ADR PRACTICE

Mediator

• Mediator, Judicate West
• Member, Superior Court Panel of Mediators for Los Angeles, Tulare, Santa Barbara and Fresno Counties Fellow, International Academy of Mediators
• More than 200 hours of basic and advanced mediation training, primarily at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine Law School, since 1997
• More than 250 mediations
• More than twenty presentations, to law firms and bar association sections, on the topic of mediation
• "Senior Mediator" ranking by the Mediation Information and Resource Center (MIRC)
• Author, several articles on the topic of mediation, including "Overcoming Common Barriers to Settling Cases", Orange County Lawyer Magazine, Sept. 2000) and "What Is Special about Class Action Mediation?" Beverly Hills Bar Association ADR Section Program Materials, November, 2001.

Arbitrator and Hearing Officer

• Arbitrator, Large Complex Case Panel, American Arbitration Association
• Adjunct Professor, Arbitration Course, Loyola Law School, since 1998
• Judge pro tem, Orange County Superior Court (beginning 1989) and Fresno County Superior Court (beginning 2001)
• Hearing Officer, Medical Center Judicial Review Committees

EDUCATION

• Harvard Law School (JD, cum laude, 1980)
• University of Pennsylvania (MA 1973)
• University of California at Irvine (BA 1971)

LEGAL BACKGROUND

• AV rated attorney listed in The Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers

BAR ADMISSIONS

• Supreme Court of The United States - 1987
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit - 1986
• U.S. District Court (Central, Southern and Northern) - 1980-82
• State Bar of California - 1980

SPECIALTY EXPERIENCE

• More than twenty years experience in complex business, employment and real estate litigation, for plaintiffs as well as defendants, at the trial and appellate levels. Business litigation has included securities fraud class actions, corporate and partnership dissolutions, business valuations, intellectual property, unfair competition, covenants not to compete, theft of trade secret, environmental, insurance coverage, healthcare, breach of contract and business tort actions. Employment litigation has included wrongful termination, sex, race and age discrimination, wage & hour and sexual harassment actions. Real estate litigation has included deed of trust, judicial foreclosure, commercial unlawful detainer, breaches of real property sales agreement, brokerage commission and real property valuation actions.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

Employment Law Litigation

• Mediator, numerous large class actions involving alleged violation of wage and hour laws
• Mediator, numerous wrongful termination and sex harassment actions.
• Lead counsel defending The Geneva Companies (a large middle market business broker) in multiple wrongful discharge actions.
• Lead counsel representing former executive director of the University of California, Irvine, Medical Center as plaintiff in a wrongful discharge action, arising out of the unauthorized egg transfer scandal at the UCI Center for Reproductive Health.

Securities Fraud Class Action Litigation

• Counsel or lead counsel on multiple cases defending officers and directors in securities fraud class actions, including actions against Odetics, Inc. (a high technology product development company), Newport Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (a pharmaceutical development company), and ECCO Incorporated (a navigational systems products developer).

  Intellectual Property/Unfair Competition Litigation

• Lead appellate counsel representing International Aluminum, Inc. in malicious prosecution action arising out of wrongful patent infringement claim brought by Alumax, Inc.
• Lead counsel defending Power Plus! (a major supplier of generated electrical power) in breach of covenant not to compete action brought by a competitor, Showpower, Inc.
• Lead counsel defending Prefree Development Company (a developer of preservative free ophthalmic dispenser inventions) in breach of development and license agreement action brought by Allergan, Inc.

Minority Shareholder/ Corporate Dissolution Litigation

• Lead counsel representing faction owning one third interest in a large citrus packing house in San Joaquin Valley, in a minority squeeze out, breach of fiduciary duty, corporate dissolution matter.
• Lead counsel representing 50% owner of a Beverly Hills based capital management company, Core Capital Management Group, Inc.
• Lead counsel representing a 50% partner in dissolution of Newport Beach based plastic surgery practice.
• Lead counsel representing minority partners in a dissociation action under the Revised Uniform Partnership Act, involving a 1,000 acre citrus farming partnership.

Breach of Contract/ Business Torts Litigation

• Lead Counsel representing Medstone International, Inc., dba Cytocare (the American manufacturer of lithotripters) in a multimillion dollar breach of distributor agreement with General Electric Company (Medstone's exclusive distributor in Europe and the Middle East).
• Co-counsel (with Max Blecher of Los Angeles, California) representing an Orange County medical industry entrepreneur in a breach of oral joint venture agreement case, resulting in an $8.5 million jury verdict.
• Lead counsel representing Stockmate, Inc. (a software development company servicing the securities industry) in a fraud action against ADP, Inc., arising in connection with the sale of the business to ADP.
• Lead Counsel defending general partner of real estate investment partnership in a multi-million dollar action for alleged breach of fiduciary duty.

Real Property Litigation

• Member of trial team representing The Irvine Company against Joan Irvine Smith, a $500 million dissenting shareholder action, which is likely the largest real estate appraisal case ever tried in the United States.
• Lead counsel representing a limited partnership, Tucker Land Company, against Eastport Associates, a $20 million dollar secured real property action arising out of the sale of a 1500 acre parcel of land within the city limits of Los Angeles.
• Lead counsel representing Laguna Alton Associates (a general partnership affiliated with William Simon Associates) in a multi-million dollar action involving use of letters of credit in secured real property sales transaction.
• Lead counsel representing minority partners in a general partnership dissolution action under the Revised Uniform Partnership Act, where the underlying assets were 1,000 acres of citrus holdings in the San Joaquin Valley.

Environmental Law Litigation

• Mediator, large multi-party CEQA dispute involving Central California developers and governmental entities
• Lead counsel defending a refuge disposal company in a major CERCLA action. (Client's disposal activities accounted for about 50% of the volume of Operating Industries Inc., a superfund site, ranked 7th on the EPA list of priorities, which was the subject of the lawsuit.)
• Lead counsel representing a major construction company in a significant Water Quality Control Board dispute.