Jeffrey A. Ross specializes exclusively in the mediation of employment matters. He mediates individual, representative and class action cases. Mr. Ross has mediated close to 3,000 cases, involving virtually every type of employment claim including: discrimination; harassment; wage and hour violations; whistleblower/ retaliation; wrongful termination; invasion of privacy; violations of the California Family Rights Act, the Family Medical Leave Act and the Equal Pay Act; and employment-related defamation.

Education

Mr. Ross received his J.D. in 1984 from the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated Order of the Coif (top 10 percent). Following law school, he served for one year as law clerk to the Honorable Joseph R. Grodin, Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, and for one year as law clerk to the Honorable Marilyn Hall Patel, United States District Court Judge for the Northern District of California.

Litigation and Mediation Experience

From 1986 to 2007, Mr. Ross specialized in the litigation of employment cases in state and federal court, arbitrations, and informal negotiations. He litigated both individual and class action cases. Mr. Ross began mediating employment cases on a part-time basis in 2003 and became a full-time mediator in 2007. He was recognized as a Northern California “Super Lawyer” (Employment Litigation) each year from 2006 to 2008, and a Northern California “Super Lawyer” (Alternative Dispute Resolution) each year from 2009 to 2022; he was named one of the top 100 Northern California “Super Lawyers” (all categories) each year from 2008 to 2013; and he was selected for inclusion in “The Best Lawyers In America” each year from 2007 to 2022. In 2016, Mr. Ross was named Distinguished Mediator of the Year by the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association.

Related Experience

Mr. Ross is a frequent speaker at state and national conferences on employment discrimination law, the settlement of employment cases, and legal ethics. His presentations on the mediation of employment cases have included:

• “How Settlements Happen: Positioning A Case For Early Settlement”
American Bar Association, Section of Labor and Employment Law, Mid-Winter Conference

• “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Mediating Employment Cases”
Bar Association of San Francisco, Labor and Employment Law Section

• “Hot Button Issues In Mediation”
Alameda County Bar Association, Labor & Employment Section

• “Employment Mediation In The 10’s: What Has Time Wrought?”
State Bar of California, Labor and Employment Section, Annual Meeting

• “The ABC’s of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Employment Cases: Advanced Topics In Getting to Settlement”
National Employment Lawyers Association, ADR Seminar

• “The Top Ten Reasons Employment Mediations Fail – And What You Can Do About It”
Bar Association of San Francisco, Labor and Employment Law Section

• “The Road to Resolution: Mediation of Disability Discrimination Cases”
California Employment Lawyers Association, Annual Conference

• “Mediation of Employment Cases”
Association of Defense Counsel of Northern California and Nevada

• “The Psychology of Negotiation”
California Employment Lawyers Association, Annual Conference

Mr. Ross served as a Chapter Co-Editor of the Second and Third Supplements to Employment Discrimination Law (BNA 3d Ed.), and authored Commentaries for a chapter of California Torts (Matthew Bender & Co.) on employment discrimination and harassment. He is an active member of many state and national professional associations concerned with the practice of employment law and the settlement of employment cases.