1 Hour MCLE

Jonathan Polland is an arbitrator and mediator in private practice. He is a member of the American Arbitration Association (AAA)’s arbitration and mediation panels. He is an arbitrator and mediator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and a member of the CPR Panel of Distinguished Neutrals. He has served as an arbitrator in numerous commercial and business cases including business divorce, owner buyout, dissolution, securities, shareholder and partnership cases. He acts as a Judge Pro Tem for the San Francisco Superior Court, and helps the San Francisco Superior Court train new Pro Tem Judges to act as Settlement Conference Panelists.

Before becoming a full-time neutral, he litigated business, commercial and real estate cases in state and federal courts, and before private arbitration panels. He obtained his JD from the UC Berkeley School of Law, where he was Order of the Coif. He lectures frequently on the recoverability of attorney’s fees and costs in arbitration. 

Dana Welch has served as an arbitrator for over twenty-two years, presiding over nearly 400 matters, ranging from multi-million dollar cross-border transactions to single claimant employment disputes.  She is on the American Arbitration Association’s Large, Complex Commercial Dispute and Employment rosters. 
 
Dana is the Past-President of CalArb, Inc., President-elect of the College of Commercial Arbitrators, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.  She is also a member of the CLA’s Litigation Section’s ADR Committee.   Dana is a Northern California “Super Lawyer” in ADR and was included in the 2022, 2023 and 2024 Editions of Best Lawyers in America® for arbitration.
 
Before becoming a full-time arbitrator, she was the General Counsel of a technology-focused investment bank and a litigation partner at an AmLaw 50 law firm.

Aaron Gothelf (moderator) is Regional Vice President of the American Arbitration Association’s Commercial Division for California. He serves as the National Chair of AAA’s Entertainment Practice, the Western U.S. Chair for AAA’s Technology Practice, and as an Ambassador for the AAA-ICDR Foundation.   

Aaron is a Council Member for the ABA’s Dispute Resolution Section of which he formally served as Educational Programming Officer. He is Chair of the ABA’s Forum on the Entertainment & Sports Industries, Motion Pictures, Television, Cable and Radio Division. Is a member of the ADR Committee for the Litigation Section of the California Lawyers Association, is Co-Chair of the Executive Committee for the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Barristers Litigation Section, and is on the Advisory Board for the USC Gould School of Law Institute on Entertainment Law and Business. He holds a BA and MA from the University of Southern California, a J.D. from the City University of New York School of Law, and a Mediation Certificate from the Bar Association of San Francisco.