Judicate West welcomes recently retired U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford to its roster of neutrals. Judge Guilford will be based in the Santa Ana office and is available for mediations, arbitrations and private judging assignments nationwide.

“Andy Guilford has built an incredible resume over the course of his career. He has done so much during his more than 45 years in the legal arena, especially in the Orange County community, that if there were an Orange County legal hall of fame, he’d be a first ballot certainty. He has been a leader and a difference maker in all he does, and to say we are excited to have him on the Judicate West team would be an understatement,” said Alan Brutman, President of Judicate West.

With nearly 14 years on the bench, which followed more than 31 years as a trial lawyer, Judge Guilford has overseen numerous jury and bench trials involving many areas such as intellectual property, securities, unfair competition, finance and professional liability. As a judge, he has been very involved with many class actions and multidistrict litigation matters. Following U.S. Senate confirmation, Judge Guilford was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 2006 where he served by designation with the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He also served as a Patent Pilot Program Judge and on the Multidistrict Litigation Panel. Additionally, Judge Guilford served on the Ninth Circuit Jury Instructions Committee. Before his appointment, he served as an arbitrator and Judge Pro Tempore for the Orange County Superior Court.

Active in his professional community, Judge Guilford currently serves on the board of directors for the Federal Bar Association, and from 2011 to 2017, he served on the Committee on Codes of Conduct of the U.S. Judicial Council. He served as president of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers (ABTL) of Orange County from 2000-2001 and the Orange County Bar Association in 1991. With a strong dedication to pro bono service, Judge Guilford served on the State Bar Commission on Access to Justice from 2008-2013 and as president of the Public Law Center from 2004-2006. In a testament to his early trial activity, in 1992, at the age of 42, he was one of the youngest to be elected to the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Judge Guilford has received numerous awards during his judicial career, including the Orange County Bar Association’s Franklin G. West Award—the organization’s highest honor, presented to outstanding attorneys and judges whose lifetime achievements have advanced justice and law. He has also been recognized on the Daily Journal’s “Top 100 Attorneys” list five times, and he was honored as the Business Litigation Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association. Additionally, Judge Guilford has received the Distinguished Public Service Award in 2016 from the Los Angeles Intellectual Property Law Association (LAIPLA) for his service to the local IP community. In 2018, he was presented with the Professionalism Award by the American Inns of Court in a ceremony at the U.S. Supreme Court.

During law school, Judge Guilford externed for the Hon. Lester Roth of the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, and he served as an associate editor for the UCLA Law Review. He received both his J.D. (1975) and his A.B. (1972), summa cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles.