Meet the Team

April Madison-Ramsey

 Facilitator | Mediator | Trainer 

After more than 30 years of in-house legal experience in both public and private sectors, April Madison-Ramsey is fluent in the legal, operational, and reputational stakes of workplace conflict—especially in the healthcare industry. She is sensitive to power imbalances, internal dynamics, and the lived reality of workplace harm. The dual perspective she has gained from partnering with outside attorneys representing both employers and employees gives her the credibility and insight to facilitate resolution that is efficient, fair, and informed by how workplace disputes actually arise and unfold.

 "To agree to have dialogue is the beginning of a peaceful resolution." — Somali Proverb 

 At JAMS Pathways, April helps healthcare organizations turn conflict from a liability into a leadership asset. Drawing on 30 years of healthcare experience, she partners with executives to build structured dispute resolution programs that address real-world conflicts, reframe issues, support difficult conversations, deescalate tension, and build consensus. Her goal is to create a cultural shift by training leaders in ADR principles, giving them a shared language for conflict across the organization, and making resolution a normal practice rather than something to avoid. 

Career Experience
  • Founder, Madison Legal Solutions PC (2025- present)
  • JAMS Fellow (2024-2025)
  • Senior University Counsel, Stanford University/Stanford Medicine (2019-2025)
  • Senior Litigation Counsel, Dignity Health (2006-2019)
  • Manager Labor Relations, Contra Costa County (2005-2006)
  • Deputy City of Oakland (Counsel, Civil Service Board) (2000-2005)
  • Deputy City Attorney, City and County of San Francisco (Counsel, Civil Service Commission) (1998- 2000)
  • Associate, Morrison Foerster (1996-1998) • Staff Attorney, Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals (1992-1996) 
Background & Education
  • Juris Doctor, University of Wisconsin Law School, 1992
  • Bachelor of Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1989
  • Certified Mediator, University of California, Berkeley Extension (2017) • Certified Senior Human Resources Professional (SPHR) (2014) 
Insights & Publications
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  • Effective Strategies for Mediating Single, Multi and Class Action Employment Disputes, NBA Labor & Employment Law Section
  • POST Recruit Training Officer Course: Leave Laws, FLSA and Sexual Harassment Laws
  • League of California Cities: Personnel Law Updates
  • Council on Education in Management: FMLA, ADA and Other Leave Law
  • E-Discovery and the Ethical Minefields, ABA, NEL
  • Cost of Bias in the Legal Profession, California State Bar Labor & Employment Law Section
  • The NLRB’s Relevance to the 21st Century”, NBA Labor & Employment Law Section
  • AHLA Employment Risk Management: A Framework for Prevention
  • Disruptive Physician Training, Sexual Harassment: The Unseen Costs
  • Overlapping Obligations: The Interaction Between ADA, FMLA and Workers Compensation
  • Conducting An Investigation: How to Make the Record
  • Progressive Discipline: A Step-by-Step Approach
  • Trends in Union Organizing
  • Creating a Respectful Workplace
  • Annual HR Legal Updates
  • ADAAA: A Step By Step Guide to the Interactive Process
  • Beyond Arbitration: Adding Mediation to the Labor Management Toolkit, LERA Perspectives on Work 2025 (co-author Robin Gise)
  • Knowing the Job: Just Cause 101 (pending publication), LERA Perspectives on Work 2026 (coauthor Judge Nancy Watkins McLaughlin (ret)) 
Work Vision

Work Vision

To help workplaces address conflict in ways that promote psychological safety, protect relationships, and strengthen institutional trust. 
Values

Values

Credibility, equity, practicality, integrity, humanity 

Areas of Focus

Areas of Focus

Workplace early dispute resolution and prevention; culture and systems assessment and redesign


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