Harold Coleman, Jr.

Professional Experience

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 35 years of multi-faceted experience and expertise in the dispute resolution industry. 

Coleman is principal of Harold Coleman Jr. LTD (2004 to date), 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.  As an ADR professional, he also served as senior executive for mediation and practitioner development (2013-2025) at the American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR), a global dispute resolution industry leader.

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.     

Education / Experience / Affiliations

Coleman’s education encompasses formal studies in engineering, business, real estate and law, Leading To the academic degrees of Bachelor of Science (Western State Univ./Arizona State Univ.) and Juris Doctor (Thomas Jefferson School of Law) and certifications in engineering Technology (AZ Dept. of Transp.), legal education (Calif. Community Colleges Dist.), and arbitration and mediation (AAA-ICDR). He also is an active member of the American Bar Association, National Bar Association, Southern California Mediation Association, College of Commercial Arbitrators, and the San Diego Association of REALTORS®’ Mediation Panel.  

Coleman is admitted to the practice of law by and before the:

• State Bar of California

• United States District Court, Southern District of California

• United States District Court, Central District of California

• United States Court of Appeals, 9^th Circuit

• United States Supreme Court

Coleman is also licensed to practice as a Real Estate Broker by the State of California, Department of Real Estate.  

Real Estate Dispute Specialty Areas

• Buyer-seller purchase agreement disputes

• Seller nondisclosure claims

• Earnest money/deposit claims

• Residential landlord-tenant disputes

• Broker-agent commission claims

• Broker-agent malpractice claims

• Commercial landlord-tenant disputes

• Defective construction/property claims

• Developer liability

• Contractual indemnity 

• Breach of contract, fraud and deceit, breach of fiduciary duties, negligence, and other common-law liability claims frequently bearing on real estate industry disputes

• Strategy and settlement counsel advisories 

Service Areas

• All California counties. 

Service Awards

• Distinguished Service to the Legal Profession citation, State Bar of California 

• Twice recipient of the Wiley E. Manual Award for Pro Bono Legal Services to the Poor, State Bar of California

• ADR Champion, National Law Journal, Legal Times

• Cloke-Millen Peacemaker of the Year, Southern California Mediation Association 

• Chair’s Distinguished Service Award, American Bar Association, Section of Dispute Resolution 

• Meritorious Service Citation, National Bar Association, ADR Section 

• ADR Chair’s Award for Leadership, National Bar Association, ADR Section 

• Sperling Scholar for Teaching Excellence, University of Phoenix, San Diego Campus  

Philanthropy

• Volunteer/Mentor, Just in Time for Foster Youth 

• Member, President’s Advisory Council, California State University, San Marcos

• Volunteer Faculty, Advanced Mediation & Advocacy Skills Training Institute, Section of Dispute Resolution, American Bar Association 

• Volunteer Arbitrator, Fee Arbitration Panel, San Diego County Bar Association

• Volunteer Lawyer, San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program 

• President/Director, Morgan Valley Homeowners Association

• Director, Christian Legal Society

• Volunteer Conciliator, Peacemaker Ministries  

Philosophy / Approach

Coleman believes that effective mediation is more of a process than it is an “event.” For him, the process of mediated problem-solving begins immediately upon case intake by navigating parties through an insightful and value-assured 4-step process that strategically leverages best practices in blended facilitative, evaluative, and transformative mediation approaches, and namely: 

• Step 1: Initial Case Assessment (simplifying claims and defenses for accurate risk analysis purposes (Step 3 below); assessing party needs, priorities and interests);

• Step 2: Sufficient Information/Knowledge Assessment (identifying/expediting critical information needs and exchanges);

• Step 3: “Scientific” Risk Analysis (objective risk analysis using state of the art litigation forecasting software to derive the estimated monetary value (EMV) of claims for confidential presentation to and consideration of each party either prior to or during focused settlement negotiations); and

• Step 4: Final Resolution (plenary mediated settlement negotiations, Mediator’s Neutral Assessment & Settlement Proposal, early neutral evaluation (ENE), neutral fact finding, and expedited nonbinding or binding arbitration, each or all as parties desired).  

By adopting these and other early dispute resolution practice techniques pioneered by the nonprofit Early Dispute Resolution Institute, Coleman has assisted disputants with negotiating and fully resolving otherwise contentious cases, sometimes without requiring a step 4 (Final Resolution) process. Coleman has received advanced dispute resolution training and certification of the Institute in the American Bar Association-acclaimed “Early Dispute Resolution Practice Protocols,” the seminal work providing the “nuts and bolts” of the 4-step process enunciated above.   

Fees

2-Party Cases:

• $500 per hour for all ADR services rendered, allocated equally between/among all parties, unless otherwise agreed.

3 and More Parties:

• $650 per hour for all ADR services rendered, allocated equally between/among all parties, unless otherwise agreed.