Bio
Howard Herman is a full time mediator with JAMS in San Francisco. He has worked as a mediator and as a developer of ADR programs since 1985. He has mediated several thousand disputes covering a wide range of case types, specializing in matters involving high emotion and complex power dynamics. For more than 23 years, until March 2020, Mr. Herman led the highly regarded ADR program of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. He began his ADR career in the earliest experiments with appellate mediation at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He then served as the first director of ADR programs at the Superior Court in Contra Costa County before moving to the Northern District. A recognized leader in the development of the ADR field, Mr. Herman has taught basic and advanced mediation skills to thousands of mediators, lawyers, law students and judges throughout the United States and around the world. He served as chair of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution from 2015 to 2016. He was the inaugural recipient of the Robert F. Peckham Award for Excellence in ADR presented by the Ninth Judicial Circuit in 2002 and received that award again in 2019. In 2011, he was co-recipient of the Mediation Society of San Francisco’s annual Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Mediation. In 2013, he was the inaugural recipient of the Exceptional Service Award presented by UC Law SF College of the Law’s Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution, where he has taught ADR courses since 1996.
He previously practiced as a civil litigator with the firms of Graham & James and Kindel & Anderson in San Francisco. He received his J.D. from the University of California, UC Law SF, and his A.B., with Highest Honors, from the University of California at Berkeley.
Accomplishments
-
Robert F. Peckham Award for Excellence in Alternative Dispute Resolution
Presented by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 2002 -
Award for Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Mediation
Co-recipient from the Mediation Society of San Francisco 2011 -
Exceptional Service Award
UC Law SF College of the Law Center for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution 2013