Book Rates Attorneys Across the Nation : County Notches 12 Names in a Lawyers’ Who’s Who
Herbert Hafif and Wylie A. Aitken made the cut; Melvin M. Belli did not. And Orange County’s biggest law firm is out.
And if a new book is to be believed, land developers and injured plaintiffs have the best selection when picking a top-notch attorney in Orange County.
But people with problems in bankruptcy, corporate law and divorce won’t find a single area lawyer listed in the second edition of “The Best Lawyers in America.” And clients who want a woman attorney in the area also won’t find any names in the new guide.
Even so, Orange County listings in the lawyer reference guide have more than doubled--from five names to the current 12--since the book’s first edition four years ago. But its lawyers still compose an embarrassingly scant 0.16% of the 7,200 attorneys named in the guide.
According to the two Harvard Law School graduates who compiled the guide, the 1% of the nation’s 700,000 lawyers who made the list were voted in by their peers. Bar leaders were asked to name lawyers they would suggest to a close relative or friend who needed legal advice, said one of the authors, Steven W. Naifeh of New York. Those suggested, in turn, were asked to name more lawyers until a consensus emerged about names.
Naifeh readily concedes that lawyers in Orange County--and others in what he termed “secondary and tertiary legal communities”--might be under-represented simply because they tend to be less well known.
Of the categories with Orange County lawyers, however, real estate headed the list with four Newport Beach attorneys.
They are M. Rogue Hemley, who represents the Irvine Co. and C.J. Segerstrom & Sons; Jerome Miles, who did much of the legal work on the $1-billion Koll Center Newport; Ralph C. Wintrode, counsel in the sale of the Fluor property, and Lowell C. Martindale Jr., who represented developers of the Ritz Carlton, the Four Seasons and Fashion Island.
“I always thought I was one of the best--but others rarely acknowledge it,” joked Martindale.
Two labor lawyers specializing in representing management were included: Howard C. Hay of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach’s Richard C. White, who has been lead counsel to Lockheed Corp. and Montgomery Ward.
Their names are balanced by a union lawyer, Paul E. Crost of Orange, whose clients include Orange County Teamsters Local 952.
Litigator Arthur N. Hews Jr. of Santa Ana is among the personal injury attorneys. A jury in the late 1970s awarded Hews’ client a $128-million judgment against Ford Motor Co.--the highest ever in Orange County--after a crash involving a gas tank fire in a Pinto.
Also in the listings is Wylie A. Aitken, also of Santa Ana, a plaintiffs’ lawyer known for handling bad-faith cases against insurers.
The personal injury lawyers’ roster also includes Herbert Hafif of Newport Beach, who two years ago won $125 million in punitive damages against ComputerLandCorp.
The list also included Keith C. Monroe and James D. Riddet, the two criminal law specialists who several years ago unsuccessfully defended Ralph Diedrich, chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors.
Others are notable for their omission.
One is Orange County’s largest law firm, Rutan & Tucker of Costa Mesa. None of the firm’s 100 lawyers made the list. “The book mirrors a lot of things about Orange County not getting the recognition it deserves,” said John Hurlbut, managing partner, when asked about the list.
