Ninth Circuit Mediators
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The Ninth Circuit Mediation Office is led by Chief Circuit Mediator Stephen M. Liacouras and a team of seven Circuit Mediators who work exclusively for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Circuit Mediators are all licensed attorneys who have an average of twenty-five years of combined government, private law and mediation practice. They are all experienced and highly trained in appellate mediation, negotiation, and Ninth Circuit practice and procedure. The Circuit Mediators are generalists and cases are assigned to them across all subject matters. |
Roxane Ashe, Circuit Mediator
Roxane has been a Circuit Mediator for U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit since 1998 and has mediated over two thousand appellate cases. Roxane is also the principal mediator for matters brought under the Circuit's Employment Dispute Resolution Plan and serves as a panel mediator for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Prior to joining the court’s mediation office, Roxane was Supervising Ninth Circuit Motions Attorney, Assistant Circuit Executive for Legal Affairs, and practiced civil litigation at a large firm in St. Louis, Missouri. She earned her J.D. and B.A from the University of Tennessee. Originally from Nashville, Roxane lives by the ocean in Half Moon Bay, California.
Roxane_Ashe@ca9.uscourts.gov
415-355-7911
Sasha M. Cummings, Circuit Mediator
Prior to joining the court in 2017, Sasha was a partner at a national law firm, trial attorney, and mediator. While in private practice, she served extensively as a Judge Pro Tem, Settlement Conference Officer, and Mandatory Settlement Conference Panelist. She is an Adjunct Professor at USF School of Law and served on the UC Hastings Foundation Board of Trustees. Raised in Northern California’s Wine Country, Sasha earned her J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law (now UC Law San Francisco) and her B.A. from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
Sasha_M_Cummings@ca9.uscourts.gov
415-355-7910
Stephen M. Liacouras, Chief Circuit Mediator
Stephen was selected as Chief Circuit Mediator in 2018, after having served as a Circuit Mediator for 17 years. Prior to joining the mediation office, he practiced civil litigation at a small San Francisco firm, served as a supervising Ninth Circuit Staff Attorney, and worked as an in-house attorney for a technology company in Austin, Texas. Stephen has taught negotiation as an Adjunct Professor at UC Hastings Law and is a volunteer panel mediator for the U.S. District Court for Northern District of California. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School and then clerked for Chief Judge Dolores Sloviter on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Originally from Philadelphia, Stephen earned his B.A. in History from the University of California at Berkeley.
Stephen_Liacouras@ca9.uscourts.gov
415-355-7915
Paula Raffaelli, Circuit Mediator
Prior to joining the court’s mediation office in 2023, Paula was Deputy Director of Workplace Relations for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where she facilitated the resolution of workplace disputes that arose in the court of appeals and the 15 federal judicial districts that comprise the Ninth Circuit. Before that, Paula served as Deputy Title IX Officer at the University of California, Berkeley, where she led a dispute resolution process involving complaints from students, staff, faculty, and third-party complainants. Paula clerked for Ninth Circuit Judge Morgan Christen in Anchorage, Alaska, and also served as a Ninth Circuit staff attorney. A lifelong San Francisco Bay Area resident, Paula received her B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and her J.D. from UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings).
Paula_Raffaelli@ca9.uscourts.gov
415-355-7909
Steve Saltiel, Circuit Mediator
Prior to joining the court in 2019, Steve was an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, serving at times as the Senior Litigation Counsel and Deputy Chief of the Civil Division. Steve is a volunteer panel mediator for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Before moving to San Francisco in 1998, Steve was a partner at a small litigation boutique in New York City. Originally from New Jersey, Steve graduated from Benjamin Cardozo School of Law, and George Washington University.
Steven_Saltiel@ca9.uscourts.gov
415-355-7906
Kyungah “Kay” Suk, Circuit Mediator
Prior to joining the court in 2017, Kay was a mediator in private practice, a member of the American Arbitration Association and an Attorney Mediator with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Prior to focusing full-time on mediation, Kay was a Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice as a civil litigator and an Administrative Law Judge with the California Office of Administrative Hearings. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Kay received her J.D. from the University of California at Davis and her B.A. and B.M. from Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music.
Kay_Suk@ca9.uscourts.gov
415-355-7901
Jonathan Westen, Circuit Mediator
Prior to joining the mediation office in 2019, Jonathan served as a Supervising Staff Attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Before joining the court, Jonathan was a litigator at a national law firm in San Francisco. Jonathan serves as a volunteer panel mediator for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Jonathan went to Berkeley Law School and then clerked for Judge Bruce Black and Chief Judge Parker on the Federal District Court of New Mexico. Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Jonathan has an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, and before law school was a Fulbright Scholar in Accra, Ghana.
Jonathan_Westen@ca9.uscourts.gov
415-355-7971