HON. JAMES A. STEELE (RET.)

judge of the SUPERIOR COURT (RET.)

HON JAMES A. STEELE

Hon. James A. Steele (Ret.) brings approximately 40 years of legal experience as a civil trial lawyer, in-house counsel for both public and private companies, Superior Court judge and now highly sought after neutral. He is available on a nationwide basis to assist parties in mediation, binding arbitrations, trials and judicial references.  Judge Steele's 3,000+ mediations and arbitrations to date have included cases from New York to California and have ranged in individual size from $100,000 to $500+ million involving a variety of subject areas and the application of law from multiple jurisdictions.   

Judge Steele retired from the Los Angeles Superior Court in late 2014, at that time serving the Central District's Probate Division as one of its most experienced sitting Probate Trial Judges where he was known for being extraordinarily well organized, efficient, thorough, respectful and fair to parties and counsel.  Immediately prior, he presided over an Unlimited Civil (Direct Calendar/General Jurisdiction) court handling both calendar and civil trial matters.  

After obtaining his law degree, Judge Steele worked for major corporations as in-house Staff Counsel and Assistant General Counsel before rising to General Counsel.  He thereafter joined a Century City (Los Angeles) based law firm, later establishing his own highly successful law firm emphasizing Business, Business Tort & Commercial, Contract, Corporate Law, Construction and Real Estate.  

For 20 years Judge Steele also taught a Construction Law course through UCLA Extension's Engineering Department's Construction Management Program and regularly lectured on this same subject at the USC School of Architecture.  In 2014 he created the Rutter Group’s Construction Law Program for The Rutter Group (Thomson Reuters Publishing).  Judge Steele was also the architect and Committee Chair of the court’s highly successful Pro-Bono Probate Settlement Program.  

In addition to his undergraduate degree awarded with distinction in Economics, MBA and law degrees, Judge Steele has also completed a post-graduate program in Tax Law.

LEGAL EXPERIENCE

2007 - 2014

Judge, Los Angeles Superior Court 

Judge Steele served on the Los Angeles Superior Court as a general jurisdiction civil and probate division judge.  He left the Central District courthouse in late 2014 after serving there as a full-time Probate Trial Judge.     

Highly regarded for his ability to effectively communicate complex legal areas, he has taught other judges on a statewide basis in various aspects of both civil and probate law.  Because of his ability to quickly grasp new concepts and tackle technical issues, Judge Steele was asked by the Supervising Judge of the Civil Division to serve on the Court’s Technology Committee.  Judge Steele was also the architect and Committee Chair of a highly successful Central District Settlement Program for which he was repeatedly recognized, including in 2013 when he was awarded the Bar Association’s “Administration of Justice Award.”  In the Bar Association’s 85+ year history, this coveted award had been conferred on only one prior occasion. 

1989 - 2007

Law Firm Practice

Judge Steele was the founding principal of Steele & Persoff, a business litigation/transactional firm representing contracting, development, engineering and architectural firms, major hotel/resort operators, banks and real estate-based finance companies, manufacturers and franchised new car automobile dealerships.  Prior to founding his own firm, Judge Steele was Of Counsel to the Century City based law firm of Rosen, Wachtell & Gilbert primarily handling representation of financial institutions including real estate and construction lenders. 

1977 - 1989

Corporate Practice

Judge Steele worked in several corporate law departments as in-house counsel including for Ralphs Grocery Company, then a division of publicly-traded Federated Department Stores; The Cook Companies, a multi-billion dollar privately-held conglomerate of companies engaged in banking (Community Bank), insurance, real estate (shopping center/commercial) ownership and management, automobile price guide publishing (Kelley Blue Book), and automobile retailing; and as General Counsel for Tucon Development Company, a privately held company engaged in real estate development and ownership with subsidiary entities engaged in real estate lending, general and specialty contracting and hotel management.   

EDUCATION

Diploma in Tax Law; University of San Diego Law School    1985

M.B.A. (Real Estate); University of Southern California        1984

Juris Doctor; California Western Law School                        1977

B.A. (Economics); California State Univ. San Diego             1974