Resigning Federal Judge Irving to Help Former Law Partner’s San Diego Firm

U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving, who is resigning from the San Diego federal bench Jan. 1 over frustration with rigid sentencing guidelines, announced Friday that he will become affiliated with his former law partner’s San Diego law firm.

Irving, 55, considered one of San Diego’s finest trial lawyers before his appointment to the federal bench in 1982, said he does not, however, plan to return to the practice of law. He said he wants to help lawyers settle complex civil lawsuits already in the court system, and to mediate disputes before they blossom into suits.

Since announcing Sept. 26 that he will be the first judge in the nation to leave the bench because of the guidelines, Irving, who also earned a reputation as one of the most able federal judges in California, has been wooed by law firms from around the state.

But he said Friday that he simply felt most comfortable with his former partner, Douglas M. Butz, whose San Diego firm--Butz, Lucas, Dunn & Enright--specializes in the defense of civil lawsuits.

“It’s like going home,” Irving said in an interview Friday.

Later, he said, “I felt I’d be a lot more comfortable over there, in that setting, that my comfort level will be much higher. I want to feel my way, to see what I want to do. I know I want to mediate (disputes), but, beyond that, I want to see what I want to do. This way there’s no pressure.”

Butz, who practiced law with Irving for several years before Irving took the bench, said Irving will not be a partner in the law firm but will be associated with it, with the title “of counsel.” Irving will not be contributing earnings to the firm, Butz said.

“There are so many reasons to want to be associated with someone like (Irving) that have nothing to do with economics,” Butz said. “He has been extremely influential in my development as a lawyer and as a person, and I owe him so much. It’s just wonderful to have him come back.”

From 1963 until 1982, Irving ran a private practice in San Diego, specializing in legal and medical malpractice defense. Butz joined him in 1974, and they worked together for eight years, until President Reagan appointed Irving to the federal bench.

Irving, however, said in September that he was giving up a federal judge’s lifetime tenure because he considers the sentencing guidelines unfair, especially the mandatory lengthy sentences the rules impose on first-time drug offenders.

The rules, which took effect in November, 1987, use a point system--based mainly on the severity of the crime--to determine sentencing. Neither a criminal’s background, role in the crime, past record, nor remorse can be used to reduce the sentence below the minimum guideline.

Based upon the idea that prison is designed to punish, not rehabilitate, the guidelines sharply reduce a judge’s discretion in sentencing convicted criminals.

Irving’s impending departure already has made a significant impact at the San Diego federal court.

Besieged by drug cases, many stemming from arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border, the court already had been short one full-time judge for several months before Irving’s Sept. 26 announcement. Upon the notice of his resignation, he immediately stopped taking new civil or criminal cases, so five full-time judges have been doing the work of seven.

During his eight years on the bench, Irving has drawn a significant number of high-profile cases.

Most recently, he presided over the trial last summer of Richard T. Silberman, a one-time governor’s aide and wealthy San Diego financier who was convicted of one felony count and later pleaded guilty to another in connection with a money-laundering scheme.

A San Diego native, Irving went to college and law school at the University of Southern California. He is a graduate of Point Loma High School.