Joseph Ferraro

Joseph Ferraro spent more than 30 years managing and trying complex lawsuits, including more than 10 years specializing in intellectual property litigation, before retiring from Clifford Chance US LLP and forming the Ferraro Mediation Group. Joe received an A.B. from Fordham University and a J.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Law School. He began his legal career at the New York law firm of Shea & Gould, where he was an associate from 1969 to 1977 and a partner from 1977 to 1994. At Shea & Gould he handled a wide variety of commercial, real estate and banking litigation, trying dozens of cases to courts, juries and panels of arbitrators. He became a partner in the New York office of Rogers & Wells LLP in 1994, and a partner of Clifford Chance US LLP in 2000 when Rogers & Wells merged with Clifford Chance. In 2002, he moved to the Clifford Chance office in Palo Alto, California, from which he retired in August, 2004. At Rogers & Wells and Clifford Chance, Joe managed and tried patent infringement cases in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, chemical and computer hardware fields, and counseled clients in intellectual property and licensing transactions.

In addition to participating as counsel in many mediations and settlement conferences, Joe has completed: a 40 hour mediation training course with Steven Rosenberg in Mill Valley, California (2004); a 40 hour mediation training course with the Mediation Center of San Joaquin County (2005); a 29.75 hour appellate mediation course provided by Dana Curtis Mediation for the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District in Sacramento(2006); a 24 hour advanced mediation training course with Steven Rosenberg for the Amador County Superior Court (2007); and a 40 hour course in mediating the litigated case conducted by the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution of Pepperdine University School of Law for the San Joaquin County Superior Court (2009). Joe has also received training as a mediation coach, and has served as a coach in appellate mediation training provided by the Third District Court of Appeal in 2007 and 2008. Joe is a member of the mediation panels of the Amador County Superior Court, the San Joaquin County Superior Court, the Yolo County Superior Court, the Third District Court of Appeal and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California.

Since beginning his work as a neutral, Joe has mediated scores of disputes in business, real estate and other areas. He has served as a volunteer mediator for the Congress of Neutrals in the Contra Costa County Superior Court and as a Judge Pro Tempore to conduct settlement conferences in the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Joe has also conducted community and real estate mediations for the Mediation Center of San Joaquin County. He has mediated cases on appeal to the Third District Court of Appeal and cases before the Amador and Tuolumne County Superior Courts. And he has been a discovery referee in the Amador County Superior Court.

Joe has served as a Certified Mediator, a mediation trainer and a member of the board of directors of the Mediation Center of San Joaquin County, a non-profit organization that provides mediation and related services to the San Joaquin County community, and he is a member of the ADR Committee of the Tuolumne County Superior Court.

Joe is a member of the bar in New York and California, and is admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the Eastern and Northern Districts of California, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second, Third and Federal Circuits. He has been awarded the highest possible rating, "AV," by Martindale-Hubbell.

Joe is a member of the the New York State Bar Association, the California State Bar, and the bar associations of San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Calaveras counties

About Mediation

Mediation is an assisted negotiationprocess designed to promote respectful communication and the creative resolution of disputes. The process is supervised by a neutral mediator who guides the discussions of the parties and their representatives so that they achieve a better understanding of their own and the other party's needs, interests and values. The mediator does not provide legal advice or representation.

Mediation is voluntary.The parties control the timing, location, and scope of the mediation sessions and select their own mediator. The mediator has no power to impose a resolution on the parties or to force them to agree to any particular terms.

Courts may sometimes order the parties in a lawsuit to participate in mediation, but, while the parties can be required to talk, they cannot be compelled to resolve their dispute.

Mediation gives the parties what may be their last chance to bring about a result that is entirely within their own power and control - before the court takes charge and makes dispositive rulings that may produce losses for both sides without a "win" for either side.

Mediation is private.Only the parties and their attorneys attend, and there is no record of the proceedings.

Mediation is confidential.Laws in California and many other jurisdictions provide that nothing said during the mediation process, and no evidence created for the mediation process, may be used in court. During the mediation, the mediator may sometimes speak to the parties separately. If the mediator does so, anything said during the private session, or "caucus," will be kept confidential unless the party gives the mediator permission to disclose it to the other side.

Mediation is flexible and creative.Discussions and resolutions need not follow legal rules or legal models, nor are the parties required to "compromise" or to accept some "middle" position. The mediator will encourage the parties to fashion solutions that meet the needs and respect the values of both sides. Ideally, neither side "loses."

Mediation is a learning experience.Even if the mediation process does not result in a settlement, the parties who participate actively and in good faith in mediation discussions will learn something new about their case and about the other side's case.

Mediation is a low risk activity.Because it is voluntary, private, and confidential, parties can only gain by engaging in mediation.

Mediation produces solutions that are definite and immediate.There is no waiting for court decisions or appeals.

There are many different mediation styles. Some mediators use a "facilitative" approach to help the parties identify their interests and find solutions, without expressing opinions as to what a case is "worth" or what the settlement number should be. Others use an "evaluative" approach, common in court settlement conferences, where the mediator expresses opinions (usually strong ones) on the strengths and weaknesses of the parties' claims and defenses and seeks to persuade them to agree to a settlement that the mediator thinks is fair. Some mediators use only joint sessions, and never caucus separately with the parties; others have very limited joint sessions and rely almost exclusively on private caucuses. When you select a mediator, be sure to find out which style he or she uses.

Joseph Ferraro Ferraro
Mediation Group
P.O. Box 117
Copperopolis, CA 95228

Phone(209)785-4198
Fax(209)729-4104
[email protected]