Hon. Allen S. Goldberg (Ret.), during his twenty-plus years of service on the Cook County bench, presided over a wide array of matters in the Commercial Litigation and Jury Section of the Law Division and in the Domestic Relations Division. Judge Goldberg is an ADR pioneer in the Cook County court system, where he literally wrote the rules for the Court-Annexed Civil Mediation program. Since 2005, Judge Goldberg has directed, and will continue to co-direct, monthly mediation and arbitration training programs for which C.L.E. is provided.  Additionally, within the Cook County court system he has organized and been a faculty assistant for the forty-hour training programs which allowed sitting judges to become certified mediators.  Finally, at the 2009 Illinois Judicial Conference he team-taught mediation skills to be used by judges in settlement conferences. 

Judge Goldberg’s rich experience as an advocate, judge, and ADR practitioner make him uniquely suited to arbitrate or mediate complex cases.

ADR Experience and Qualifications

Judge Goldberg has resolved a variety of complex commercial disputes including:

• All forms of contract and fraud disputes
• Class actions
• Construction defect disputes
• Domestic relations matters, including complex property divisions and support issues
• Employment, including executive termination cases
• Partnership and corporate governance disputes
• Personal injury matters
• Professional liability matters in the form of medical, legal, accounting, and insurance malpractice
• Real estate

Representative Matters

• Heard and decided one of the first complex mortgage backed security matters in the United States
• Heard and helped settle a class-action suit by the singer, James Brown, for the commercial use of his image
• Decided joint venture matter involving one of the earliest electronic stock exchanges
• Resolved retaliatory discharge and discrimination claim by a female executive at a television station
• Resolved a negligence claim against a hospital during which there were complex issues and two jury trials
• Helped facilitate settlement of a stockholder dispute resulting from CPA audit negligence

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

• Judge of the Year, North Suburban Bar Association, 2013
• Director, Cook County Court-Annexed Mediation Program, 2004-2013
• Chair of a Special Law Division Committee that wrote rules allowing for mediation of complex discovery disputes, including e-discovery
• Helped write amendment to Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act allowing for appointment of child representatives (while member of ISBA Domestic Relations Committee); after enactment, started educational programs for child representatives which still exist in Cook County’s Domestic Relations Division
• Appointed by the Chief Judge to the committee on the new Supreme Court Child Custody Rules in accordance with the Illinois Supreme Court Rule 905 (2011)
• Immediate Past-President of the American College of Business Court Judges (ACBCJ) whose mission is to develop business courts in all the states in the U.S.
• Member, 7th Circuit E-Discovery Committee
• Member, Business and Corporate Litigation Committee & Co-Chair of the Sports Related Disputes Sub-Committee, American Bar Association
• Member and Past Chair of the Commercial Litigation Committee, Chicago Bar Association
• Member, ADR Committee, Chicago Bar Association
• Member and Past-Chair of the Civil Practice Committee, Illinois State Bar Association
• Speaker/Faculty:
  • Speaker, "Conduct of the Mediation," International Mediation Symposium, Center for International Legal Studies, June 2019
  • Lecturer on E-discovery in Cook County State Court, March 2013
  • Panel member of Judges, American Conference Institute on Chemical Products Liability and Environmental litigation, 2013
  • For a number of years, has been part of faculty that has taught mediation skills to judges throughout the state of Illinois (Illinois Judicial Conference and Cook County 40-Hour Mediation Training Program)
  • Moderator, Allerton Conference on Civil Litigation, March 2011
  • Has spoken to judges from around the U.S. as well as from Japan, Taiwan, Israel, and China who came to Judge Goldberg to learn about mediation and arbitration and its use in the court system
  • Moot Court Judge and Trial Instructor, University of Chicago Clinical Law School Program
  • Speaker on a variety of ADR topics before the Illinois State Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, Illinois Judges Association (Cable TV program), and American Bar Association
• Publications: 
  • Co-authored article “Baseball Arbitration,” Annual Review of Developments in Business and Corporate Litigation, 2013 Edition, American Bar Association (ABA)
  • Co-authored, Case Note, Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), 2012

Background and Education

• Judge, Cook County Circuit Court, Chicago, Illinois, 1993-2013
  • Judge, Law Division, Trial Section, 2011-2013
  • Judge, Law Division, Commercial Calendar Section, 2000-2011
  • Judge, Domestic Relations Division, 1993-2000
• Chief, Felony Trial Division, Cook County Public Defender’s Office, 1971-1992 
• Legal Aid Bureau, Office of Economic Opportunity, 1969–1970
• Associate, Small Civil Litigation Firm, 1968
• J.D., DePaul University College of Law, 1967 
• B.S., Accounting, University of Illinois, 1964