Harold Coleman, Jr., is an award-winning dispute resolution practitioner, educator, and peace-building champion. He is an attorney, arbitrator, mediator, conciliator, facilitator, teacher, trainer, speaker, writer and conflict coach with over 30 years of multi-faceted experience and expertise in the
dispute resolution industry.
Coleman is principal of Harold Coleman Jr. Ltd., a San Diego-based conflict-management firm that delivers solution-focused and value-driven professional alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services in the areas of real estate, construction, commercial, consumer, business and employment law, with a practice focus in complex technical disputes and pre-dispute avoidance.
Coleman is an ADR panelist with the Superior Court of California's Civil Mediation Program, the San Diego Association of Realtors' Real Estate Mediation Center, the San Diego County Bar Association's attorney/client fee arbitration and mediation committees, and the AAA’s Large &
Complex Case (LCC) panel for commercial and construction disputes. He is a licensed attorney, licensed real estate broker, and credentialed mediator, arbitrator and educator who since 1987 has served the international business and legal communities in resolving complex litigated and non-litigated disputes through innovative ADR applications of interest-based negotiation, facilitation, mediation, independent fact-finding, early neutral evaluation, and binding contractual arbitration.
He is a former civil litigation attorney (McInnis, Fitzgerald, Rees, Sharkey & McIntyre; Gaglione, Coleman & Greene, LLP) with expertise in complex technical litigation. He is a professional educator / trainer who regularly facilitates training corporate management teams in ADR, law and
ethics, communication, conflict management, claims prevention, strategic planning, and critical thinking /problem solving, among other enterprise risk-management themes. His corporate clientele has included The Boeing Company, the global aerospace leader, where he trained interdisciplinary
management teams nationally in resolution advocacy in connection with the company’s internal workplace ADR and external supply chain risk management programs.
A former project design engineer and multi-disciplinary project manager (County of San Diego, Office of Architecture & Engineering; Arizona Department of Transportation), Coleman's ADR expertise has actively facilitated the resolution of several hundred mediated and arbitrated complex disputes, with an aggregate case disposition value well exceeding one-billion dollars. He has actively participated in the development of over $200 million in capital projects and has served in a variety of legal, technical and managerial capacities. His formal education encompasses studies in engineering, business, real estate and law, leading to the academic degrees of Bachelor of Science and Juris
Doctor.
Coleman is recipient of the State Bar of California’s Distinguished Service to the Legal Profession citation and twice recipient of the Wiley E. Manual Award for Pro Bono Legal Services to the Poor. He was nominated, vetted for, and profiled in the National Law Journal’s Legal Times as an ADR
Champion for 2017. In 2018 he was conferred the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution’s 2018 Chair’s Distinguished Service Award. In 2020 the National Bar Association (NBA) awarded Harold the Meritorious Service citation for his support of NBA ADR diversity initiatives and service to its membership through professional development training, mentorship and guidance during a long-standing, multi-decade partnership of AAA and NBA.
Coleman also is recipient of the Southern California Mediation Association's (SCMA) 2020 Cloke-Millen Peacemaker of the Year Award, SCMA's highest honor bestowed on individuals who inspire the ADR community and public at large with their dedication to peacemaking.
Coleman serves the global ADR community from offices based in California and Arizona.
