Mr. McCauley is an honors graduate of Harvard Law School who has served exclusively as a commercial arbitrator and mediator for nearly twenty years. When arbitrating and mediating cases, he makes use of his years of experience as a former “big firm” AV-rated trial and appellate lawyer who handled complex commercial, employment, construction, and real property matters, including class actions. In the past decade, he has handled nearly a thousand arbitrations and mediations, involving primarily large and complex matters.
He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb), a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators (FCCA), a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators, and a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. He has taught courses in ADR over the last decade at Pepperdine, Loyola, UMKC, and Creighton Law Schools. He has been continuously listed for the past nine years as a California Super Lawyer and, for the past eight years, has been included in Best Lawyers in America, in the field of ADR, which named him “Lawyer of the Year” in the field of Mediation for the San Jose region in 2013.
A neutral such as Mr. McCauley becomes a Best Lawyer “Lawyer of the Year” as the result of polling results collected from satisfied lawyers who have ranked him first among his peers in a given region. Often, however, the satisfaction is simply volunteered. One client in a large, hard-fought, commercial real estate case recently volunteered, “If you need good recommendations from anyone, feel free to call upon me. I think you are an outstanding mediator.”
Mr. McCauley frequently writes and speaks on ADR topics. To mention recent examples: He is an editor and contributing author of the fourth edition of The College of Commercial Arbitrators Guide to Best Practices in Arbitration (Juris Press, 2017). He was a presentation speaker at the First and Second Annual Sessions of the USC Advanced Arbitration Institute (July 2016 and 2017). And he is currently engaged in a multi-city tour sponsored by the American Arbitration Association on the topic of the Use of the Extraordinary Powers to Summon Non-party Witnesses to Arbitration Hearings. His writings on the topic of Mediation include “Overcoming Common Barriers to Settling Cases,” “Reflections on the Special Role of Settlement Counsel,” “Ten Good Ways to Lose Settlement Opportunities,” and “What Is Special about Mediating Wage & Hour Class Actions?”
Mr. McCauley has served as a neutral at Judicate West since 2005. He is available for arbitration and mediation assignments throughout the United States.
- Business/Commercial matters including securities fraud class actions
- corporate and partnership dissolutions
- intellectual property
- unfair competition
- theft of trade secret
- insurance coverage
- healthcare
- breach of contract
- breach of fiduciary duty and business tort actions
- Employment including wrongful termination
- sex
- race and age discrimination
- wage & hour class actions and sexual harassment actions
- All types of Real Estate & Intellectual Property matters.
- California <i>Super Lawyer</i>, in the field of ADR, since 2008
- Listed in <i>Best Lawyers in America</i>, in the field of ADR, since 2009
- Named <i>Best Lawyer's</i> "Lawyer of the Year" for Mediation for the San Jose region in 2013
- Fellow, International Academy of Mediators, since 2002 (Distinguished Fellow, 2010)
- Fellow, College of Commercial Arbitrators since 2011
- Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) since 2014
- Editor and contributing author of the 4th edition of the <i>College of Commercial Arbitrators Guide to Best Practices in Arbitration</i> (Juris Press 2017)
- Named <i>Best Lawyer's</i> "Lawyer of the Year" for Mediation in the Los Angeles region for 2021
Reading and Traveling
- Mediator and Arbitrator (1998-Present)
- Partner, McCauley & Associates (1990-present)
- Former Resident Professor of ADR and Chair of the Arbitration Program, Creighton University Law School, (2011-13)
- Adjunct Professor: Creighton Law School (2010)
- Adjunct Professor: UMKC Law School, (2009 & 2010)
- Adjunct Professor, Pepperdine University School of Law, Spring and Fall semesters (2007)
- Adjunct Professor, Loyola Law School (1997-02)
- Partner, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, Complex Business, Real Property and Employment Litigation (1987-90); Associate (1983-87)
- Associate, Tuttle & Taylor, Inc., Los Angeles, (1980-83)
- J.D., Cum Laude, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1980)
- M.A., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1973)
- B.A., University of California at Irvine (1971)
- International Academy of Mediators,Distinguished Fellow (2002-Present)
- Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Fellow (2014-Present)
- College of Commercial Arbitrators (former chair, Law School Education Committee, Fellow (2011 -Present)
- National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, Member
- American Arbitration Association Large Complex Case Panel of Arbitrators; AAA sponsored speaker and trainer, Member
- California Broker's License
- Honors Graduate of Harvard Law School (JD, cum laude, 1980)
- Former Partner in a prominent Los Angeles-based international law firm (Elected, 1987)
- Licensed to Practice before United States Supreme Court since 1987
- Listed in Best Lawyers in America, ADR section, since 2008
- Named Best Lawyer Magazine's 2013 "Lawyer of the Year" in Mediation for the San Jose, California region
- Named "California SuperLawyer" in ADR since 2009
- AV rated attorney (since the mid-1980s) listed in Martindale-Hubbell Register of Preeminent Lawyers (since the early 1990s)
- Author of many articles relating to mediation and arbitration, including “Overcoming Common Barriers to Settling Cases” (published in Mediate.com, 2003); “What is Special About Mediating Class Actions,” (published in Mediate.com, 2008); “Closing the Doors to Justice? Rent-a-Center v. Jackson and Its Implications (Daily Journal Perspectives section, July 16, 2010); and, most recently, “The Extraordinary Power to Summon Reluctant Strangers to Testify at Private Arbitrations,” (Program Materials, 2016 Los Angeles County Bar Association Program on Advanced Arbitration Topics)
- Named, "Lawyer of the Year" - Mediation, The Best Lawyers in America (2021)
Consumer Class Action
- Arbitrator of Wage and Hour Class Action involving a nationwide membership fitness company
Contractual
- Arbitration of claim for alleged breach of a 20-year development and operating agreement between a supplier of a large "outsourced" acute psychiatric services unit and a community hospital located in Washington DC
- Arbitration of a $75 million claim for breach of contract by a manufacturer of patented blood-separation devices used in blood plasma collection centers
- Mediation of dispute among partners of a medical facility leased to physicians, concerning rights under a partnership operating agreement.
- Arbitration of a claim by an investment broker against a major brokerage company for alleged breach of contractual obligation to not interfere with the broker's application to FINRA to expunge a "U-5 regulatory filing" impairing the Claimant's broker's license
- International Arbitration among British, Israeli, and U.S. investors (as well as multiple alleged bona fide purchasers for value) for alleged breaches of the parties' development agreements, fiduciary duties, and capital call obligations in a large eight-phase commercial real estate development project
- Arbitration of a Claim for lender liability and breach of joint venture real estate development agreement between a federally recognized Indian Tribe and a Delaware land development corporation.
Fraud/Misrepresentation
- Arbitration of claims of misrepresentation brought by the purchaser of a private for-profit career college with several campuses (Panel Chair)
- Arbitration of a derivative claim for fraud and accounting and appointment of a receiver brought by minority shareholder based on alleged patterns of unjustifiable expense allocation and fraudulent transfers among eight cosmetic manufacturing and distributions companies having partial common ownership
- Arbitration of a nine-figure claim for rescission and restitution by a major pharmaceutical company against a single product drug development company for alleged misrepresentations concerning the likelihood that a cancer-treatment drug obtain FDA approval (an adjudication that included analysis of statistical evidence of the viability of the drug)
- Arbitration of individual and derivative claims for fraud and waste involving a successful close corporation with international operations in the niche specialty of brokering of licenses to use brand names
- Arbitration of claims for alleged fraud, securities fraud, and improper dilution of shares brought by a large investor in a $50 million dollar cemetery development company located in Mexico City and Cuernavaca, Mexico
Securities
- Arbitration of a Claim for Securities Fraud and Improper Dilution of Shares brought by a large investor in a $50 million dollar real estate cemetery development company located in Mexico City.
Wage and Hour Class Action
- Mediator, approximately three-dozen class actions involving an alleged violation of wage and hour laws
Wrongful Termination
- Mediator, several hundred wrongful termination or constructive termination actions, including actions for sex, age, race, religious, and sexual preference discrimination, whistleblower, and "failure to accommodate" disability matters
- Arbitrator, approximately 50 wrongful termination matters, and 12 wage and hour matters
Environmental Issues
- Mediator, multi-party dispute among public and private entities involving mitigation of cross-jurisdictional environmental impacts of several major residential development projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
Regulatory
- Arbitration of claim for alleged breach of a joint venture operating agreement in connection with an unexpected need to use extensive concrete channels and holding ponds in lieu of a simpler "wide street and berm" system to meet entitlement requirements for the handling of water flows in a 190-acre desert recreational development project in Southern California
- Mediation of multiple eminent domain matters concerning the fair market value of land condemned by various agencies of the State
Coverage
- Arbitration of claim of breach of insurance coverage obligation and bad faith brought against a major title insurance company by the owner of eight parcels of ocean-front property
- Arbitration adjudicating 16,000 significant discrete claims for medical insurance coverage under a capitated care contract between a large hospital system and a large HMO)
IP Copyright
- Mediator, copyright dispute pertaining to design patterns used by a textile manufacture
IP Patent
- Mediator, patent know-how license agreement dispute involving treatment of cancer
IP Trade Secrets
- Arbitration of claims for unfair competition, theft of trade secrets and interference, seeking disgorgement and injunctive relief, brought by a national insurance company against one of its high producing former brokers and that broker's new employer
- Arbitration of claims of breach of trade secrets and covenants not-to-compete in involving a manufacturer of a proprietary salmon oil capsule and a large national "big box" pharmacy
Medical Malpractice
- Arbitration of multiple cases involving claims for medical malpractice (including cases for alleged failure to diagnose the cause of the serious malady, the allegedly needless election of risky procedure; and surgical failure)
- Hearing Officer, Judicial Review Committee (adjudicating fairness hearing determining whether a surgeon should retain hospital privileges)
Professional Malpractice Legal
- Arbitration of claim for legal malpractice against a large law firm for failure to bring a derivative action or implement an allegedly feasible corporate control strategy in connection with an underlying corporate governance dispute involving a large privately held multi-state enterprise
Buy/Sell
- Arbitration involving the determination of the fair market rental value of San Diego commercial building
Landlord/Tenant
- Arbitration of a dispute between a landlord and a restaurant tenant concerning alleged failure of the tenant to pay rent; to maintain fire insurance; and to maintain occupancy needed for landlord to obtain fire insurance, and concerning landlords alleged unreasonable withholding of assent to an assignment of the lease to a new tenant.
Transaction
- Arbitration of claims for lender liability and breach of joint venture real estate development agreement