Curriculum Vitae

Mr. Phillips has been an attorney for more than fifty years and a full-time mediator, arbitrator, and court referee for over thirty years and has Martindale-Hubbel AV Preeminent Attorney and Judicial ratings.  He has conducted over 3,500 mediation, arbitration, and referee hearings in all types and sizes of civil cases.

He was formerly a panelist of the American Arbitration Association and later a full-time mediator with the Bates Edwards Group, Endispute, and J.A.M.S.

He has mediated cases exceeding $200 million in dispute and has mediated in Europe and as a West Coast Mediator for BMW and General Motors Corporations.

He was previously the senior owner and head of the litigation department of a major Central California law firm. He represented numerous Fortune 500 and other multinational corporations in complex business, real estate, employment, product liability, agricultural, and finance disputes.

B.A. (1968), University of California at Davis, with honors.

J.D. (1972), University of California at Davis, with honors.

Negotiation and Mediation Skills Training, Harvard University.

Advanced Mediation Training, Colorado Dispute Institute, Boulder, Colorado

Advanced Mediation Training, Pepperdine University, Institute for Dispute Resolution.

Certifications from the Association of Workplace Investigation Institute and Title IX Institute

•  Order of the Coif and Law Review at the University of California at Davis School of Law.
• AV Preeminent  Attorney and Judicial ratings by Martindale Hubbell.
• Co-author of the original ADR Rules for the Fresno County Superior Court.
• Member of the Labor and Employment Section of the California State Bar Association.
• Member of the Association of Workplace Investigators and Co-Convener of the San Joaquin Valley Circle of the Association.
• Founder of the ADR Section of the Fresno County Bar Association.
• Chair of the Commercial and Employment Section of the International Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution (SPIDR).

Published numerous articles and lectured widely, including in Europe, about mediation and arbitration to judges, attorneys, businesses, universities, and others.

Taught in conjunction with the University of California Hastings Law School College of Advocacy, the State Bar Association of California, California Continuing Education of the Bar, Pepperdine University School of Law Institute for Dispute Resolution, California State University at Fresno, and San Joaquin College of Law.

Served as a judge pro tem, special master, referee and early neutral evaluator of cases for the state and federal courts.

James M. Phillips, Esq.

The Phillips Group

Ph: (559) 261-9340 (office)

Ph: (559) 285-4547 (mobile)

1099 East Champlain Drive, Suite A, PMB 116, Fresno, California 93720

Email: phillipsgroup559@gmail.com