Jeffrey M. Senger

Jeff Senger is a mediator and arbitrator with JAMS, having previously served as the acting Chief Counsel of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a life sciences partner at Sidley Austin, and a leading litigator at the U.S. Justice Department. He wrote an award-winning book about resolving conflicts with the government entitled Federal Dispute Resolution (Wiley), as well as numerous law review articles and book chapters on FDA law, mediation, and negotiation.

As FDA’s acting Chief Counsel, Jeff directed the agency’s legal activities, including managing civil and criminal litigation; approving regulations, guidance documents, and warning letters; and supervising the work of 100 lawyers. As partner at Sidley Austin, he handled the most significant and complex litigation and regulatory issues for life sciences companies worldwide. In 17 years at the United States Department of Justice, he served as Senior Counsel in the Office of the Associate Attorney General (advising the White House and Attorney General, and assisting in the oversight of more than 6,500 employees and collective budgets over $3 billion), as Senior Trial Attorney and Special Assistant United States Attorney (serving as lead counsel in many civil and criminal trials before juries and judges), as the director of civil and appellate training at the National Advocacy Center, and a foundational leader of the Office of Dispute Resolution (managing negotiation, mediation, and arbitration). He began his career as a law clerk for a United States District Court judge.

He has been recognized as a Distinguished Neutral in arbitration and mediation with the CPR International Institute for Dispute Resolution, a Fellow with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, an arbitration panelist with the American Arbitration Association and District of Columbia Bar Association, and a mediator for the District of Columbia Superior Court and United States District Court.

Jeff has taught trial advocacy, FDA law, mediation, and negotiation at Harvard, Columbia, and Georgetown law schools, and he is an elected member of the American Law Institute. He is a member of the D.C. Circuit Judicial Conference, has testified as an expert witness before the United States Congress, served as chair of the editorial board for the Food and Drug Law Journal, and spoken on behalf of the United States government on five continents.