Résumé
Ross Runkel
My professional love: Employment law, derived from 30+ years of teaching, arbitrating, and mediating.
Arbitration: I conduct an orderly hearing, allow the parties’ representatives to try their own cases, write clear decisions, and get decisions out on time.
Mediation: I press hard for a settlement without being bossy.
Arbitration Experience
- 40 years experience arbitrating (mainly labor & employment cases) in Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada.
- Hundreds of cases covering the gamut of issues.
- Private sector and public sector.
- Serving on 15 permanent panels that include lumber, paper, maritime, police, fire, municipal. [Permanent panel list]
- FMCS Résumé.
- Sample decisions.
Mediation Experience
- 30 years experience mediating.
- Employee termination, sexual harassment, employee benefits, personal injury, business contracts.
- Two-party cases; multi-party cases.
- Private cases; court-annexed cases.
Law Practice
- Active member of the Oregon State Bar. Admitted to practice law in all state and federal courts in Oregon, Ninth Circuit, and United States Supreme Court.
- I have tried cases in Washington and Oregon trial courts and Oregon federal district court.
- I have argued cases in the Washington Supreme Court (a win), the Ninth Circuit (one win, some losses), and the United States Supreme Court (one loss).
- In Seattle my practice focus was admiralty law.
- In Oregon my practice focus was civil rights and habeas corpus, with a bit of personal injury.
Teaching
Teaching is a great way to gain knowledge. My focus:
- Employment law
- Employment discrimination
- Labor law
- Contracts
- Commercial law (UCC)
- Arbitration
- Negotiation
- Dispute resolution
Writing
- Created Law Memo and its primary publication Employment Law Memo, which reaches thousands of employment law practitioners (mostly lawyers) nation-wide.
- Spent 15 years reading and summarizing thousands of employment law court decisions from all federal and state appellate courts.
- Compulsive blogger on Employment law, Labor law, and Arbitration. [Blog]
- Writer-analyst on employment law cases for SCOTUSblog.
- Opinion analysis: Title VII defendants can recover attorney’s fees without prevailing “on the merits”
- Opinion analysis: Knox knocks unions on mid-year assessment for non-members
Quick History
- Full-time arbitrator & mediator.
- Arbitrator for 40 years.
- Mediator for 30 years.
- Editor - Employment Law Memo 1998-2013.
- Law professor - Willamette University College of Law 1969-1999, 2005-2010.
- Law professor - Lewis & Clark Law School 1967-1969.
- Law practice - Riddell Williams, Seattle 1966-1967.
- Teaching Fellow - Stanford University 1965-1966.
- Law degree - University of Washington 1965.
- Law Review associate editor.
- Order of the Coif.
- Bachelor's degree, Psychology - University of Washington 1961.
Other
"Polo" - English Setter
Current:
- Employment Law Advisory Board, Casetext.
- Member, Oregon Mediation Association (Workplace Mediation Group).
- Member, Labor and Employment Research Association (LERA).
- Member, Oregon State Bar.
- Member, Multnomah County Bar Association.
Past:
- Chair, Oregon State Bar Labor & Employment Law Section Executive Committee.
- Director, Willamette University Center for Dispute Resolution.
- Vice Chair, Oregon Dispute Resolution Commission.
- Chair and Director, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Portland Branch.
- Chair, governing board of First Congregational Church.
- Chief Fundraiser, Restore a Portland Landmark campaign.
- Chair, Salem, Oregon Downtown Development Board.
- Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee, Oregon Dispute Resolution Commission.