Diana Kruze is a full-time arbitrator, focusing on business, contract, technology, health care, and employment disputes.  She has served as a solo, wing and chair arbitrator in more than 250 cases, with over $500 million dollars collectively at issue.  She has extensive subject matter expertise in intellectual property (trade secret, copyright and patent), life sciences, biotech and pharmaceuticals, licensing, data breach/cybersecurity, telecommunications, and satellite technology.  As an arbitrator, Diana has adjudicated over emergency arbitrations, class action disputes, and requests for temporary and final injunctive relief.
 

Prior to becoming a neutral, Diana was a litigation partner at Morrison & Foerster, where she tried, arbitrated and settled complex disputes in everything from patent cases to financial services disputes.   She was then appointed as a full-time judicial officer with the California Superior Court, where she presided over high volume calendars and a diverse array of civil cases. As a former judicial officer, Diana has hands-on experience crafting well-reasoned legal opinions after careful consideration of all arguments and the governing law. 
 

In recognition of her legal work, Diana has received numerous awards, including the 2024 International Mediation & Arbitration Expert of the Year Award by Lawyer Network, the 2023-2024 College of Commercial Arbitrator’s Associates Fellowship, the Daily Journal’s Top 40 Under 40, the American Arbitration Association’s Higginbotham Fellowship for outstanding ADR professionals, and the National Law Journal’s Trailblazers Award.

Diana is a San Francisco native and mother of three young children, two dogs, five chickens, a snake, a bearded dragon and a hamster.  She loves boxing, fishing, dollhouses, losing money playing poker, and binge-watching TV shows, like Ru Paul’s Drag Race and the Wire.