We present the keynote speech on the Constitution for CUI’s constitution week, spearheaded by JoEllen Chatham, Director of the Concordia University Center for Civics Education, in collaboration with the History and Political Thought Department. The speaker is The Honorable Andrew J. Guilford, who was appointed to the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Southern Division, sitting in Orange County and serving since July 7, 2006. He has sat by designation with the Ninth and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal, and is a Patent Pilot Program Judge.
Before becoming a district judge, Andrew Guilford was a business trial lawyer with Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton for over 30 years, handling cases involving a wide variety of issues, particularly relating to intellectual property, unfair competition, finance, and professional liability. He also served as an arbitrator and as a Judge Pro Tempore of the Orange County Superior Court.
As a Regent Scholar at UCLA, Mr. Guilford received his AB degree in economics summa cum laude in 1972, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his JD degree from UCLA in 1975, and was an associate editor of the UCLA Law Review. During law school, he worked as an extern to Justice Lester Roth and as a research assistant for Professor Jesse Dukeminier.
In 1992, Guilford was elected as a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. He was recognized five times by the Daily Journal as one of California's Top 100 Attorneys; listed as one of 50 "Best Lawyers in Orange County"; listed in "Best Lawyers in America"; selected as a "Southern California Super Lawyer" three times; selected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation; and honored by the following groups with different awards: the OC Trial Lawyers Association as Business Litigation Trial Lawyer of the Year; the University of California, Irvine as a “True Founder” of its law school; the Orange County Bar Association with its Franklin G. West Award for lifetime achievement; the Judicial Council with its Bernard E. Witkin Amicus Curiae Award; the Anti-Defamation League with its Jurisprudence Award; the J. Reuben Clark Society with its J. Reuben Clark Award; the Orange County Asian American Bar Association with its Judicial Excellence Award; the Hispanic Bar Association as Judge of the Year; the LAIPLA with its Distinguished Public Service Award; the Orange County Federal Bar Association with its Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler Award; the Orange County Intellectual Property Law Association with its Distinguished Judge Award; and the Markey Inn of Court by naming its annual award after him.
Guilford’s professional activities include serving as the President of the State Bar of California (1999- 2000); the President of the Orange County Bar Association (1991); the Chair of its Business Litigation Section (1983) and the Chair of its State Bar Conference Delegation (1986-1987); a founder and President of the Howard T. Markey Intellectual Property American Inn of Court; a lawyer representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference (1990-1992, 1999-2001); a Founding Officer and President of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers of Orange County; and serving on the Board of Directors for the Federal Bar Association (2001-present); the Founding Dean’s Advisory Council for the UCI School of Law (2007-present); the Board of Visitors for the Chapman University School of Law; the State Bar Commission on the Future of the State Bar (1993-1995); and the Supreme Court’s Advisory Task Force on Multi-Jurisdictional Practice. From 2011 to 2017, at the request of the Chief Justice of the United States, he served on the Committee on Codes of Conduct of the U.S. Judicial Council.
With his strong commitment to community service and as a strong advocate for volunteer legal services for indigents, Guilford served as President of the Public Law Center from 2004 to 2006 and on the State Bar Commission on Access to Justice from 2008 to 2013 and the Judicial Council’s Task Force on Self-Represented Litigants, and was awarded his firm’s Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award, the State Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award, and the Poverty Law Center Outstanding Service Award.
Guilford has written many articles on various topics concerning the justice system. His most recent article is Andrew J. Guilford & Joel Mallord, A Step Aside: Time to Drop the Infield Fly Rule and End a Common Law Anomaly, 164 U. Pa. L. Rev. 281 (2015). He shares his years of legal experience by serving as an Adjunct Professor at UC Irvine School of Law and teaching at continuing legal education programs on various topics such as intellectual property, trial tactics, ethics and professionalism, multijurisdictional practice, civil procedure, and legal writing. He is a Contributing Editor of The Rutter Group's Federal Civil Procedure Before Trial.
Andy welcomes conversation about politics, history, and sports. For fun, Andy takes photos, travels, reads history, follows sports, plays with his grandkids, and plays at tennis and basketball. His hero is Winston Churchill, and he hopes someday to see Maury Wills elected to baseball's Hall of Fame.