ADR Neutrals

W. Anthony Colbert is an Assistant Chief Administrative Law Judge (Judge) at the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission).  He joined the Commission as a Judge in September 2010 and has been an Assistant Chief Judge since 2018.  Assistant Chief Colbert currently oversees the Administrative Law Judges Division’s (ALJ) Adjudicatory, Transportation and Public Purpose Program proceedings, the Docket Office and the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Program.  Assistant Chief Judge Colbert was the Coordinator for the ALJ Division’s Intern/Externship program from 2011 to 2016.  Assistant Chief Judge Colbert is a certified mediator and has conducted mediations at the Commission since 2011.

Prior to his service with the Commission, Assistant Chief Judge Colbert was a Senior Counsel and Hearing Officer at the California Department of Corporations (now Department of Business Oversight).  There, he presided over a variety of high-profile hearings including Google’s acquisition of YouTube and the dissolution of the Pacific Stock Exchange as well as hearings approving acquisitions by Apple, Cisco and Yahoo.

Assistant Chief Judge Colbert received his J.D. from the University of Virginia, School of Law, and did his undergraduate work at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Assistant Chief Judge Colbert has been a panelist/presenter for various continuing education courses, the State Bar convention and at the Conference of California Public Utility Counsel Convention, as well as, a speaker on Fairness Hearings and California Securities Law before the Santa Clara Bar Association, San Francisco Bar Association, and Los Angeles Bar Association. The California Business Law Practitioner published an article by Judge Colbert on Fairness Hearings in its spring 2010 edition. He has served as an expert witness in Criminal, Civil and Administrative Hearings.  Judge Colbert is married with two children. He is currently a mentor at the De Anza High School Law Academy and a past mentor at the Balboa High School Law Academy.

Charles Ferguson is an Administrative Law Judge (Judge) at the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission).  He joined the Commission as a Judge in 2018 after an illustrious 40+ years of private legal practice.

Before joining the Commission in 2018, Judge Ferguson represented energy companies from across the US and around the world in the oil, gas, pipeline and electric sectors in both federal and state courts and regulatory agencies as a private attorney. Judge Ferguson also co-founded an energy dispute mediation firm of which he was president.

Judge Ferguson is the former chairman of the Energy Bar Association's ADR Committee and a member of the ADR panels for the US District Courts for the Central and Northern Districts of California. Judge Ferguson is the current ADR Program Coordinator for the Commission.

Judge Ferguson has received extensive training as an arbitrator, mediator and early neutral evaluator from the American Arbitration Association, FINRA and federal courts. He is an honors graduate of Amherst College and received his law degree from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.

Julie Fitch is an Administrative Law Judge (Judge) at the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission).  She joined the Commission in 2000 and became a Judge in 2011.

Between 2000 and 2011, she served in numerous positions at the Commission, including Energy Division Director, Policy and Planning Division Director, Chief of Staff to a Commissioner, lead energy advisor to a Commissioner, and lead regulatory analyst.  Judge Fitch brings all of those experiences and insights to her cases and to mediation and facilitation.

As a Judge, she has primarily presided over energy policy cases. She has participated in and served as a mediator in several multi-party negotiations, including for qualifying facilities, net metering tariffs, and other renewable energy issues. Her technical expertise includes clean energy areas, including renewables, energy efficiency, distributed generation, demand response, and storage policy. She is also familiar with transmission and distribution planning issues.

Judge Fitch has received her mediation certificate and training from Hastings School of Law. Judge Fitch holds a B.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University and an M.A. in Russian and East European Studies from Harvard University.

Jason Jungreis is an Administrative Law Judge (Judge) at the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission).  Prior to joining the Commission, he practiced law in California for 25 years, both in complex litigation and as transactional counsel. 

Judge Jungreis’s practice focused on cleantech, construction, real estate, insurance and surety, and environmental law.  He first-chaired numerous trials, engaged in more than 100 mediations and arbitrations, and resolved complicated multi-party litigation.  He has a strong knowledge-base and analytical skills in a variety of technological fields.

Judge Jungreis has also served as a Judge Pro Tem for 18 years with the San Francisco Superior Court, and have served as both a bench judge and a settlement judge for hundreds of cases.  His facilitation, mediation, and arbitration skills are shaped through having participated in such as plaintiff’s counsel, defense counsel, and neutral, and both with individual and institutional clients.  His experience provides insights and skills in understanding the legal, technical, and motivational positions of each party.

Kimberly H. Kim is an Assistant Chief Administrative Law Judge at the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission), since 2020. She oversees the Commission’s Records Unit and the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Program as well as the following subject matters: California Environmental Quality Act related issues, Water, Oil, Undergrounding, and Rail proceedings.

She joined the Commission in 2008 as a Judge.  From 2015 to 2020, Judge Kim has also been serving as the Commission's Docket Office Advisor Judge.  In addition, since 2017-2020, she also acted as the Commission's ADR Program Coordinator.

Since joining the Commission, Judge Kim's formal proceeding docket has focused on energy and transit safety proceedings, but her docket typically comprises the most complex proceedings in all industry areas within the Commission's jurisdiction including water, oil pipeline, gas and telecommunications proceedings.

Judge Kim is a true believer in the benefits of the ADR processes and techniques.  Judge Kim's success record as a mediator is unparalleled.  As a mediator/neutral and the ADR Program Coordinator, she is committed to serving the public and the Commission by providing only the exceptional ADR services to the participants.  As with her formal proceeding docket, her mediation work focuses on complex, multi-party and sensitive cases, including multi-pronged general rate cases, atypically challenging complaint cases, and other legally and dynamically challenging disputes which have been in litigation and/or appeal for decades.  

Judge Kim began her legal career in the San Francisco Public Defenders' Office.  She since has worked as in-house counsel, both in private and public sectors, but the majority of her professional legal experience has been in administrative and civil litigation as well as appellate work which spanned more than two decades. The specific subject areas of her litigation and appellate experience have been in, inter alia, the following legal subject areas: environmental, land use, transportation, social service and employment. Judge Kim brings all of those experiences and insight to the cases she presides over, facilitates and mediates.