Local News in Brief : Countywide : Risk Management Chief to Join a Private Firm

John L. Oskins Jr., Orange County’s risk management manager and the man who decides whether taxpayers will foot the bill in hundreds of lawsuits filed against the county, will leave next month for a non-government job.

Oskins, 44, will join Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services Inc. as vice president and will set up a new consulting service for public agencies that want to keep their legal expenses down.

Judicial Arbitration has lured dozens of judges--including former Court of Appeal Justice John K. Trotter Jr.--into a private firm offering mediation, arbitration and conciliation services.

Oskins said his project represents a new venture for Judicial Arbitration, one of the first and largest firms to offer services often closely associated with the state court system on a private basis.

“It’s a whole new approach,” said Oskins, who will start the new job in mid-July. Public agencies, especially those operating without commercial liability insurance, will be offered a wide array of consulting services with a focus on avoiding long, costly litigation.

Oskins is married with two children. He lives in Alta Loma and is chairman of the Southern California chapter of the Public Agency Risk Management Assn. and a member of the board of directors of the state association.