Oct 27, 2025
Hon John J. Kralik (Ret.) Joins ADR Services, Inc.
After more than four decades immersed in litigation, law, and the courts, Judge John J. Kralik (Ret.) has dedicated his career to resolving disputes from every angle of the legal system. His path began at Hughes Hubbard & Reed, where he rose from associate to partner by the age of 31, handling major commercial litigation and supervising teams of associates. In 1993, he left private practice to join Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), then a Fortune 500 company, where he became Chair of the Litigation Practice Group. At ARCO, he managed some of the company’s most significant matters, ranging from antitrust and securities disputes to environmental liabilities and insurance coverage battles. He also oversaw multi-million-dollar litigation budgets and personally advocated for corporate reforms before Congress.
In 2000, Judge Kralik founded his own firm, growing it from a solo practice into a five-lawyer office. From the outset, he positioned himself not just as a litigator, but as a resolver of disputes—making it clear to clients that his goal was to seek fair and practical resolutions, reserving trial only as a last resort. This philosophy set the tone for what would become a defining hallmark of his judicial career.
Appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2009, Judge Kralik served for 16 years, the vast majority of them in civil departments. He presided over hundreds of jury and bench trials, countless settlement conferences, and some of the state’s most complex disputes. His docket included asbestos litigation—where he tried approximately 20 cases to verdict—as well as class actions and intricate business and insurance matters. His rulings produced a long line of published appellate opinions, including Carver v. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (2024) and Madani v. Rabinowitz (2020), among others. He also completed the National Judicial College Program on Civil Mediation, further deepening his focus on settlement and negotiation.
Throughout his career, Judge Kralik has demonstrated a particular strength in complex commercial disputes, insurance coverage matters, and business ownership conflicts. He is known for his willingness to bring together the many moving parts of complicated litigation and craft global solutions that give parties closure. His mediation style adapts fluidly—he begins in a facilitative mode, listening and encouraging dialogue, but is unafraid to pivot into evaluative techniques when entrenched positions require candid reality-testing. He has mediated roughly 200 cases to date, often employing creative tools such as “what if” scenarios, mini-trials, mediator’s proposals, and structured post-mediation follow-up.