JAMS, the largest private provider of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services worldwide, is pleased to announce the addition of Hon. Kirk H. Nakamura (Ret.). Judge Nakamura joins JAMS as a neutral after a distinguished career spanning 41 years. Judge Nakamura served for two decades as a judge on the Orange County Superior Court, including an assignment on the Complex Civil Litigation Panel, and presided over 300 jury trials during his tenure.
Judge Nakamura served as the presiding judge for the nation’s seventh-largest court (144 judicial officers and 1,500 employees) during 2019 and 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he personally came into the courthouse every workday from March to late November 2020, leading the court in safely conducting 200 in-person jury trials and signing 40 administrative orders without a single criminal case dismissal for violating a criminal defendant’s speedy trial right.
Based in the Orange County Resolution Center, Judge Nakamura will serve as an arbitrator, mediator, special master/referee and judge pro tem, handling business and commercial, construction defect, employment, insurance, intellectual property, personal injury and torts, professional liability, real property and real estate, environmental and health care disputes. He is available to conduct sessions in person (adhering to reopening guidelines), as well as virtually for attorneys and their clients across the country.
Judge Nakamura was a civil litigator for 21 years before taking the bench, handling complex civil litigation, including multi-party land subsidence; construction defect litigation; asbestos litigation; catastrophic multi-party cases; governmental entity litigation, including inverse condemnation; and police misconduct and inverse condemnation cases, including extensive appellate work. He has handled a wide range of personal injury cases, including medical malpractice and auto accident litigation. He has extensive experience in insurance litigation, including coverage and bad faith disputes.
Judge Nakamura received his B.S. from University of California, Irvine and his J.D. from Duke University School of Law.