Hon. Billie Colombaro

Hon. Billie Colombaro (Ret.)

Former Louisiana Court of Appeals Judge | Commercial Mediator & AAA Arbitrator

Commercial • Employment • Insurance • Construction • International Disputes

New York City | Serving Parties Nationwide & Internationally

Professional Overview

Hon. Billie Colombaro (Ret.) is a former Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal Judge and full-time mediator and arbitrator with more than 40 years of legal, judicial, arbitration, and dispute resolution experience.

Judge Colombaro served on the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal from 1992 to 2004. Her career has included service as an attorney, appellate judge, mediator, arbitrator, and educator, providing extensive experience evaluating complex legal arguments, evidence, litigation risk, and business disputes.

Today, Judge Colombaro mediates and arbitrates sophisticated matters involving commercial contracts, business relationships, partnerships, employment, insurance, construction, healthcare, professional services, financial matters, and domestic and international business conflicts.

Her judicial background provides a distinctive perspective when evaluating legal exposure, evidentiary issues, litigation strategy, and appellate risk. Combined with her commercial dispute resolution experience, she helps attorneys, corporate counsel, executives, insurers, business owners, and institutional parties evaluate both the legal and business considerations influencing resolution.

Commercial & Business Disputes

Judge Colombaro handles complex commercial disputes involving businesses, owners, executives, shareholders, partners, and other commercial stakeholders.

Matters include:

• Breach of contract
• Commercial contract disputes
• Partnership and shareholder disputes
• LLC member disputes
• Business divorce
• Joint venture conflicts
• Corporate governance
• Franchise disputes
• Supply chain and vendor conflicts
• Commercial real estate
• Multi-party business litigation

Her experience is particularly relevant in matters involving significant financial exposure, sophisticated contractual relationships, multiple stakeholders, or complex legal questions.

Employment & Executive Disputes

Judge Colombaro mediates and arbitrates employment and executive matters involving:

• Employment agreements
• Executive compensation
• Executive separation
• Restrictive covenants
• Non-compete agreements
• Workplace disputes
• Employment-related business litigation

Her American Arbitration Association experience includes employment matters, adding substantial arbitration perspective to disputes involving employers, executives, and other workplace parties.

Insurance, Construction & Professional Disputes

Judge Colombaro's dispute resolution experience also includes insurance, construction, healthcare, and professional service matters, including:

• Insurance coverage and bad faith claims
• Construction contracts and defects
• Delay and disruption claims
• Contractor and developer disputes
• Payment and change-order disputes
• Design professional disputes
• Healthcare contracts
• Hospital and physician business disputes
• Professional services and liability disputes

Her analytical and judicial background is particularly valuable when legal issues intersect with technical, contractual, financial, or industry-specific questions.

Arbitration Practice

In addition to mediation, Judge Colombaro maintains an extensive arbitration practice involving complex domestic and international disputes.

She is available to serve as:

• Sole Arbitrator
• Panel Arbitrator
• Chair Arbitrator
• Arbitration Discovery Neutral
• Arbitration-Related Mediator

Her arbitration experience encompasses commercial contracts, business disputes, employment, insurance, construction, financial services, healthcare, professional liability, and international commercial matters.

Judge Colombaro has extensive experience with the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb).

International & Cross-Border Disputes

Judge Colombaro is available for international and cross-border commercial matters involving businesses, organizations, counsel, and parties operating across multiple jurisdictions.

Her experience includes international commercial disputes, multi-jurisdictional business conflicts, international arbitration, arbitration-related mediation, and disputes arising from international business relationships and transactions.

Mediation Approach

Judge Colombaro brings a structured, analytical, and evaluative approach to mediation.

Drawing upon her appellate judicial and dispute resolution experience, she helps parties identify controlling issues, realistically evaluate litigation exposure, assess legal and business risks, and examine potential settlement alternatives.

She works closely with counsel and decision-makers to address settlement obstacles and move complex disputes toward practical and durable resolution.

Thought Leadership

Judge Colombaro is the creator of The Power of Presence®, a communication, persuasion, negotiation, and influence program presented to attorneys, judges, arbitrators, executives, business leaders, and dispute resolution professionals in the United States and internationally.

She has also taught trial advocacy to Harvard Law School students for more than 20 years.

Geographic Scope

New York City | Nationwide | International

Judge Colombaro is based in New York City and is available for mediation and arbitration throughout the United States and for international and cross-border matters. Virtual proceedings are available for parties and counsel in multiple jurisdictions.