Hon. Rebecca Westerfield (Ret.) has settled and arbitrated thousands of domestic cases and cross-border disputes throughout the United States. A full-time JAMS panelist since 1992, Judge Westerfield is widely perceived as a tenacious mediator. She is included regularly on the "National Mediators" List, Chambers USA and she was noted as being at the "cutting edge of the field" by peers. Her extensive experience includes complex, multi-party, multi-issue cases with underlying insurance coverage disputes. She is particularly adept at dealing with matters that involve cross-cultural dynamics and high emotional content, such as business dissolutions, catastrophic personal injury litigation and family estate matters. Parties have included Fortune 500 companies and other publicly owned corporations, Silicon Valley entities and multinational corporations.

In arbitrations, Judge Westerfield is known for managing the process efficiently and fairly. Her managerial arbitration style provides parties with an opportunity to be fully heard while moving the process to conclusion.

She has presented at numerous international programs on mediation in Asia, Europe and Latin America, taught as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and lectured at Stanford University Law School. She is particularly interested in the use of mediation skills and techniques in the making of public policy and in cross-cultural communication. 

ADR Experience and Qualifications

• Judge Westerfield’s successful ADR practice includes both arbitration and mediation of accounting, financial markets, banking, business/commercial, civil rights, class action/mass tort, employment, entertainment, estates/probate/trusts, franchises, government public agencies, health care, insurance, personal injury, professional liability, real property and securities matters
• Continually recognized as an ADR leader in California and beyond by publications such as Chambers USA Leading Lawyers for Business, The Recorder, The Daily Journal and the National Law Journal
• Presenter on mediation and ADR-related topics in Europe and Asia as well as serving as an adjunct at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
• Elected as a Fellow in the College of Commercial Arbitrators
• Certified Mediator, International Mediation Institute

Representative Matters

• Arbitration
• Business cases, including contract and licensing disputes
• Disputes relating to valuations in stock purchase agreements and earnout provisions
• Real estate matters, including those involving breach of fiduciary duties by boards of directors of homeowners’ associations
• Professional fees disputes
• Professional malpractice disputes involving lawyers, accountants, doctors and psychiatrists, among others
• Employment disputes involving wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment and retaliation
• Health care disputes involving coverage, and payment and billing disputes among HMOs, insurance companies, physicians and hospital providers, as well as billing disputes between insurers and hospitals/providers
• Insurance coverage disputes
• Unsuitable investment and fraud claims
• Environmental remediation disputes
• Disputes between domestic and international companies arising from allegations of breach of contract, partnership, joint venture, shareholder and operations agreements
• International arbitrations using JAMS International Arbitration Rules as well as International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR) matters
• Business Commercial
• Social media content monitoring dispute
• Sole arbitrator of contract dispute relating to license agreement between Golden State Warriors and the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority. In this dispute between the basketball team and the arena, at issue was whether or not the team was required to continue to pay its bond obligation through 2027 given that they had announced they were moving to another stadium
• Variety of contractual and tort claims involving commercial business owners, including trade secrets, libel and slander, including Internet defamation, interference with contractual relations, as well as  unfair competition claims under California Business and Professions Code § 17200
• Business disputes involving Fortune 500 companies and “family offices”
• Complicated software, technology and cloud computing breach of contract disputes including bitcoin transactions
• E-commerce contractual disputes involving payment service providers and businesses
• Social media network and Internet defamation cases
• Complex, multi-party, high-value disputes, including multi-million-dollar disputes arising out of casino developments on tribal lands
• Accounting and fraud disputes
• Franchise disputes
• Facilitated negotiation for sale of a closely held corporate manufacturer
• Software licensing agreement disputes
• Dissolution of business partnerships, joint ventures and closely held corporations 
• Insurance coverage and payment disputes
• Lending disputes  
• Trade secret disputes and IP counterfeiting disputes
• Unfair competition
• Breach of fiduciary duties
• Banking disputes regarding unauthorized account activity
• Civil Rights
• Title IX disputes
• Multiple class actions and individual matters involving ADA claims
• Cases involving the Brown Act, which guarantees the public's right to attend and participate in meetings of local legislative bodies
• Invasion of privacy cases involving mobile devices, cloud storage and retail technology outlets
• Housing accessibility case involving a major municipality
• Use of excessive force claims
• Class Action & Mass Tort
• Multi-districts litigation (MDL) special discovery master product liability
• Allocation of settlement funds to individual claimants
• Wage and hour class actions
• Consumer cases involving mobile devices
• Consumer complaints against banks
• Product liability matters, including pharmaceutical and food-related torts
• Shareholder class actions
• TCPA and other privacy/data breach disputes
• ADA cases
• MDL antitrust litigation involving consumers in Illinois Brick non-repealer and repealer states
• Employment Law
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Claims, Including Class Actions
  
• Class actions and individual matters involving ADA claims
• Executive Breach of Contract Claims, Including Theft of Trade Secret and Employee Raiding
• Contract dispute involving allegations that the respondent company poached claimant's most successful and essential employees
• Multiple cases involving alleged breaches of contracts with high-level executives and attendant stock valuation issues
• Dissolution of closely held corporations and family businesses, including complex valuation issues
• Discrimination Claims, Including Class Actions
• Multiple class actions and individual cases involving age, race, disability and gender discrimination claims
• Disability discrimination cases involving issues such as failure to provide reasonable accommodations, and the relationship and discrepancies between payments under workers’ compensation, long-term disability and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)
• Single case with 102 individual claims for race, sex and age discrimination brought after a massive reduction in force by a single defendant entity with multiple funding authorities, including governmental agencies
• Cases involving California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) claims
• Cases with claims of discrimination related to pregnancy and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
• ERISA
• Cases involving breach of fiduciary duty in the management of trust fund assets
• Cases involving denial of long-term disability benefits
• Financial Markets Employment Cases
• Executive termination cases involving the valuation of stock options
• Wide range of employment matters in the investment banking industry, including hedge funds, banks and private equity and venture capital firms
• International Business Employment Claims
• Multiple cases with international businesses involved in disputes with their U.S.-based employees, involving complex, cross-cultural issues  
• Sexual Harassment Claims, Including Class Actions
• Multiple sexual harassment and battery cases with issues regarding appropriate investigation, significant psychological injury and insurance coverage
• Case involving sexual harassment claims with underlying breach of contract claims and insurance coverage issues
• Cases involving sexual harassment claims against an international billionaire, professional athlete and media celebrity
• Trade Secret, Noncompete and Nonsolicitation Disputes
• Employment disputes involving high-level executives accused of breaching noncompete and nonsolicitation contracts, theft of trade secrets and use of proprietary information
• Wage and Hour Claims, Including Class Actions
• Multiple class actions and individual cases involving wage and hour claims, including the alleged misclassification of employees as exempt, the failure to provide meal and rest periods, the failure to distribute tips and service charges, travel time and off-the-clock work
• Whistleblower Cases
• Whistleblower claims in the health care industry
• Employment disputes involving Sarbanes–Oxley Act whistleblower claims
• Wrongful Termination Claims
• Wrongful termination matters where special considerations were made for parties in bankruptcy
• Wrongful termination claims relating to accounting malpractice, such as failure to follow GAAP or Sarbanes–Oxley Act claims
• Entertainment & Sports
• Sole arbitrator of contract dispute relating to license agreement between Golden State Warriors and the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority. In this dispute between the basketball team and the arena, at issue was whether or not the team was required to continue to pay its bond obligation through 2027 given that they had announced they were moving to another stadium
• Real estate contract and licensing agreement dispute involving professional sports team
• Accounting issues arising from film distribution agreement
• Catastrophic permanent injuries involving amusement parks
• Claims of sexual harassment by well-known professional athletes and media celebrities
• Copyright claims involved with popular media application
• Libel of well-known publisher by financial magazine
• Licensing of popular television series
• Personal injuries in amateur sports
• Dispute over production of multi-million-dollar, high-tech event for a client in the Middle East
• Sale of casino under Nevada state law
• Stock purchase agreement involving sale of DVD distribution company and earnout provisions
• Tribal dispute over casino development
• Estate Probate Trusts
• Contentious dispute between co‑trustees
• Disputes between children of the deceased parents and living step-parents over division and handling of the trust and estate
• Contentious division of family estate valued in excess of $100 million (complex tax and valuation issues)
• Matters involving disputes over value of real estate and stock in the trust, as well as buyouts of ongoing business
• Series of sensitive family disputes over a trust involving sexual abuse allegations against the administrator of the estate, as well as a separate dispute involving a Marvin contract
• Case involving split of assets when a relationship ended between a couple that owned high-profile and successful business
• Health Care
• Dispute involving claim where insurer underpaid or failed to pay for services provided by hospital’s professional and ancillary providers
• Qui tam/False Claims Act case involving relator, government and the business
• Employee-raiding dispute involving health care provider and allegations that the respondent company poached claimant's most successful and essential employees
• Arbitrated and mediated contract disputes between health care providers and insurers
• Arbitrated and mediated cases involving coverage and payment disputes between HMOs
• Handled cases involving insurance companies, physicians and providers
• Case involving allegations of improper capitation recoupments and underpayments by insurance company for contracted capitated health care services provided to the insurance company members by a health care system; allegations included unfair and unlawful business practices
• Contractual disputes between a medical billing service provider and medical provider client
• Payor/provider billing disputes
• Arbitrated and mediated cases handling health care employment issues, including practice dissolutions and high-level doctor and hospital severance agreements
• Arbitrated contract dispute between hospital and not-for-profit health network
• Insurance
• Attorneys’ Fees
• Billing disputes involving Cumis counsel fees
• Issues as to amount and allocation of defense costs among multiple insurers
• Bad Faith
• Claims for failure to settle
• Doctors groups claiming insurer failed to provide coverage
• Numerous claims involving failure to provide indemnity coverage under particular policy language
• Coverage
• Environmental litigation: application of pollution exclusion and triggers to multiple policies
• Served as special master in determining the meaning of "action in controversy"
• Indemnity and Contribution
• Allocation among multiple insurers, e.g., mold claims, environmental claims, product liability and landlord-tenant
• Claims regarding construction defects
• Dealing with special statutory issues involving California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA)
• Disputes regarding application policy periods
• Subrogation
• Multi-million-dollar claim involving multiple carriers against a third party as a result of fire loss incurred by two condominium associations
• Numerous claims arising out of fires, thefts, vandalism and construction defects
• International & Cross Border
• Mediations involving international laws in countries including Turkey and Dubai
• Cases involving the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards
• Multiple contract disputes with various European and Asian manufacturers and suppliers
• Claims over Central American energy sources
• Disputes among Asian partnerships
• Claim for fire loss/damage to a high-technology product stored in a warehouse in India, involving foreign law and insurance subrogation issues
• Arbitration involving business disputes in Eastern Europe
• Personal Injury
• Cases involving the deaths of or permanent injury to children
• Multiple cases arising from the deaths of elder people during care at nursing facilities
• Auto and public transportation fatalities
• Multiple wrongful death and permanent personal injury cases arising out of maritime accidents occurring between boats, on ferries and on cruise ships.
• Loss of limbs at an amusement park
• Injuries resulting from alleged use of excessive force in policing actions
• Wrongful death claims involving machine product liability
• Cases involving burn injuries and disfigurement
• Death due to scalding on construction site
• Death due to toxic exposure on the high seas
• Fatality due to dog mauling
• Industrial machinery product liability claim involving wrongful death
• Medical malpractice claims involving wrongful death and permanent injury
• Numerous cases involving multiple severely injured parties in a single occurrence and limited insurance coverage
• Quadriplegia as a result of a sailing accident
• Professional Liability
• Accounting Malpractice
• Failure to advise properly on the Alternative Minimum Tax effect
• Failure to discern fraud upon independent audit
• Failure to file proper tax returns for a multi-million-dollar estate
• Failure to provide appropriate advice on the exercise of stock options
• Legal Malpractice
• Underlying cases have involved antitrust matters, probate and estate issues, personal injury claims, contract disputes, business transactions, financial restrictions and closing documents
• Medical and Dental Malpractice
• Cases involving the elderly with attendant elder abuse statutory claims
• Death of a child resulting from extubation
• Failure to diagnose
• Permanent brain injury to a child during delivery
• Surgical procedures resulting in death and permanent injuries
• Chiropractic and acupuncture malpractice
• Understaffing of elder care facilities
• Psychiatric Malpractice
• Inappropriate treatment
• Sexual assault claims
• Violation of boundaries between health care provider and patient
• Real Property
• Construction Defects
• Claims involving subdivisions and large condominium complexes as well as single-family dwellings
• Easement/Boundary Line
• Matters involving neighbors, governmental entities and utility companies
• Environmental
• Failure to disclose existence of a Superfund site next to new subdivision development
• $40 million dispute regarding allocation of remedial costs for groundwater contamination
• Fire Loss
• Residential and commercial fire loss claims; third-party and subrogation claims as a result of fire damage to commercial buildings, condominiums and single-family residences, and attendant complex insurance issues
• Landlord-Tenant (Commercial and Residential)
• High‑profile landlord-tenant matters involving successful Bay Area entrepreneurs
• Disputes involving owner-landlord’s condominium conversion in San Francisco; Ellis Act/unlawful detainer and tenant’s cross-complaint
• Disputes regarding tenant improvements of commercial property
• Numerous claims regarding warranty of habitability
• Numerous rent control ordinance wrongful evictions per alleged pretextual owner move-in; Ellis Act
• Premises liability issues involving death and permanent injuries
• Retaliation claims under rent statutes
• Mold
• Multiple claims involving mold remediation and personal injury and insurance issues
• Real Estate Transactions
• Claims regarding concealment and nondisclosure of defects, lack of building permits and code compliance, zoning and other land use controls, neighborhood problems and other matters involved in the purchase and sale of residential properties, including claims presented against sellers, brokers, agents and whole house, pest and other inspectors
• Multi-million-dollar casino development on tribal lands
• Professional malpractice of realtors
• Shopping mall commercial lease dispute
• Arbitration determining fair market value of minimum rent under commercial lease option to extend
• Securities
• Backdated stock options disputes
• Breach of fiduciary duties
• Brokerage firm's failure to supervise
• Employment disputes in the securities industry, including discrimination (sex, race and age); sexual harassment; and wrongful termination/breach of contract
• Legal malpractice involving under-securitization
• Matters involving brokerage firms, hedge funds and financial advisors
• Misrepresentation/fraud claims pursuant to SEC Rule10b-5
• Suitability of investments
• Unauthorized transactions and trading
• Fraud

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

Select Honors Received

• Elected Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators
• Recognized as a "Best Lawyers, Mediation," Best Lawyers in America, 2023
• Inducted into Hall of Fame, University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law, 2024
• Distinguished Jurist Award, University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law, 2022
• Recognized as a “Best Lawyer,” Best Lawyers in America, 2022, 2024
• Recognized as a "Best Lawyer," Alternative Dispute Resolution Category, Northern California Best Lawyers in America, 2022
• Recognized as “Lawyer of the Year” in Mediation, Best Lawyers, 2021
• Included on the "National Mediators" List, Chambers USA, 2019-2024
• Recognized, Mediation, Who's Who Legal: California, 2019, 2022
• Recognized as an “ADR Champion,” National Law Journal, 2016, 2018
• Certified Mediator, International Mediation Institute, 2017
• "Top Master," Daily Journal Top California Neutrals List, 2013
• "Top California Neutral," Daily Journal, 2002–2012 (from the inception of the recognition to its conclusion)
• Best Lawyer, Alternative Dispute Resolution Category, Best Lawyers in America, 2008–2018, and Northern California Super Lawyer, 2008, 2010–2019
• Best Lawyer in the Bay Area, San Francisco Business Times, 2009
• One of the Top Three Best Neutrals in the Bay Area, The Recorder, 2007
• One of the 500 Leading Judges in America, Lawdragon magazine, 2006
• Distinguished Mediator of the Year, San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, 2003
• One of the Top 10 Mediators in the Bay Area, The Recorder, 2002

Select Memberships and Leadership Positions

• Member, Board of Directors, Weinstein International Foundation 2019- present
• Active Member, State Bar of California
• Member, ArbitralWomen, 2019
• Advisor; Center for Advanced Mediation Practice; Bangalore, India; 2018
• Member, Advisory Council to the ABA International Human Rights Center, 2011–2014
• Member, Advisory Board University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, Human Rights Center, 2009–present
• Member, National Association of Women Judges, International Association of Women Judges, ABA Women in Dispute Resolution Committee
• Member, International Academy of Trial Judges, Northern California International Arbitration Committee
• Chair, International Human Rights Committee, The Bar Association of San Francisco, 2009–2011
• Member, American Bar Association House of Delegates, 1987–1991, 1996–2008
• Board of Directors, The Bar Association of San Francisco, 1994–1997
• Chair, American Bar Association Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities (now Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice), 1994–1995

Select Speaking Engagements and Publications

• Presenter, Training Polish and Ukrainian Judges on Conciliation and Mediation with Elements of Mindfulness, Wadowice, Poland, October 2023
• Presenter, International Stalemates: Dispute Resolution and Diplomacy, Straus Institute, Pepperdine University (in-person), November 2022
• Presenter, Polish Judges Conference on ADR (virtual), October 2022
• Presenter, International Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution and Prevention (ICADRP) Conference, September 2022
• Presenter, Warsaw Poland Bar Association on ADR (in-person) July 2022
• Presenter, ADR in Times of Crisis, Warsaw Bar Association, Poland, July 2022
• Presenter, Implicit Bias and Systemic Injustice, Weinstein International Foundation, July 2020
• Presenter, Preventing Corporate Meltdowns: Mediating Disputes to Reach Timely Settlements, Epromasters.com, Singapore, August 2020
• Presenter, Mediation, University of Southern California Gould School of Law School, 2018
• Co-Chair, Global Pound Conference, International Mediation Institute (Northern California), 2016–2017
• Presenter; USA/Italy Dialogue on Judicial Reform: Alternative Dispute Resolution; Rome, Italy; 2016
• Presenter, USC/JAMS Arbitration Institute Symposium: Advanced Arbitration Academy, Los Angeles, 2016
• Presenter; Admont International Summer School on Business Mediation; Admont, Austria; 2006, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016
• Presenter; Bangalore Chamber of Commerce, Conclave on Alternative Dispute Resolution; Bangalore, India; 2016
• Presenter; ABA Asia Pacific International Mediation Summit; New Delhi, India; 2015
• Presenter; Private Commercial Mediation Conclave; Bangalore, India; 2015
• Trainer, ADR for Supreme Court of India (Delhi), High Court of Bangalore, 2013
• Participant, International Human Rights Summer School, New College at the University of Oxford, 2004
• Co-authored the ADR chapter of CEB's Wrongful Termination Practice 2ed. (1997)
• Adjunct Professor, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
• Lecturer, Stanford Law School
• "Enduring Optimism," ADR Profile, Daily Journal, June 28, 2013

Background and Education

• Appointed Judge; Circuit Court of Jefferson County, Kentucky (court of general jurisdiction); 1987–1992
• Admitted to Bar of United States Supreme Court and Sixth and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals
• M.A., Stanford University, 2008
• J.D., University of Kentucky, 1975 (Law Journal, National Moot Court Team)
• B.A., University of Kentucky, with distinction, 1972