Frank Burke, with 42 years of experience as a business trial lawyer representing both plaintiffs and defendants, is the founder of Frank Burke Mediation and Arbitration PC, handling commercial, real estate, technology, corporate governance, employment and personal injury cases online and in person throughout the Bay Area, Sacramento and Southern California and on Zoom. He helps parties resolve their conflicts in a fair, cost effective way.
As a full time neutral, I conduct mediations and arbitrations in disputes involving the following areas:
Business Disputes
• Contract, family business, complex commercial, merger and acquisition, class actions and derivative suits, securities fraud investment, accounting and legal malpractice, antitrust, unfair competition and trade practices, healthcare, cannabis, franchise, debtor-creditor, qui tam and False Claims Act, banking and finance, accounting and taxation disputes.
Real Estate Disputes
• Real estate purchase and sale, landlord/tenant/lease, COVID-19, partition, environmental, construction defect, boundary line, easement, ADA access disputes
Corporate Governance and Business Dissolution Disputes
• Business divorce cases, corporate governance, partnership, LLC and corporate dissolution disputes.
Technology and IP Disputes
• Technology, trade secrets and intellectual property, e-commerce and terms of service, computer software, blockchain, ICO, cryptocurrency, e-discovery and cybersecurity, solar industry, energy and utilities disputes
Employment Disputes
• Wrongful discharge, sexual harassment, race, age, sex, pregnancy, disability discrimination, wage-hour, whistleblower disputes.
Insurance Disputes
• Insurance coverage and business interruption, sexual assault, personal and catastrophic injury, automobile, motorcycle, and truck-trailer accident disputes.Member,
I draw upon my 42 years of experience as a business trial lawyer in national law firms handling a diverse range of litigation matters in federal and state courts and administrative agencies in 26 states and abroad in China and Canada. I help parties resolve their conflicts in a fair, cost-effective way through creative approaches and relentless follow-up in a framework of trust and civility. As a full-time neutral, I have had significant experience mediating and arbitrating disputes involving individuals and small, midsize and large businesses, including family businesses. I am available to conduct hearings on Zoom and throughout California.
I use a mix of facilitative and evaluative approaches depending on the situation and the parties’ desires. I like to get to know the parties and hear their perspectives so I usually ask the parties to speak personally in addition to the positions expressed by their counsel. I listen carefully and always treat the parties with empathy, respect and civility as I learn their views, motivations, wants and needs. In caucuses, we confidentially and constructively explore the strengths and weaknesses of the parties’ cases, the best and worst and most likely alternatives to a negotiated agreement, the risks faced by each party if there is no settlement, and the costs of proceeding through trial.
I work with the parties to creatively brainstorm ideas and solutions and their settlement demands or offers and their later settlement moves with them, to help the parties reach a resolution that they can all accept. This may include business solutions as well as money demands and offers.
I prepare intensively in advance of each mediation session. I believe in outside the box approaches and relentless follow-up.
For private mediation I offer an all inclusive service fee which includes 30 minute pre-meeting calls with each party, one hour of preparation time for a four hour conference, two hours of preparation time for a full day conference, and follow up telephone conferences with the parties as needed to achieve a settlement. My private mediation fees include all of the above services at $2,750 for a half day conference and $5500 for a full day conference, on Zoom and throughout California.
