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 Law
• 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 Law
• 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
• Estate 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
• Governmental & 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

• 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