ADR Experience and Qualifications

• Significant expertise in construction defect, inverse condemnation, professional liability, employment (wrongful termination and sexual harassment), business, insurance, product liability matters, and personal injury
• Also available as a consultant in trial strategy and appellate review
• Emphasized settlement conferences, whether requested by the parties or on his own motion, and used his considerable expertise in settlement techniques whenever possible at the appellate level
• Successfully mediated many serious and complex high stakes cases in the area of employment, business, insurance, HMO and high tech litigation
• A lecturer in civil law and procedure for the CEB and Rutter Group, he has taught all aspects of litigation and has spoken to legal associations and business and civic groups about the judicial process and settlement techniques
• Successfully mediated to resolution numerous cases involving the California Voting Rights Act ("CVRA"), including the first of these cases to go to trial

Representative Matters

• Experience handling cases involving contracts, intellectual property, and related financial disputes in music, film, and entertainment fields
• Handled complex multi-party, multi-million-dollar trust and will dispute
• High-tech business and commercial dispute involving contract and intellectual property claims
• Mediated class actions, including mass torts and product liability claims
• Multi-million-dollar motor vehicle product liability claims involving catastrophic injuries and death
• Multi-million-dollar patient claim against HMO
• Numerous high-stakes insurance bad faith claims
• Resolved several multi-million-dollar real estate disputes
• Toxic tort claims involving landfill operation brought by nearby residents

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

• Recognized as a Best Lawyer in Mediation, Best Lawyers in America, 2023
• Recognized as a Best Lawyer, Best Lawyers in America, 2020-2024
• Recognized as a Best Lawyer, Alternative Dispute Resolution Category, Best Lawyers in America, 2009-2019
• Recognized as a Top California Neutral, Daily Journal, 2012
• Selected as one of California's Most Sought-After Neutrals, Daily Journal Extra, 2002
• Trial Judge of the Year Award, Ventura County Trial Lawyers Association, 1980 and 1982
• Roger J. Traynor Appellate Justice of the Year Award by the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, 1998
• Faculty of the Council on Judicial Education and Research and the California Judges Association teaching and training judges
• State Bar Board of Governors Special Task Force on Discovery
• "The Power of Pester," Daily Journal, ADR Profile, April 12, 2013
• Received comprehensive training in JAMS in-house Entertainment Law workshops including, but not limited to:
  • "Net Profits and New Media: The Future of Entertainment Litigation"
  • "Legal Issues and Developments in Video Game Law"

Background and Education

• Presiding Justice, California District Court of Appeal, 1982-1999
• Judge, Ventura County Superior Court, 1976-1982 (Supervising Judge, Law and Motion, 1977-1980)
• Private practice, Principal, Beach, Stone, Smith, Drescher & Romney, Santa Paula, CA, 1962-1976
• J.D., University of California, Hastings College of Law, 1961; Associate Editor, Hastings Law Journal
• A.B., Medical Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, 1958