John L. Woods Jr. is the Founder and Principal of Woods Global Dispute Resolution, a global transactions and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) firm.  John’s international law and ADR practice areas include: arbitration, conciliation, mediation, fact-finding, as well as ombuds services. He provides these services in the following areas: transportation, construction, professional sports, workplace, commercial transactions, securities/investment, real estate and education. John has and/or currently serves as a panel arbitrator, conciliator and/or mediator for a number of organizations including: The World Bank-ICSID (appointed by U.S. President Biden, term expires 2030),  The U.S. Federal Labor Relations Authority-Foreign Service Disputes Impasse Panel (appointed by the Biden Administration, term expires 2024), Major League Baseball, United Nations (UN), United Airlines, Arbitration Foundation of South Africa (AFSA), the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce, American Arbitration Association (AAA), U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), New York City Department of Education-United Federation of Teachers, and the City of Baltimore Civil Service Commission.

John is the Co-Director of the ADR Program and ADR Law Professor at Howard University School of Law. John is also an Adjunct International Arbitration Professor for the University of the West Indies, Faculty of Law (Cave Hill Campus, Barbados).  John was recently awarded a Fulbright Scholars Award (2024) for the Garvey-Nkrumah Development Incubator, a cross-cultural development program that he founded and serves as the project director.  This initiative is a capacity building and training model that integrates ADR within development efforts in Africa and the Caribbean.  This program is coordinated in partnership with a consortium of U.S., Caribbean, and African colleges and universities as well as international governmental organizations.    

John facilitates fact-finding missions primarily in the areas of human rights and international trade/economic development. He has led or served as a member of fact-finding missions to the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the Western Sahara, Algeria, Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, Colombia, Ghana, and Rwanda. John created the Integrated Stakeholder Model for Human Rights Investigations. This model has been used as the guiding methodology for various human rights fact-finding missions.

John has developed Ombuds programs and served as both a corporate and a college Ombudsman. He has also conducted ADR training and designed ADR systems in North America, South America, Europe, and Africa. 

John is the Chairman of AFCA Development Group, a nongovernmental international development organization that services Africa and the Caribbean.  He currently serves as a Commissioner (Adjudicator) for the DC Real Property Tax Appeals Commission. John is a Member of the National Academy of Arbitrators (NAA).   He is the former Chief Mediator and Director of Dispute Resolution Programs for the U.S. Federal Government.  John is also the  former Chairman of the National Bar Association’s International Partnerships Committee. John was the 2019 recipient of the National Bar Association’s prestigious Ronald Harmon Brown Award of International Distinction.  

John received a Juris Doctorate Degree from Howard University School of Law, a Masters Degree from New York University, and a Bachelors Degree from the State University of New York at Albany.