John B. Bates, Jr.has been practicing law since 1974 and mediating full time since 1990. He has conducted over a hundred lectures and trainings on mediation and has mediated several thousand matters in more than 30 states. He splits his time between his family residences in Northern California and Hawaii.

John began mediating in the mid 1980’s as part of litigation practice and co-founded a mediation firm in 1990 which merged with JAMS in 1994. John has conducted many workshops, trainings, and lectures on all aspects of mediation, and has mediated several thousand disputes across the U.S. involving aviation, business, civil rights, class action, consumer, construction, employment, environmental, franchise, government/public agency, healthcare, insurance, intellectual property, personal injury, professional liability, real estate, patent and trademark, securities, toxic torts, and wills.

Among many articles John has written are:

• "Dial Back The Vitriol" California Lawyer 2012
• "Mediation: An Effective Way to Connect With Your Clients," ABTL Report, Vol. 17 (Summer 2008) and also in the American Bar Association’s The Brief, Vol. 38, No. 3 (Spring 2009)
• "For Emergency Disputes, Mediation is Cure," Law 360 (2008)
• "Using ADR to Resolve Superfund and Related Environmental Disputes," California ADR Practice Guide (November 1994)
• "Getting the Most from Mediation," California Litigation, Vol. 7 (Spring 1994) 
• "Using Mediation to Win for Your Client," The Practical Lawyer (1992)

• J.D., cum laude, University of Santa Clara School of Law, 1974
• B.A., with honors, University of California, Berkeley, 1970

• Past Vice-Chair of the ADR Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law
• Member of, speaker, and writer for the American Bar Association, American Law Institute, American Trial Lawyers Association, Consumer Attorneys of California, and the Defense Research Institute
• Member of and speaker for the Association of Business Trial Lawyers Association and Tort, Trial, and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association
• Member of the American Health Lawyer Association
• Recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyer, ADR Category, 2010-2013 

John resides in Northern California but does not charge travel time or expense anywhere on the west coast. Please call JAMS Case Manager John Peterson for info - (415) 774-2609 or email jpeterson@jamsadr.com