Hiro Naraindas Aragaki

GENERAL: 10 yrs full-time law practice experience, primarily in complex commercial litigation & arbitration but also in securities transactions and general corporate matters. Representative sectors include:

• Commercial aviation

• Banking, financial institutions, financial services
• consumer credit & services
• franchising
• hotels, hospitality
• law firms & practice
• energy (incl. oil & gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG), windpower)
• technology & software
• telecommunications

LITIGATION: Substantial experience representing clients mainly in commercial disputes before federal and state trial/appellate courts and agencies. Participated in all major aspects of pre-trial litigation, settlement, and appeals, including pleadings, discovery, motions, oral argument, case management and judicial
conferences. Subject areas included:
• attorneys' fees
• breach of contract/warranty
• breach of fiduciary duty
• business torts (incl. slander/trade libel & disparagement, injurious falsehood, negligence, strict liability, tortious interference w/ contract & prospective economic advantage)
• declaratory & injunctive relief
• derivative actions
• employment discrimination & wrongful termination
• equitable claims & defenses
• fraud/misrepresentation
• housing discrimination & landlord/tenant law
• indemnity
• intellectual property (copyright infringement, patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation)
• legal malpractice/professional conduct
• partnerships/JVs
• punitive damages
• RICO
• securities
• unfair competition (incl. Cal. Bus. & Prof. 17200 et seq.)
Served as a judge pro tem for Contra Costa Superior Court; presided over a wide variety of small claims matters.

NEUTRAL EXPERIENCE: Since 2001, served as a neutral in 250+ cases involving commercial, IP, employment & personal injury claims. Served as mediation consultant to the Hon. Daniel Weinstein, providing assistance with legal
analysis, case evaluation & post-mediation settlement efforts in complex matters. Representative matters include breach of contract, debt collection, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty & insider trading, attorney malpractice, partnership disputes.

ADVOCACY EXPERIENCE: Represented clients in large, multi-million dollar complex commercial arbitrations before AAA, LCIA, ICC, & ICDR. Representative matters include a dispute involving the Algerian state-owned oil & Gas Company, and a dispute over a joint venture in a premier Lagos, Nigeria hotel. Also represented corporate clients in diverse array of mediations & settlement negotiations—from a prominent Silicon Valley technology company in the
settlement of a $500 million trade secrets & copyright infringement lawsuit to a major airline in the settlement of a federal Grand Jury investigation and parallel NTSB proceedings.

TEACHING & RESEARCH: Teaches and writes in the areas of:
• contract law (incl. UCC, CISG, and standards for restitution, injunctive relief, spec. performance, lost profits & other special damages)
• employment discrimination (incl. Title VII, ADA, ADEA, FEHA, and 1st, 5th & 14th Amendment claims)
• business law (incl. corporations, partnership/limited partnerships, LLCs, intellectual property, business torts)
• international business transactions (incl. trade, foreign direct investment, agency & distributorships, sales, international arbitration & dispute resolution, technology transfer, franchising, and intellectual property)

Also recognized as a national authority on arbitration law, including the NY Convention, Federal Arbitration Act, Rev'd Unif. Arbitration Act, & UNCITRAL Model Law on Int'l Comm. Arbitration. Undertaken cutting edge, award-winning research & scholarship on U.S. Supreme Ct. arbitration jurisprudence over the last 7 decades. Sophisticated understanding of a wide range of issues such as:
• class arbitration
• jurisdictional challenges
• bifurcation & motion practice
• tentative awards
• unconscionability, public policy & other challenges to arbitration clauses
• clause construction
• interim relief
• arbitrator selection, disclosures & challenge
• ethics & prof. responsibility
• federal preemption
• vindication of rights doctrine
• arbitrability
• separability & delegation
• vacatur, modification, confirmation, set asides & enforcement of foreign awards.

Taught and coached arbitration law & practice (incl. AAA Commercial & Employment arbitration rules; Employment & Consumer Due Process Protocols, and Code of Ethics for Arbitrators) in & out of law schools since 2003. Authored several amicus briefs in high-profile cases including AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, 131 S. Ct. 1740 (2011). In 2011, invited by the Bangladeshi government to provide 35 hour ADR training for judges and lawyers in Dhaka. In 2016, retained by World Bank Group to provide ADR training and systems design advice for newly created Commercial Court in Monrovia, Liberia.