Don Frederico helps parties resolve complex litigation, with an emphasis on class actions. Because class action settlements require court approval, Don believes that a mediator with substantial class action experience can help parties and their lawyers craft settlements that have a good chance of withstanding judicial scrutiny. And, as someone who has spent much of his career collaborating with both defense and plaintiff attorneys, including as a leader of a significant metropolitan bar association, he is equipped with the personal qualities that elicit respect and cooperation from counsel on both sides of a case.
Before becoming a mediator, Don spent the last 25 years of his more than 40-year career litigating and negotiating settlements in class actions and mass tort cases in state and federal courts throughout the United States, ranging from cases with dozens of putative class members and tens of thousands of dollars in exposure to multi-district litigation with millions of putative class members and billions of dollars in exposure. He has chaired the class action practices of highly regarded national and regional law firms, has published dozens of articles, book chapters, and papers on complex litigation and class action topics, serves on the Planning Committee and moderates panels for the American Bar Association’s National Institute on Class Actions, and teaches Class Action Law as an Adjunct Professor at Cornell Law School. Don has negotiated, drafted, and obtained approval of class action settlements in a variety of state and federal courts, and frequently writes and speaks on class action topics.
Don is a past President of the Boston Bar Association, a current member of the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates, and the current President of the Executive Board of Directors of the Cornell Law School Alumni Association. In addition to his work as a mediator, he has served as a Special Discovery Master in the Massachusetts Superior Court Business Litigation Session, co-hosted the “Common Questions” podcast of the ABA’s Class Actions and Derivative Suits Committee, currently hosts his own podcast called “Higher Callings,” https://www.podpage.com/higher-callings/, and authors the “Reflections of a Boston Lawyer” newsletter, https://donaldfrederico.substack.com/.
You can learn more about Don and his experience at his website, https://www.fredericolaw.com/.