Stuart P. Herman; Civil Rights Attorney, Mediator

Stuart P. Herman, 57, a civil rights attorney and private dispute mediator, particularly in labor causes. A native of Whittier, Herman graduated from UC Berkeley and its Boalt Hall law school and studied industrial relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science on a Ford Foundation fellowship. In his student days, he participated in several sit-ins and other demonstrations protesting racial discrimination. He began his legal career in the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., litigating cases to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Herman returned to Los Angeles in 1973 and maintained a law practice specializing in labor law. Among his cases was a racial discrimination case against Disneyland, which he settled on behalf of an African American carpenter the amusement park had fired. Herman became an arbitrator and mediator, most recently with the Irvine-based Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services group, again specializing in employment disputes. On Saturday in Westwood of cancer.