use and traffic impact dispute between municipality, county, and environmental groups regarding residential development involving over 8,000 new homes
  • Estates/Probate/Trusts
      • Contentious dispute between descendents over stock in closely held corporation owning a destination resort
      • Intergenerational family dispute between siblings and their children over use and expense allocation for multimillion dollar estate
      • Multi-party dispute over descendant’s family trust
  • Family Law
      • Divorce, family, and intergenerational conflicts of all types
      • Child custody and parenting disputes
  • Government/Public Agency
      • Civil rights and discrimination claims - individual and class actions
      • Federal housing discrimination suit involving multi-unit residential units
      • First amendment and false arrest claims by protestors against private and public theme park and entertainment facilities
      • Public policy conflict between State of California and county energy assistance programs over allocating an ongoing $70 million a year federal grant
  • Professional Liability
      • Legal ethics and malpractice claims against attorneys

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

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

  • Lifetime Achievement Award, American College of Civil Trial Mediators
  • Bernard Witkin Amicus Curiae Award for leadership in alternative dispute resolution and outstanding service to the California courts, Judicial Council of California
  • Distinguished Contribution to Mediation Award, Mediation Society
  • Distinguished Mediator Award, Academy of Family Mediators
  • Chair, Ethics Committee, American Bar Association, Section of Dispute Resolution
  • Member, American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA)
  • Chair, Judicial Council Blue Ribbon Panel of Experts on Arbitrator Ethics
  • Chair, Judicial Council Task Force on Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • President, Academy of Family Mediators
  • Chair, Section of Dispute Resolution, Association of American Law Schools
  • President, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts
  • Chair, Oregon State Bar, Family Law Section
  • Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust - National Arbitration Panel
  • California Court of Appeal Mediation Panel
  • Federal Court (NDC) Mediation Panel
  • CPR Panel of Distinguished Neutrals
  • JAMS Foundation, Board Chair (Non-profit, charitable foundation)
  • JAMS Institute, Executive Director (Training and continuing education)
  • Publications:
    • Selected Books:
    • Mediation: The Roles of Advocate and Neutral, 4th Ed. Aspen (2021)
    • Lawyer Negotiation, 4th Ed. Aspen (2021) 
    • Resolving Disputes: Theory, Practice and Law, 4th Ed. Aspen (2021)
    • Divorce and Family Mediation, Guilford Press (2004)
    • Mediation: A Comprehensive Guide, Jossey-Bass (1984)
    • Selected Articles:
    • Arbitration Ethics - Is California the Future? 18 Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, Issue 2 (2003)
    • Alternative Dispute Resolution: An Empirical Analysis, 46 Stanford Law Review 1487 (1994)
    • Use of ADR in California Courts: Findings and Proposals, 26 USF Law Review 343 (1992)

Background and Education

  • Experience as a litigator of commercial and insurance cases (Rives & Schwab, now Stoel Rives), as well as civil rights, education, consumer related disputes, including class actions, in state and federal courts (founding Executive Director of Oregon Legal Services)
  • As a professor, taught trial practice, civil procedure, family law, and ADR courses at the University of San Francisco (Dean 1989-1999), Northwestern School of Law - Lewis and Clark College, the University of Washington, and the National Judicial College
  • Extensive experience as a judge pro tem
  • J.D., University of California, Berkeley School of Law (formerly Boalt Hall School of Law), 1968
  • B.A. (Economics and Finance), California State University, San Francisco, 1963

Disclaimer

This page is for general information purposes.  JAMS makes no representations or warranties regarding its accuracy or completeness.  Interested persons should conduct their own research regarding information on this website before deciding to use JAMS, including investigation and research of JAMS neutrals. See More

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