Frank Burke, brings lengthy experience as a business trial lawyer representing both plaintiffs and defendants, and is the founder of Frank Burke Mediation and Arbitration PC, handling technology-driven, healthcare, financial, and transaction-related matters, including corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, and investor-related disputes. He is regularly selected to handle multi-party and complex commercial disputes. These matters include corporate governance disputes, technology disputes, financial disputes, and real estate disputes handled through mediation or arbitration. He practices online and in person throughout the Bay Area, Sacramento and Southern California and on Zoom. He helps parties resolve their conflicts in a fair, cost effective way.
As a full time neutral, he conducts mediations and arbitrations in disputes involving the following areas:
Corporate Governance, M&A and Investor Matters:
Disputes among LLC members, partners, and shareholders involving control, fiduciary duties, valuation, and member buyouts, as well as post-closing disputes involving earnouts, purchase price adjustments, ownership interests, compensation, and distributions.
Technology and Online Platforms:
Disputes involving software development, SaaS and enterprise systems, implementation failures, and performance issues, as well as trade secrets, data use, e-commerce platforms, and payment systems.
Life Sciences and Healthcare:
Disputes involving medical devices and healthcare services, including reimbursement and billing issues involving hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, staffing providers, and managed care organizations, as well as provider-payor relationships, regulatory issues, and healthcare technology vendors.
Intellectual Property and Trade Secrets:
Disputes involving patents, copyrights, trade secrets, and licensing, including technology and data-related issues and published photographs.
Financial and Investment:
Disputes involving private placements, investment losses, securities matters, lender-borrower relationships, and accounting and valuation matters, including claims involving unregistered securities and inadequate disclosures.
Real Estate and Commercial Leasing:
High-volume commercial landlord-tenant disputes involving office, retail, restaurant, and mixed-use properties, including rent, CAM charges, defaults, and termination issues, as well as real estate purchase and sale agreement matters.
Solar Power:
Disputes involving solar energy projects, including development agreements, pricing and payment disputes, cost overruns, delay claims, and battery system implementation.
Employment (Executive-Level):
Disputes involving executive compensation, bonus and tax-related compensation issues, employment and separation agreements, wrongful termination, and whistleblower claims, including discrimination, harassment, and retaliation matters.
Franchise:
Disputes involving termination fees, transfer obligations, lease assumptions, non-compete provisions, and financial rights.
Cryptocurrency and Blockchain:
Disputes involving digital assets, blockchain infrastructure, and exchange-related issues.
Construction and Infrastructure:
Construction defect and project disputes, including delays, performance issues, and contractor disputes.
Professional Services:
Professional malpractice claims and fee disputes involving litigation counsel and tax accountants.
His background includes:
Assistant United States Attorney, United States Department of Justice, Seattle
I draw upon my lengthy years of experience as a business trial lawyer in national law firms handling a diverse range of litigation matters in federal and state courts and administrative agencies in 26 states and abroad in China and Canada. I help parties resolve their conflicts in a fair, cost-effective way through creative approaches and relentless follow-up in a framework of trust and civility. As a full-time neutral, I have had significant experience mediating and arbitrating disputes involving individuals and small, midsize and large businesses, including family businesses. I am available to conduct hearings on Zoom and throughout California.
I use a mix of facilitative and evaluative approaches depending on the situation and the parties’ desires. I like to get to know the parties and hear their perspectives so I usually ask the parties to speak personally in addition to the positions expressed by their counsel. I listen carefully and always treat the parties with empathy, respect and civility as I learn their views, motivations, wants and needs. In caucuses, we confidentially and constructively explore the strengths and weaknesses of the parties’ cases, the best and worst and most likely alternatives to a negotiated agreement, the risks faced by each party if there is no settlement, and the costs of proceeding through trial.
I work with the parties to creatively brainstorm ideas and solutions and their settlement demands or offers and their later settlement moves with them, to help the parties reach a resolution that they can all accept. This may include business solutions as well as money demands and offers.
I prepare intensively in advance of each mediation session. I believe in outside the box approaches and relentless follow-up.
For private mediation I offer an all inclusive service fee which includes 30 minute pre-meeting calls with each party, one hour of preparation time for a four hour conference, two hours of preparation time for a full day conference, and follow up telephone conferences with the parties as needed to achieve a settlement. My private mediation fees include all of the above services at $3,000 for a half day conference and $6,000 for a full day conference, live throughout California and on Zoom worldwide.
