Lynn Taylor

Hon. Lynn O’Malley Taylor (Ret.) joins JAMS as a full-time neutral, bringing over 35 years’ experience as a trial court judge. In 1982, Judge Taylor was the first woman elected to the court in Marin County. She has served three times as presiding judge. In addition, Judge Taylor has served in Contra Costa, Sonoma, Monterey, Napa, Sacramento, and Orange counties and for the last seven years in the San Francisco Superior Court as part of the Judicial Council’s Assigned Judges Program.

As supervising civil law judge in Marin County, Judge Taylor eliminated the court’s civil backlog by settling old cases and managing the remaining cases on realistic time schedules. She encouraged mediation and required settlement conferences for all cases that did not settle in mediation. She settled hundreds of cases in partnership with mediation trained attorneys and experts. While serving in San Francisco, she settled numerous cases assigned to her at the request of other judges.

Treating all with dignity and kindness, Judge Taylor has well-deserved respect from the lawyers and litigants who have appeared before her. She approaches each matter that comes before her with optimism and persistence.

Judge Taylor continues to share her expertise serving as faculty in judicial/legal education programs, including Stanford University Law School, University of San Francisco Law School and the California Judicial College. Most recently she taught a course on Advanced Settlement Conferences at the Center for Judicial Education and Research.