Attorney and member of the California Bar since 1966; member, Bar of the United States Supreme Court, various United States Courts of Appeals,United States District Courts and United States Court of Claims.

Current Practice:


In over 35 years of practice I have emphasized business and real estate litigation and has represented clients in a variety of business and real estate transactional matters.I havealso represented clients in family law and personal injury litigation. Currently in my practiceI emphasize legal malpractice, attorney fee disputes, ethics and malicious prosecution cases as an attorney and as an expert witness, involving all types of underlying cases, including business, real estate, personal injury, bankruptcy, probate and family law matters. I have been retained as an expert in more than 500 legal malpractice and attorney fee dispute cases.I haverepresented clients in numerous jury and court trials and appeals in state and federal courts, administrative hearings and arbitrations.

The substantive areas in which I have handled litigation matters include real estate transactions, corporate acquisitions and mergers, contracts and commercial transactions of all types, motion picture rights and other entertainment matters, bankruptcy, legal and other professional malpractice, attorney discipline, attorney fee disputes, malicious prosecution, family law, probate and trusts, insurance issues, professional matters for physicians, construction, securities, commodities, administrative agency matters, intra-partnership and corporation disputes and dissolutions, banking, anti-trust, unfair competition, wrongful termination, personal injury, workers compensation and professional discipline.

I havehas also represented clients in various corporate and real estate transactions, including contracts for acquisition of corporate stock and assets, venture financing, rights in intellectual property and a wide variety of other contracts, including the purchase and sale of real estate.


Previous Practice:

From 1985 through 1992 I was a named Principal and Managing Partner ofa companythat was a 15 person law firm practicing in the fields of business and professional malpractice litigation, general civil litigation, business transactional matters of all types and representation of physicians in business and professional matters.

From 1980 to 1985,I was a partner, member of the Executive Committee and Chairman of a Litigation Department ofa 125 attorney law firm in Los Angeles, California, which handled general civil matters, including business and personal injury litigation. I handled a wide variety of litigation matters and supervised and managed the practice of twenty to twenty-five attorneys and seven to ten paralegals involved in the firm's business and real estate litigation practice. As a part of those dutiesI was responsible to the firm for the quality of the practice of the Litigation Department, ethical issues which arose, and the continuing education of its attorneys and paralegals.

From 1975 to 1980, sole practitioner in Westwood, California, practicing in the same areas in whichI previously and subsequently practiced, but with a greater emphasis on family law, personal injury, and business and real estate transactional matters.

From 1966 to 1975, associate, partner and Co-Chairman of a 45 person Los Angeles firm. My practice emphasized business and other civil litigation and business and real estate transactional matters.

Expert and Other Experience:

For over 17 years, expert witness and consultant in legal malpractice, attorney fee dispute, malicious prosecution and ethics cases (plaintiffs and defendants). I have testified in court and arbitration in over 70 cases, has been retained as an expert in over 500 and testified in deposition in over 200 cases involving a wide variety of legal malpractice and ethics issues, as well as attorney fee disputes.

Former member, State Bar Disciplinary Committee

Co-Founder and member of the Executive Commitee of the Lawyers Professional Liability Bar Association

Former Judge Pro Tem, Los Angeles Municipal Court

Arbitrator, California and Los Angeles County Bar Association Attorney Fee Disputes Panels

Arbitrator and Mediator, Los Angeles Superior Court

Arbitrator, Kaiser Permanente

Mediator, Attorney Fee and Malpractice Issues, Los Angeles Superior Court

Mediator, Mediator Network

Listed in Americas Leading Lawyers (1993)

Member, American Bar Association Center for Professional Responsibility

Former Director of Litigation, Long Beach Legal Aid Foundation

Former lecturer, Legal Malpractice and Ethics, University of California at Riverside

Speaker, Legal Malpractice, 1994 Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association Convention

Panel Member, Battle of the Experts, Lorman Seminar (1999)

Former lecturer, California Continuing Education of the Bar

Speaker, National Youth Leadership Forum on Law

Former Lecturer, Los Angeles County Apartment Owners Association

Former Instructor, El Camino Community College, California Law

Former Law Clerk, California Commissioner of Corporations.

Publications:

Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, Advocate, Court of Appeal Addresses Major Legal Malpractice Issues (November, 2001)

Association of Southern California Defense Counsel, Verdict, How To Avoid A Fee Dispute With A Client (October 2001)

Orange County Lawyer, Ten Reasons Lawyers Get Sued (September 2001)

2002 Expert Witness Update, The Expert Witness in a Legal Malpractice Case (2001)

Los Angeles Daily Journal, Verdicts & Settlements, "All in the Family" (November 17, 1999)

Los Angeles Daily Journal, Verdicts & Settlements, "Prepare, Prepare, Prepare (Legal Malpractice)" (March 12, 1999)

Los Angeles Lawyer, Lawyer vs. Lawyer (March 1999)

Association of Southern California Defense Counsel, Verdict, Top Ten Affirmative Defenses in Legal Malpractice Cases (March 1999)

Los Angeles Daily Journal, Verdicts & Settlements, "Power Prep (Legal Malpractice)" (November 20, 1998)

Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, Advocate, Obtaining Punitive and Emotional Distress Damages in Legal Malpractice Cases (June 1998)

LATLA Syllabus: "How To Use an Expert in a Legal Malpractice Case" (1994);

Los Angeles Lawyer, Avoiding Legal Malpractice, p. 13 (February, 1992);

Legal Malpractice, an article and tape produced by Institute for Continuing Legal Education;

Various California Continuing Education of the Bar publications;

Various other publications, details of which will be provided upon request.




Education

Graduated second in class of 1965, University of Southern California School of Law. Order of COIF. Editor, Southern California Law Review.

B.A., University of Southern California, 1962, Magna Cum Laude. Political Science Major.

Representative Cases:

Major litigation matters handled include:

Representing the largest seller of gold and silver in the world in an administrative matter before a federal agency and through a successful appeal, which if lost would have prevented his client from engaging in a multi-billion dollar per year business.

Representing the tender offeror in one of the nation's first contested tender offer cases.

Representing one of California's largest banks in construction litigation involving more than $100,000,000 in construction.

Representing one of the largest banks in the World in more than 200 cases involving their operations.

Representing defendants in cases involving the alleged defective design of the Corvair.

Representing a principal defendant in the Equity Funding litigation, involving an alleged fraud on customers and investors of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Representing the producer of a classic motion picture in an arbitration involving valuable rights in the picture.

Representing an investor in a real estate project in which million dollar fraud judgment was obtained.

Representing defendant in $7,000,000 fraudulent transfer action

Representing clients and attorneys in multimillion dollar legal malpractice cases.