Hon. Irving Shimer (Ret.)

T: 310.203.8200
F: 310.203.8211

EDUCATION:

(June 1957) J.D., UCLA Law School; Member Order of the Coif: Editorial Board, UCLA Law Review, subject matter of articles (long comments and shorter case and legislative notes) published included civil procedure, income taxes, oil and gas leases: created and founded UCLA Law Docket, the law school newspaper: president of McKenna Chapter, Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity.

(1952) B.A., UCLA

JUDICIAL EXPERIENCE:

Appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court, February 1982.
Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court, February 1982 to June 1998.
Assigned to South Central District in Compton and presided over felony trials, including three first degree murder trials, and over the civil law and motion calendar, May to December 1982.
Served as full-time law and motion and writs and receivers court in the Central District, 1983 to 1985.
Chair of Superior Court Judicial Arbitration Committee. Authored the Court's Arbitration Handbook, an updated version of which is still in use as a published policy statement of the Court, 1985 to 1990.
Assigned to West District (Santa Monica). Presided over the full-time law and motion department for more than three years, the probate department for three years, or more and civil trial departments: founded the Beverly Hills Branch of the Superior Court in July 1993, an early effort at coordination of Superior Court with, in this case, the Beverly Hills Municipal Court, 1986 to 1998.

LEGAL CAREER:

Associate with, partner in, and principal in, law firms and law corporations, successively Swerdlow, Glikbarg & Nicholas, Swerdlow, Glikbarg & Berkowitz and lastly, Swerdlow, Glikbarg & Shimer, a Law Corporation. The firm was active in various aspects of commercial and entertainment law. Among the many kind of businesses Judge Shimer represented were savings and loan associations, banks, radio station owners, motion picture distributors, motion picture theater operators, real estate investments trusts, real estate developers, title insurance companies, general contractors, 1957 to 1982.

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION EXPERIENCE:

Since his retirement from the Los Angeles Superior Court in June 1998, Judge Shimer has presided over hundreds of settlement conferences, mediations, arbitrations, discovery references, and delivered lectures on legal and professional matters before various professional groups and law firms. Settlements reached have totaled millions of dollars, from June, 1998 to present.
In his 16 years on the Los Angeles Superior Court, Judge Shimer was an extraordinary settler of complex, and often high profile disputes. Among the more publicized cases he has handled were those involving the Southern Pacific Railroad, actor Gary Coleman, and probate estates of Nicole Brown Simpson and Jose and Kitty Menendez.

HONORS / AWARDS AND PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS / AFFILIATIONS:

Member, Board of Directors, California Judges Foundation, 1986 to 1989
Recipient of the Beverly Hills Bar Association Executive Director's Award for Service to the Association, September 1994
Member, Board of Governors, Beverly Hills Bars Association, 1990 to present
Member, Executive Committee, Los Angeles Superior Court, 1996 and 1997
Recipient of the Malibu Bar Association Superior Court Judge of the Year Award, April 1998
Member, California and Beverly Hills Bar Associations
Governor of the year, Beverly Hills Bar Association, 1994

TEACHING EXPERIENCE:

(1970s to 1982) As an attorney, Judge Shimer presented programs for Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) and various lawyers' groups on variety of real estate topics, including security transactions, real estate brokerage and title insurance issues.
(1983 to 1998) Member of faculty at California Judicial College teaching civil procedure: member of faculty of Center for Judicial Education and Research (CJER), teaching civil procedure and jurisprudence: lecturer for CEB and many attorneys' groups on variety of matters including civil procedure, real property and probate.
(1998 to present) Lecturer on arbitration, civil procedure and references (general and discovery) before attorneys' and professional groups.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:

(June 1998 to present) Judge Shimer has spoken or is scheduled to speak on the subject of discovery and general references, and the changing law with respect thereto, before the law firms and groups listed in the accompanying schedule since retirement.

MILITARY SERVICE:

U.S. Army, Korean Conflict, Service in United States and France, 1952 to 1954

AVAILABLE:

Throughout Southern California