Hon. Edward Kolker
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
Judge Kolker graduated with distinction from the University of Iowa
College of Law, where he served as Editor of the Iowa Law Review. His
over 38 years in the legal profession includes service as a Municipal
Court Judge, Chief Judge of the Juvenile Court, Chairman of the Iowa
Public Employment Relations Board, Assistant United States Attorney
(Civil Division) where he received the Director's Award For Outstanding
Performance, and significant experience as a civil litigation attorney
in private practice, including partnership in a major San Diego
litigation law firm. Judge Kolker has served as Adjunct Professor of Law
for National University College of Law, and as a judge pro tempore for
San Diego County Municipal and Superior Courts.
ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION EXPERIENCE & EXPERTISE
Judge Kolker has mediated and arbitrated in the private sector full-time
for 12 years, following 11 years of part-time ADR practice. For four of
those years, Judge Kolker served as Chairman of the Iowa Public
Employment Relations Board, a quasi-judicial agency responsible for
labor-related mediation, fact-finding and arbitration, responsible for
450 school districts, 99 counties, numerous municipalities, and the
state’s major universities, amongst others. In 1989, he augmented his
law practice with civil and family law mediation, and closed his private
practice to practice ADR full-time in 1995.
Judge Kolker has mediated and arbitrated hundreds of disputes, with an
emphasis on employment, business, estates and trusts, professional
liability, negligence and real estate matters, including homeowners'
disputes. Judge Kolker also facilitates negotiations between parties on
contractual matters, business dissolutions, and intra-company personnel
and policy disputes.
MEDIATION TRAINING & AFFILIATIONS
Judge Kolker has participated in over 500 hours of formal mediation
training, including Negotiation and Mediation Workshops at Harvard Law
School and the Straus Institute at Pepperdine. He has trained mediators
in conjunction with the Academy of Dispute Resolution. He serves on
mediation panels for the National Association of Securities Dealers, the
Superior Court of San Diego County, the San Diego Association of
Realtors, and also served on the select panel of arbitrators under the
National Dalkon Shield Litigation Trust Program.
He is a Fellow in the International Academy of Mediators, and has also
conducted meetings with mediators in Taiwan, The Philippines, Singapore
and Hong Kong. In 2003, he conducted mediation workshops for the High
Court Justices of India under sponsorship of the United States State
Department and a private foundation. He is a former director of the
Southern California Mediation Association, the San Diego Chapter of the
Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution (now Association of
Conflict Resolution), and is active in local, state and national ADR
organizations.
This page was last modified in November 2007
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