Former Judge Joins Arbitration Firm

Richard Luesebrink, a 20-year veteran of Orange County’s justice system and 1994’s Trial Judge of the Year, will go from retirement to a post with a mediation and arbitration firm.

Luesebrink, 59, served his last day on the bench Aug. 21, and will begin work as a private judge at Irvine-based JAMS/Endispute on Sept. 16, with just a short vacation in between.

He will join a growing number of retired judges and attorneys, including former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Malcolm M. Lucas, who have moved into the ranks of alternative dispute resolution, known as ADR.

“I thought it would be nice to try something new,” Luesebrink said this week from his home in Newport Beach.

Private judging has its share of critics, with some saying that arbitration favors the powerful companies that foot the bill.

But Luesebrink said that ADR is one of the best ways to counter the explosive growth of litigation in this country.

“We have a very litigious society,” he said. “There is no question in my mind that, without the presence of JAMS and other services, the system would not be able to keep up.”

Helping to streamline and eliminate a years-long backup of civil cases in the early 1990s was one of the most rewarding aspects of his public career, Luesebrink said.

He started out in private practice after graduating from UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law in 1965, quickly moving to the county district attorney’s office. After two years, he returned to private practice.

He judgeship began when he was appointed to the Harbor Municipal Court in 1981. In 1983, he was appointed to the Superior Court bench by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. He also served as justice pro tempore for the California Court of Appeals.

Luesebrink earned a widespread reputation for an even temper and compassionate rapport with everyone in his courtroom.

“He was a hell of a judge, a man of true integrity,” said Judge Tom Thrasher, assistant presiding judge in Superior Court. “He was the judge attorneys most liked to appear in front of. They were able to walk out of there feeling, won or lost, justice was done.”

Luesebrink has been an eyewitness to the growth of Orange County and the accompanying rise in the number of legal cases.

“Times have changed considerably,” he said. “When I started, the D.A.’s office had about 45 attorneys. Now it has over 250. Back in those days, a murder trial was a rare and unusual thing. You would get three or four a month. Now, you get six to eight homicides a day. It’s a lot of change.”