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Long Beach : Most Senior Member of Superior Court Will Retire

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Long Beach Superior Court Judge Elsworth M. Beam, the most senior member of the Los Angeles Superior Court bench, has announced he will retire later this month, ending a 20-year judicial career that has seen murder cases become commonplace and caseloads swell with drug crimes.

Born and reared in Long Beach, Beam practiced law in the city for 20 years until he was named to the Municipal Court bench March 20, 1970, by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan. Two years later he was elevated to the Superior Court bench and is the only full-time judge hearing civil cases in the Long Beach courthouse. “I thought as judges we would have more time for reflection. We don’t. It’s just one case after another,” Beam, 67, said in a recent interview in his chambers.

When he began practicing law at the age of 27, murder cases were considered rare and glamorous. In recent years, however, there have been times when murder was the subject of every case in trial in the Long Beach Superior Court, he said.

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Despite a crack cocaine epidemic that has burdened the judicial system to the breaking point and civil cases that wait in line five years for an open courtroom, Beam concludes that “the system works. We are pretty flexible as a people. We seem to come up with some kind of solution. I expect the use of rock cocaine will drop off. I don’t know what else will take its place. I keep my fingers crossed on that.”

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