Speakers: Gary L. Benton and Hon. Victor Bianchini

Moderator: Ruth Glick

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Gary Benton is an internationally recognized Arbitrator with expertise in US and international business, corporate investment, technology, and emerging growth matters.

Gary works on cutting-edge international technology disputes involving technology development, I.P., licensing, manufacturing, distribution, corporate investment and acquisitions, including cybersecurity, cryptocurrency and A.I. matters. His work is particularly focused on cross-border technology disputes involving Asia-based companies. He has handled cases in over 80 countries and serves on the commercial and international panels of leading arbitration institutions in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He is the founder of the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center, the nonprofit supporting the global tech sector, and California Arbitration (CalArb.org), the nonprofit promoting international arbitration in California. Gary  co-chairs the CLA International Arbitration and ADR Subcommittee. In addition to his arbitration practice, Gary serves on the Adjunct Faculty at Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley where he teaches international arbitration law. He is dual qualified as a U.S. lawyer (California, New York and D.C.) and as an English solicitor.

Hon. Victor E. Bianchini (Ret.) is celebrated for his unwavering dedication to achieving resolution. With a distinguished career that includes more than two decades in private alternative dispute resolution, he brings a wealth of expertise to Signature Resolution’s panel of neutrals.

Currently extending his mediation career at Signature Resolution, Judge Bianchini views his role as “a devotion to helping people resolve their disputes.” He leads with exceptional care and empathy, emphasizing that listening, patience and a commitment to resolution are essential to his approach. He has consistently championed the settlement process, promising clients to leverage his unmatched experience to deliver superior mediation services. Central to his approach, which blends evaluative and facilitative methods, is his steadfast belief in perseverance.

Judge Bianchini first began his judicial career as a U.S. commissioner and then as a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Southern District of California. He was then appointed as a state court judge and served for 20 years in that capacity, during which time he served extensively as the Court’s settlement judge. After retiring from the Superior Court of San Diego in 2002, Judge Bianchini began a private mediation practice. His expertise was soon recognized by the Federal Courts in New York, which enlisted him part-time as a settlement judge for complex civil litigation and prisoner civil rights cases. Throughout his tenure on state and federal benches and private mediation practice, he has mediated over 3,500 cases, ranging from straightforward disputes to intricate, multi-issue complex cases. His record includes numerous multi-million-dollar settlements in diverse and challenging cases, such as patent disputes and class actions. His 
judicial experience as a trial judge in both the federal and state systems, encompassing a wide range of civil cases, has greatly enhanced his mediation practice in the private sector.

Judge Bianchini’s passion for settlement was ignited early in his life. As a high school student, he excelled in speech and debate, which shaped his interest and skills in mediation. Initially planning to major in speech and debate at San Diego State University, his aspirations to join the military shifted his focus to political science, influenced by his family’s military background. Although he intended to join the Navy, the Marines offered him an opportunity to pursue legal studies. Upon completion of his law school studies, he was selected as the confidential law clerk to the Chief Judge of the Southern District of California, who later became a Ninth Circuit Judge. After his clerkship ended, he went on active duty with the Marine Corps, completing his active service after three years, with one year’s service in Vietnam and remained in the Marine Corps Reserve, completing a total service of 31 years and retiring as a colonel.
Beyond his legal practice, Judge Bianchini is an esteemed law professor. He has taught at San Diego State University, Thomas Jefferson School of Law as an evidence professor and National University, among others, and has been honored on several occasions during this time.

Ruth V.G is a full time domestic and international arbitrator and mediator whose background as a lawyer, businesswoman and educator augments her dispute resolution skills. With more than 25 years’ experience as a dispute resolver, she has mediated and arbitrated a wide variety of domestic and international complex business contract and tort, financial, commercial, technology, crypto, venture capital, trade secrets, securities, labor and employment, real estate, health care and medical device disputes. She is on the Large and Complex Case panel, the National, Commercial and Labor and Employment Arbitration and Mediation panels of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), as well as the International Centre for Dispute Resolution (ICDR), and the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR). She is associated with the following peer nominated organizations as: a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FIArb), a Fellow of the College of Commercial Arbitrators (CCA), a Distinguished Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators (IAM) and Member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals (NADN). Named yearly as a Northern California Super Lawyer and one of Best Lawyers of Northern California, Ruth is also a past Chair of the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association, a founder of WIDR (Women in Dispute Resolution), and a former liaison to the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession. She currently serves on the Council of the American Arbitration Association-International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR) where she is co-chair of the Mediation committee, member of the Arbitration and Law and Practice standing committees. She was the 2023 recipient of the CLA’s ADR Distinguished Service Award.