ADR Neutrals

Judge Lena Afary is an Administrative Law Judge at the California Public Utilities Commission. She came to CPUC as an adjunct faculty member at USC’s Gould School of Law, where she taught cross-cultural communication and writing techniques to foreign exchange Master of Laws students. At the CPUC, Judge Afary serves as presiding officer in assigned cases which include applications, complaints, citation appeals, investigations, rulemakings, and petitions for rulemaking. As an ADR certified panelist at the CPUC, Judge Afary mediates concerns involving billing, electricity service and usage, water rights and responsibilities, and other disputes involving ratepayers and utilities.

Before joining the CPUC, Judge Afary was a Deputy Attorney General at the Office of the California Attorney General, where she focused on civil rights and disability issues. Previously, she worked as a law clerk for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office and later as a social service attorney working with asylum seekers, refugees, and recent immigrants from Iran and Afghanistan. Judge Afary’s volunteer work includes serving as a pro tem judge with the Los Angeles Superior Court (California, USA), and as a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Judicial Elections Evaluation and Judicial Appointments Committees (California, USA).

Judge Afary was inspired to pursue environmental and social justice within the law because of her personal family history. She emigrated to the United States with her family as a child at the start of the Iranian Revolution. Her background as a member of a minority community in Iran inspired her to pursue social, gender, and environmental justice issues. These concerns still motivate and inspire her. Throughout the years, Judge Afary expanded her awareness of her community of origin through extensive travels in the Middle East and Europe, and within her work in environmental regulations in the utilities sector. Judge Afary is based out of Los Angeles, California, USA.

Judge Afary attended the University of Minnesota Law School where she was the Managing Editor of the Journal of Law and Inequality and the Student Clinic Director of the Civil Practice Clinic. She externed in the Hennepin County District Courts and worked as a student at the University of Minnesota Immigration Clinic (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA). Before attending law school, and while completing her MFA, Judge Afary worked as an Associate Producer for the Emmy Award winning documentary television series American High (Chicago, Illinois, USA).

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 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.

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.

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.

Valerie U. Kao is an administrative law judge (ALJ) with the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission).  She joined the Commission in 2007 as an analyst and became an ALJ in 2017.

Judge Kao has presided over cases involving a diverse set of issues, including energy, telecommunications, and policy.

Judge Kao has been a certified mediator for over five years.  She received her mediation certificate and training from UC Law San Francisco.  Judge Kao holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of California (UC), Berkeley and a Master of Pacific and International Affairs from UC San Diego.

Burton Mattson is an Administrative Law Judge (Judge) at the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission). He joined the Commission in 1975 and became a Judge in 1989. 

Judge Mattson has presided over cases involving natural gas, electricity, telephone, water, and transportation. These proceedings have included complaints, general rate cases, orders instituting investigations, orders instituting rulemakings, and citation appeals. He has conducted arbitrations and facilitated workshops. He has led several mediations, with many resulting in settlement. He has also served as a volunteer mediator for small claims court cases with San Francisco Superior Court. 

Judge Mattson received a mediation certificate from Pepperdine University of Law in 1998, and a certificate as an advanced mediation practitioner from UC Law, San Francisco in 2022. Judge Mattson holds a B.A. in economics from the University of California, Davis, graduating in 1973 with the Economics Department Citation for Outstanding Undergraduate Accomplishment.

Judge Rambo is the Co-Coordinator of the Commission’s ADR Program. He joined the Commission’s ADR Program in 2022.

Judge Rambo has served as an ALJ for more than a decade at the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, the Department of Health Care Services, and the CPUC. Judge Rambo also served as the Chief Counsel for the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and as a local Deputy District Attorney.

Judge Rambo holds Basic and Advanced Mediator Training Certificates from the UC Law, San Francisco. Judge Rambo holds a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Davis and a Public Leadership Credential from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Seaneen McCarthy Wilson is a Retired Annuitant (RA) Administrative Law Judge (Judge) with the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission).  She joined the Commission in 1981 as an auditor, became a Judge in 2009, and after retiring in 2015, returned as an RA Judge in 2016.

Judge Wilson has presided over cases involving a diverse set of issues, including energy, telecommunications, water, rail, and policy.

Judge Wilson has been a certified mediator for over ten years.  She received her mediation certificate and training from UC Law, San Francisco.  Judge Wilson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce (Accounting) from Santa Clara University.