Rebecca Callahan
Rebecca Callahan
Attorney, Mediator, Arbitrator

Rebecca Callahan is a 30-year, AV-rated attorney who spent her career handling complex business litigation matters in state and federal court. She is now a full-time arbitrator / mediator.

Rebecca received her JD from Cal Berkeley and her undergraduate degree from USC. She also earned an LLM in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University School of Law / Straus Institute, where she serves as an adjunct professor teaching mediation, arbitration and mediating the litigated case.

Rebecca speaks and writes frequently on various ADR topics. Most recently, she presented on Arbitrator Level 1 Training for the American Arbitration Association, Arbitration Theory and Practice for Pepperdine University School of Law, You’re not in Kansas Any More: Seven Things Litigators Must Know Before Stepping Into an Arbitration for the California Lawyers Association, The Queen’s Gambit: Skills, Techniques & Strategies for Seeing Three Moves Ahead in Mediation for the California Lawyers Association, and Arbitrator Ethics: Ensuring the Integrity of the Process for the American Arbitration Association.

  • Accounting / Valuation / Ownership Disputes
  • Banking & Finance Disputes
  • Breach of Business & Commercial Contracts
  • Business Dissolution & Windup
  • E-Discovery Disputes
  • Employment / Workplace Disputes
  • Financial Elder Abuse
  • Fraud / Misappropriation / Tracing Disputes
  • Insolvency & Bankruptcy Litigation
  • Partnership / Closely-Held Entity Disputes
  • Real Property Purchase, Sale and Leasing Disputes
  • Wills and Trusts Disputes
  • University of California, Berkeley, J.D.
  • University of Southern California, B.A.
  • Pepperdine University School of Law / Straus Institute, LL.M. in Dispute Resolution
  • American Arbitration Association, Large Complex Case, Commercial and Consumer Panels, Arbitrator and Mediator
  • Court of Appeal / Second District, Panel Mediator
  • Orange County Superior Court, Panel Mediator
  • United States District Court / Central District of California, Panel Mediator (2002-2019)
  • United States Bankruptcy Court / Central District of California, Panel Mediator (1995-2015)
  • College of Commercial Arbitrators, Fellow
  • ADR Committee of the Litigation Section of the California Lawyers Association, Member
  • ABA Dispute Resolution Section, Member
  • National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, Arbitration and Mediation Panel Member
  • Orange County Bar Association, Past Director and Past ADR Section Chair
  • California Bar
  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • U.S. District Court, Central, Eastern, Northern and Southern Districts of California
  • Rebecca Callahan APLC, dba Callahan Dispute Resolution, 2005-Present, and Callahan Law Corporation, 1993-Present
  • Partner, Lobel Winthrop & Broker, 1986-1993
  • Associate, Buchalter Nemer Fields & Younger, 1985-1986
  • Associate, Allen Matkins Leck Gamble & Mallory, 1983-1985
  • Associate, Kindel & Anderson, 1982-1983

Appointed to over 60 arbitrations over the past 12 years, several of which have been three-arbitrator panels in the Large Complex Commercial Case Panel of the American Arbitration Association. Approximately half of all assignments have gone through hearing to award and have required reasoned awards. Case examples include:

  • Sole arbitrator in a commercial dispute between a customer and supplier / manufacturer of components parts used in the production of aeronautical equipment. Claims involved breach of contract and breach of warranty.
  • Panel arbitrator in a wills and trust dispute between successor trustee and beneficiaries. Dispute required the interpretation of a trust instrument and the legal effect and validity of a later executed will on the eve of death of the settlor / original trustee relative to the disposition of the estate and accounting for same.
  • Sole arbitrator in a dispute between a finder and a buyer of a cannabis business. Claims involved breach of contract, fraudulent concealment and misrepresentation.
  • Panel arbitrator in a dispute between and among partners of a family limited partnership with numerous commercial real estate holdings. Claims involved dissolution and accounting, along with damages claims for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, and breach of contract.
  • Sole arbitrator in a dispute among partners in a general partnership operated on a consensus basis. Claims involved the determination of whether one partner was wrongfully force out or wrongfully competed and interfered with the business of the partnership after voluntarily withdrawing. Claims also involved competing claims for damages for alleged fraud, conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, etc.
  • Panel arbitrator in a dispute between an independent insurance agent and his brokerage firm concerning ownership of the broker’s book of business and related intellectual property and electronically stored information. Claims also involved competing claims for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, misappropriation of trade secrets, wrongful interference with contract, etc.
  • Panel arbitrator in a dispute between an intellectual property licensor and an exclusive licensee concerning the licensee’s duties to design, manufacture and sell Licensed Products in connection with a new product launch. Claims involved declaratory relief, breach of contract, fraud, concealment, and breach of fiduciary duty.
  • Sole arbitrator in a dispute between a machine manufacturer and its custom-order customer. Claims involved breach of contract and breach of warranty.
  • Sole arbitrator in a dispute between a consulting firm specializing in processing cannabis licenses and a cannabis retailer. Claims involved breach of contract and declaratory relief.
  • Sole arbitrator in several arbitrations conducted under the alternative dispute resolution procedures of several asbestos settlement trusts. Under these procedures, a claimant whose claim is denied or valued at an amount the claimant disagrees with can dispute the Trust’s determination, starting with mediation and, if not resolve amicably, ending with binding, “baseball style” arbitration.
  • Sole arbitrator in several arbitrations conducted under the Automobile Industry Special Binding Arbitration Program. Under this program, Chrysler and GM dealers whose dealership contracts were terminated in the aforementioned companies’ Chapter 11 bankruptcies, could petition for reinstatement by filing a petition with the American Arbitration Association by a set deadline. If such a petition was filed, then it was required that an evidentiary hearing be conducted and an award issued no later than July 2010, with regard to statutorily defined issues and burdens of proof.
Appointed to over 1,000 mediations, which have spanned a broad range of subject matters, including:

  • commercial disputes involving breach of contract, fraudulent inducement, mistake, force majeure defenses, warranty issues, insurance coverage issues, contract interpretation, accounting, asset valuation, asset tracing, breach of express and implied warranties, and/or title and ownership disputes.
  • business tort disputes involving fraud, misappropriation, breach of fiduciary duty, mismanagement, unfair competition, trade libel, interference, aiding and abetting, and/or general negligent.
  • business separate / succession disputes, such as partnership dissolution, account and division of assets, orderly liquidations, out-of-court and in-court restructurings, and forced buy-sell.
  • inheritance disputes, including trustee breach of fiduciary duty, accounting, interpretation of wills and trust instruments, undue influence, claims for surcharge, and questioned documents.
  • real estate disputes (commercial) involving financing, lien priority, purchase and sale obligation, specific performance, foreclosure, development, entitlement, partition, leasing, lease cancellation, receiverships and bankruptcy.
  • real estate disputes (residential) involving view and property line disputes between neighbors, foreclosure, leasing, and homeowner association enforcement of CC&Rs.
  • bankruptcy disputes including objections to discharge, challenges to plan confirmation, classification of claims, preferences, fraudulent transfers, property belonging (not belonging) to the debtor’s estate, plan negotiation, plan implementation and “related to” litigation affecting the debtor and/or its bankruptcy estate.
  • intellectual property disputes, including patent rights, trade name rights and licensing rights and obligations.

Downloads

BIO sheet download
2024 Case Summaries download