Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Page 3
Former State Bar President Guilford Gains OCBA Honor
By R. STANTON HALL, Staff Writer
Former State Bar President Andrew Guilford, a partner at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, has received the Orange County Bar Association’s annual career achievement award.
“I am humbled by this award and grateful to receive such recognition from friends with whom I’ve had the great fortune to practice with over the last 25 years, both in Orange County and within Sheppard Mullin,” Guilford said yesterday in a statement.
Guilford, a member of Sheppard Mullin’s business trial practice group, received the Franklin G. West Award, an honor given annually since 1971 to attorneys and judges whose lifetime achievements have been deemed to advance justice and the law. West was an Orange County Superior Court Judge from 1938 to 1965.
The award was presented at the organization’s “Judge’s Night” dinner reception in Irvine last Thursday.
Guilford is also the newly appointed president of the Board of Directors at the Public Law Center, Orange County’s pro bono, public interest law firm.
The Public Law Center is the official public interest law firm of the OCBA, with a roster of nearly 1,000 volunteer attorneys providing trial and legal services to indigent clients.
“PLC has made a tremendous difference in the lives of thousands of indigent families and individuals needing pro bono legal assistance,” Guilford said. “...I am fortunate to be at a firm which realizes the importance of and stalwartly supports pro bono participation.”
The attorney served as president of the State Bar in 2000 and president of the OCBA in 1991 and was previously selected as Business Litigation Trial Attorney of the Year by the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association.
Guilford has handled cases covering a wide range of business matters, including technology, real estate and unfair competition. He recently served as plaintiff counsel in Stock v. Hafif, a breach of contract case, obtaining a $1.3 million verdict.
He also served as plaintiff counsel in a religious land use case pitting the Cottonwood Christian Center against the city of Cypress, eventually securing a settlement that was beneficial to the plaintiff, his firm said.
Copyright 2004, Metropolitan News Company