Deborah Haude, Esq. mediates and arbitrates single plaintiff, class action and collective claims. She works with parties, counsel and insurers to reach pragmatic solutions to problems raised in mediation and to efficiently manage arbitration processes. Ms. Haude handles a full range of employment, discrimination, wage and hour, and compensation and benefit disputes, as well as commercial disputes and non-profit board matters.

Counsel and parties compliment her ability to sort through complex factual and legal problems, manage challenging emotional situations in a positive way, and her perseverance in working with clients to find solutions.

ADR Experience and Qualifications

Ms. Haude has been a full-time mediator and arbitrator since 2003, bringing more than 20 years of experience to her JAMS practice. She has extensive experience in mediating, arbitrating and adjudicating claims in the areas of employment, class action and business commercial disputes.

Representative Matters

• Business/Commercial/Boards of Directors
• Mediated multi-party commercial dispute with multiple claims involving financing arrangements for facilities and equipment
• Arbitrated interim relief in portion of multi-party unfair competition action
• Co-mediated complex multi-party construction claims involving bankruptcy and insurance issues, as well as more straightforward construction-related disputes
• Co-mediated complex multi-party intellectual property matter with insurance and bankruptcy issues
• Mediated not-for-profit board matters, including governance disputes, Board/Executive disputes, and separation of executive directors
• Arbitrator in cases involving credit cards, including unpaid balances, loan interest issues and alleged tort and state law violations
• Class Action & Mass Tort
• Special Master in the settlement of a nationwide discrimination class action, including determining eligibility, adjudicating claims, and later monitoring
• Class A Claims Adjudicator in the settlement of a class action in which a large group of African-American farmers alleged that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had discriminated against them with respect to government lending practices
• Mediator and arbitrator in a nationwide racial discrimination class action case alleging failure to promote
• Mediator and arbitrator in state wage and hour class action, and various FLSA or FLSA/state law  wage and hour hybrid collective actions involving claims of misclassification, off the clock work, and related issues
• Employment/Employment Contracts/Discrimination/Compensation and Benefits
• Mediated claims involving start-up, active, and contracting businesses for breach of contract, fraudulent inducement, retaliatory discharge and various workplace torts
• Mediated separations of professionals, including in-house counsel,  law firm associate, and principal of professional firm
• Mediated age, disability, gender, pregnancy, national origin, race, and racial and sexual harassment claims under ADA, ADEA, OWBPA, ERISA, Title VII, PDA, EPA, §1981, and state law of employees in a variety of businesses and non-profit contexts. Highly emotional sessions sometimes included spouse, significant other, parent and/or separate counsel for supervisor or franchisor
• Arbitrator in claims involving breach of contract, whistleblowing, defamation,  intentional infliction of emotional distress,  constructive discharge, common law and statutory retaliatory discharge, as well as state and federal law claims of disability discrimination,  gender discrimination, national origin discrimination, race discrimination, and racial and sexual harassment in the automotive, restaurant, financial services,  transportation, warehousing, and healthcare industries
• Arbitrated disputes regarding compensation and bonus packages in the accounting, consulting, and financial services  industries 

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

• Member, American Bar Association, Illinois State, DuPage County, and Chicago Bar Associations
• Frequent speaker and panelist on topics related to arbitration, mediation, class action arbitration, wage and hour mediation, and negotiation

Background and Education

• Arbitrator/Mediator, JAMS, 2004-present
• Arbitrator/Mediator, ADR Associates, LLC, 2003
• Attorney, Winston & Strawn, 1979–2003 (Partner-1985, Capital Partner-1994)
• J.D., Northwestern University School of Law, 1979
• B.A., Elmhurst College, 1972