Jack Goetz is a lecturer in law at USC Gould School of Law. Prior to moving to USC in 2015, he was the academic lead for a 100-hour mediation training certificate program that he created in 2009 and then taught for seven years at the California State University campuses in Northridge and Dominguez Hills. Goetz serves as president of the non-profit company Educational Solutions 4 Change, which among other things, offers conflict resolution training to other non-profit and governmental groups. In that capacity, he was academic director for a mediation training program offered to the Los Angeles Police Department, Office of the Ombuds (2015), the Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA) and its mediation training program (2018-2020), and Riverside Community College District (2022).
As a neutral, Goetz serves the public privately as well as serving on various public panels, including serving as an arbitrator and mediator for the LACBA’s Attorney-Client Mediation and Arbitration Services and as an arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Association (FINRA). He additionally served as a temporary judge for the Los Angeles Superior Court from 2012-2017. Goetz served four years as a member of the Board of Directors for the Southern California Mediation Association (SCMA) and was the SCMA president in 2018. The Los Angeles Superior Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Program honored him as the 2011 “Outstanding Volunteer” for his service.
Goetz’s business background is extensive, and he received international acclaim for creating the first nationally accredited online law school, Concord Law School (1998), which is now part of the Purdue University Global system. He serves on the faculty for the business department at Moorpark College, teaching classes in Business Law and Introduction to Business. Goetz additionally serves the educational community as a commissioner for the Distance Education Accrediting Commission, overseeing the accreditation compliance of many educational institutions offering online classes domestically and internationally.
Goetz advocates for elevating the mediation field by integrating qualifications resembling other professions as well as strengthening public protection in mediation. He currently serves as president of MC3, a non-profit organization designed to promote greater education and training for mediators through certification and the social justice associated with greater widespread public access to qualified mediators. He also served as a member of the California State Bar Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution from 2014-2017.
Goetz received his PhD in Education from Capella University (2006), his JD from Boston University (1979), his MBA from Pepperdine University (1990), and his BA in Economics from San Diego State University (1976).