Intellex Acquires Expert by Big Village

We're thrilled to announce that Intellex has acquired Expert by Big Village, effective March 22, 2024. This strategic move enhances our capabilities and strengthens our commitment to delivering exceptional solutions to our customers.

Stay tuned for more updates on how this acquisition will benefit our clients and experts.

For inquiries or more information, please contact us at info@intellex.com.

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Expert Details

Real Estate Transactions, Escrow and Title

ID: 739184 Arizona, USA

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Expert has over 40 years of in-house and private practice experience representing lenders, developers, brokers, title insurers, and escrow holders. His work experience was concentrated in California and Nevada. Expert has qualified and testified as an expert in several California Superior and Federal courts. In addition, he has taken hundreds of depositions and given dozens of depositions.

He was admitted to the California Bar in 1979. From 1992 until July 2014, Expert was a member of a firm in California specializing in business and real estate-related litigation and business formation. In July 2014, he merged his firm with another, where he was a shareholder until he retired from the full-time practice of law at the end of 2019. He is “A-V” rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been selected as a Northern California “Super Lawyer” multiple times.

Before entering private practice, Expert held several in-house positions. These positions gave him a unique perspective on the business and economic side of litigation and retention of outside counsel. From 1979 to 1983, Expert was West Coast Counsel for Koppers Company, responsible for labor negotiations, grievances, real estate leasing, construction, contract, and mechanic's lien litigation. From 1983 to 1992, Expert held several positions with Transamerica Title Insurance Company and Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company. From 1987- 1992 he held the position of Vice President and Northern California Division Counsel, heading the legal department responsible for agency relations, claims, underwriting, escrow, and foreclosure services in Northern California and Nevada. He also served several years on the CLTA Legislative and Forms and Practices Committees, where he was Vice–Chairperson.

After leaving the corporate world and entering private practice in 1992, Expert’s practice focused on the representation of banks, mortgage brokers, lenders, title insurers, escrow companies, real estate brokers, food brokers/importers, contractors, and a variety of start-ups businesses ranging from the field of sports to the high-tech industry in start-up, transactional, mergers and acquisition work as well as State and Federal Court litigation.

Expert was a Contributing Editor for Matthew Bender's California Real Property Reporter for over twenty years, a Contributing Author for the text Alternative Dispute Resolution for California Attorneys, and a consultant to the CEB text California Title Insurance Practice 2d (1997). He is also a frequent lecturer for local and state bar associations and the American Bar Association.

Since 1990, Expert has provided expert witness testimony in State and Federal courts throughout California on various matters, including escrow practices and procedures, title insurance practices and procedures, underwriting, and claims handling, including bad faith and attorney malpractice.

Expert is an experienced mediator with over 300 hours of advanced mediation training. He has served on several Superior Court ADR panels and is the past Chairperson of the Board of Directors for the ADR Section of the Contra Costa County Bar Association. He has mediated, as an attorney or mediator, 100’s of cases. Expert has also served on the Board of Directors for several companies and non-profit boards, including the Whitehawk Ranch Mutual Water Company and Canyon Creek Presbyterian Church Board of Elders.

Education

Year Degree Subject Institution
Year: 1979 Degree: JD Subject: Law Institution: Pepperdine University
Year: 1976 Degree: BA Subject: Political Science/Geography Institution: California State University Long Beach

Work History

Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2020 to Present Employer: Undisclosed Title: Consultant, Expert Witness and Mediator Department:
Responsibilities:
Services primarily to law firms seeking to consult, concerning real estate related litigation and expert testimony. Alos serves as a mediator for firms seeking alternative dispute resolutions for their clients.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2014 to 2019 Employer: Hoge Fenton Jones and Appel Title: Shareholder Department:
Responsibilities:
Represented a book of clients in real estate and corporate transactions and litigation. Clients included start-ups, existing companies, title insurers, independents escrow companies, brokers, banks, mortgage lenders, contractors and developers.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1993 to 2014 Employer: Self Employed Title: Partner Department:
Responsibilities:
A founding partner of a 10-lawyer firm. Managing partner from 2005-2014. Represented a book of clients in real estate and corporate transactions and litigation. Clients included start-ups, existing companies, title insurers, independents escrow companies, brokers, banks, mortgage lenders, contractors and developers.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1983 to 1993 Employer: Transamerica/Commonwealth and Title Insurance Company Title: Division Counsel Department: Legal
Responsibilities:
Started as associate Division Counsel in So. California. From 1987 -1993, was the Northern California and Nevada Division Counsel managing a 10-person office as Chief Underwriter, Claims Manager and Agency Representative. Also hired and managed outside litigation counsel.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1979 to 1983 Employer: The Koppers Company Title: Counsel Department: Legal
Responsibilities:
Responsible for claims, lawsuits, hiring and managing outside counsel, leasing and was also involved in collective bargaining committees and local labor issues.

Career Accomplishments

Associations / Societies
California State Bar Association
California Land Title Association
Various Mediation Societies
Licenses / Certifications
California Bar Association, 1979-present; Certified Mediator
Professional Appointments
Chair, Contra Costa County Bar Association, Alternative Dispute Resolution Section
Publications and Patents Summary
Presentations: 18
Publications: 9

Additional Experience

Expert Witness Experience
Expert has testified as a witness in dozens of depositions and has been qualified as an expert in the California Superior Courts for Orange, Los Angeles, Fresno, Contra Costa, San Francisco and Sacramento Counites; as well as the US Federal Court Central District for California.

- Orange County Superior Court: (1990): Title and Escrow practice and procedures
- San Francisco Superior Court: (1990): Title Examination
- United Sates District Court (Central District): (1998) Escrow practices and procedures
- Fresno County Superior Court: (2002) Escrow practices and procedures
- Sacramento Superior Court: (2021) Escrow practices and procedures
- Alameda County Superior Court (2022) Title Examination of easements and recordation of concurrent documents.
Training / Seminars
Has participated in dozens of panels and hundreds of hours on seminars and continuing education classes. Also, a published author/co-author.

Fields of Expertise

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