Recognized as being at the forefront of legal education reform, Professor Michael Colatrella is an expert in alternative dispute resolution with more than 20 years of innovative work in mediating disputes. His expertise in alternative dispute resolution includes mediation, negotiation and conflict management. He is co-author of the interdisciplinary text Mediation — Skills & Techniques, which is widely used in law schools, graduate schools, and schools of diplomacy. Professor Colatrella joined the McGeorge faculty in 2009 as an Assistant Professor of Law. He served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from June 2015 to May 2019 and Interim Dean from July 2019 to June 2020.

Professor Colatrella's current dispute resolution scholarship focuses on improving mediator techniques and mediation processes so that self-represented litigants may participate more meaningfully and effectively. His most recent article on this topic is entitled, Informed Consent in Mediation: Promoting Pro Se Parties' Informed Settlement Choice While Honoring the Mediator's Ethical Duties, was published in the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution. He is also developed a comprehensive online training program for The California Judiciary entitled Mediating with Self-Represented Litigants. Most recently, he is a contributor to the book Discussions in Dispute Resolution: The Formative Articles (Hinshaw, Schneider, and Cole, eds.) (Oxford Univ. Press 2021), which provides commentary and context to the most influential articles in the dispute resolution field.

Professor Colatrella is also a noted scholar on legal education. He co-developed McGeorge's innovative, required first-year course "The Legal Profession," and is a nationally sought-after contributor on legal education reform issues. He is the author of Learning "The True, the Good and the Beautiful" in Law School: Educating the Twenty-First Century Litigator, published in The University of Texas's Review of Litigation. His most recent article on pedagogy is entitled What I Learned About Teaching Law from Being an Art Student, which forthcoming in the Journal of Legal Education but available now on SSRN. You can view his "Ted- Style" talk given at the national LedgalEd conference, entitled, "What I learned about Teaching Law From Being an Art Student" that inspired the article below.

Professor Colatrella is a court-approved mediator in California, Texas, New Jersey and Kansas, and has mediated disputes involving employment contracts, commercial contracts, consumer fraud suits, personal injury, and commercial and residential leases. Professor Colatrella also educates corporate executives and business people in a wide variety of conflict management and human relations matters. He has consulted for public and private organizations such as Ericsson, Lockheed Martin, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, EDS, Alliance Data, Tenet Health Systems, Frito Lay and FEMA.

Prior to joining the faculty at McGeorge, Professor Colatrella served as Director of Southern Methodist University's Center for Dispute Resolution & Conflict Management in Dallas, Texas. Among his contributions to the Center were the development of a Master of Arts in conflict management, the establishment of a Mediation Clinic and the creation of a series of international programs. He also served as a full-time Lecturer-in-Law from 2000-05 at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law where he taught Legal Research, Writing and Advocacy.

Before pursuing a full-time academic career, Professor Colatrella was a litigator in New Jersey at Reed Smith Shaw & McClay, which is listed among The American Lawyer's top 100 law firms in the United States. He also has experience working for both trial and appellate courts. He clerked at the New Jersey Superior Court, and served an externship on the United States Court of Appeals for Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr., now Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.