Frank Burke, Esq.

Mr. Burke brings 42 years of experience as a business trial lawyer in major national law firms, representing both plaintiffs and defendants in a diverse range of business disputes in federal and state courts in 26 states, China and Canada. He helps parties resolve their conflicts in a fair, cost-effective way through creative approaches and relentless follow-up. He uses a mix of facilitative and evaluative approaches depending on the situation and the parties’ desires. He likes to get to know the parties and hear their perspectives. He listens to them carefully and always treats the parties with empathy, respect and civility as he learns their views, motivations, wants and needs. He prepares intensively in advance of each mediation session. As a full-time neutral, he has had significant experience mediating and arbitrating disputes involving individuals and small, midsize and large businesses, including family businesses. He is available to conduct hearings throughout California.

He uses a mix of facilitative and evaluative approaches in mediation, depending on the situation and the parties’ desires. He prepares intensively in advance of each mediation and believes in outside-the-box approaches and relentless follow-up.

He conducts arbitration hearings with a firm and fair hand. He streamlines ways to receive evidence to reduce undue expense to the parties, requiring early disclosure of witnesses and exhibits, limited discovery of documents and depositions followed by disclosure of experts and damages theories to be used at trial, encouraging declarations in lieu of direct testimony, and novel approaches to the presentation of expert testimony. He follows the law and issues reasoned awards.

Online Dispute Resolution: Mediate.com has recognized Mr. Burke as a Certified Online Mediator and he is a member of The International Council for Online Dispute Resolution. Mr. Burke is available to handle your matters remotely via Zoom. He has had extensive training and experience in the use of Zoom and uses it successfully. Zoom has been well received by parties and can lead to considerable savings in travel time and expenses.

Areas of Practice

• 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.

Professional Experience​​

• Founder, Frank Burke Mediation and Arbitration, PC (2017-present)
  Independent Arbitrator and Mediator
• American Arbitration Association (2017-present)
  Member, National Rosters of Arbitrators, Commercial, Large Complex Case and Energy Disputes, National Roster of Commercial Mediators
• ADR Services, Inc., San Francisco and Silicon Valley (2017-2022)
  Mediator, Arbitrator, Temporary Judge, Special Master, and Discovery Referee
• Partner, Foley & Lardner LLP, San Francisco and Silicon Valley (2014-2017)
  Business Litigation; Antitrust; Securities Enforcement & Litigation; Government Enforcement & White Collar; Intellectual Property Litigation Groups
• Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, Los Angeles (2012-2014)
  Chair of the Los Angeles Litigation Department; firmwide practice area leader of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation team; firmwide co-leader of the False Claims and Internal Investigations team
• Partner, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Phoenix and Los Angeles (1994-2012)
  Firmwide practice group leader; Securities Litigation and Enforcement practice; Phoenix Commercial Litigation practice group; Managing Partner of the Phoenix office
• Partner, Streich Lang, Phoenix (1985-1993)
  Executive Committee; Compensation Committee; Strategic Planning Committee; Ethics Committee; Co-leader, Writing Skills Program; In-House NITA Trial Program and Deposition Skills Program
• Assistant United States Attorney, United States Department of Justice, Seattle (1980-1985)
  Member, Economic Crime Enforcement Unit and Liaison to SEC
• Associate, Morrison & Foerster, San Francisco (1977-1980)
• Associate, Sherman & Howard, Denver (1975-1977)