Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Page 3
Retiring Superior Court Judge Daniel S. Pratt to Join JAMS
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel S. Pratt told the MetNews Friday that he plans to join JAMS’ panel of neutral arbitrators, mediators, and private judges after he steps down on March 2.
Noting the company’s nationwide presence, and that its panel includes a number of his colleagues, Pratt, 58, said that he had decided to join JAMS because it is a “pretty good organization.”
Pratt was appointed to the East Los Angeles Municipal Court by then-Gov. George Deukmejian in 1988 and elevated to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1989. At the time of his appointment to the bench, he was a deputy district attorney assigned to the Hard Core Gang Prosecution Unit in Norwalk.
A Los Angeles native and graduate of California State University, Long Beach, he attended law school at night while working at various jobs and starting a family. He graduated from Western State University College of Law in 1977 and opened an office in Norwalk.
After four years in general practice, he joined the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office for four years. He then joined a law firm to do civil work, but was hired by the District Attorney’s Office less than a year later, in 1983.
As a judge, his most challenging assignment was as coordination judge for the 700 Phen-Fen diet drug cases, beginning in 1998.
Pratt said that the new position would give him a chance to exercise more control over his time. In addition to his duties with JAMS, he said that he plans to spend more time traveling and expected that he would continue to play golf one or two times a week.
Copyright 2008, Metropolitan News Company