Professional Experience
U.S. Magistrate Judge/Professional Neutral/Arbitrator and Mediator.
Over thirty years of experience in arbitration and mediation, as an advocate and thereafter as a neutral. United States Magistrate Judge, Central District of California (part time) from January 2014 to January 2024. Since 1993, selected to serve as arbitrator or mediator in over 1200 matters. Service as one of three arbitrators in 53 large, complex, international or domestic commercial matters, including more than 15 as panel chair. Numerous reasoned awards issued as sole arbitrator and service in more than 23 class arbitrations. Service as settlement judge, U.S.D.C., appointed Discovery Master by Los Angeles Superior Court.
Subjects handled in arbitration, mediation and as settlement judge, include: all types of employment matters including statutory and contractual claims; complex commercial cases including insurance coverage, partnership disputes, computer contracts and intellectual property issues, purchase and sale of businesses, and contractual relationships of many types, including entertainment ventures, motion picture financing, franchise and real estate contracts; environmental litigation; legal and lending malpractice; physician and hospital disputes; defamation; broker/dealer disputes involving customer claims of churning and inappropriate investments.
Service as a neutral since 1993 on the American Arbitration Association Commercial Panel, Employment Panel since 1995, the Large Complex Panel (LCCP) since 1996, the Class Arbitrations Panel, the International Panel, and the NRE (National Research Exchange) Panel since 2005. Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Previously served as settlement officer for the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, the Santa Barbara Superior Court and the Los Angeles Superior Court. Served as Hearing Officer, City of Santa Barbara Civil Service Commission until 2014; teaching arbitrator at the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna and in Hong Kong from time to time since 2003. Frequent speaker and teacher on gender equity, mentoring and a wide range of ADR topics.
March, 1996 – March 1999
Of Counsel
BIRD, MARELLA, BOXER & WOLPERT
(now BIRD MARELLA RHOW LINCENBERG DROOKS NESSIM, LLP)
Los Angeles , California
Business litigation in a variety of subject matter areas in state and federal courts, at trial and appellate levels, including: derivative, securities class action and broker/dealer litigation, accountants’ professional negligence defense, business torts, entertainment industry transactions, insurance bad faith, representation of guarantors and creditors in bankruptcy matters, antitrust, probate, contractual disputes, including contracts for goods and services, real property leases and lending agreements, partnership disputes, fraud, products liability and defamation claims. Representation of management in employment litigation and related matters, including investigation of allegations of harassment due to sex and sexual orientation.
August, 1992-March, 1996
RIORDAN & MCKINZIE
(now MORGAN LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP)
Los Angeles , California
Senior Litigation Principal
August 1974 – August, 1992
IRELL & MANELLA
Los Angeles , California
Partner from 1978
June 1971 – July l974
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAW SCHOOL
Lawrence , Kansas
Assistant Professor and Associate Professor
Faculty Director, Legal Aid Clinic
Education
STANFORD UNIVERSITY – J.D. 197l
Palo Alto , California
Activities: Note Editor, Stanford Law Review,
Legal Aid Society, Juvenile Defender Project,
and indigent criminal representation.
STANFORD UNIVERSITY – A.B. 1968
History (with distinction)
Bar Memberships
- Los Angeles, Santa Barbara County Bar Associations
- American Bar Association
- The State Bar of California
- California Women Lawyers (Life Member)
- Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles
- Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
- International Mediation Institute (certified mediator)
- Santa Barbara Women Lawyers
- Master, Wm. L. Gordon Inn of Court (Santa Barbara) (2010-13)
- The State Bar of Kansas (ret.)
Activities/Awards
ACTIVITIES: Chair, 1992-1993, Section of Litigation, American Bar Association; Council, l986-1989; other Section positions, 1981-1991; member, ABA House of Delegates, 1993-1998; member, Dispute Resolution Section; Senior Lawyers Division, Chair ADR Committee, 2008 – 2010
Life Member, The American Law Institute
State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization, Labor and Employment Law Consulting Group, 1998
Member, College of Commercial Arbitrators, 2001- ; Board Member, 2008- 2011
CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution, Los Angeles Regional Panel of Neutrals, 1996-1999, 2004- 2014 ; Employment Panel, 2011- 2014 ; Nationwide Panel, 2011- 2014 ; Fair Housing Panel, 1998-1999; Securities Panel, 1999
Member, Southern California Mediation Association, 2000- 2012
Board member, Conflicts Solutions Center, 2011-2012
Member, California Dispute Resolution Council, Qualifications and Standards Committee, 2001-2002
California Judicial Council, 1990-1992; member, Advisory Committee on Implementation of Gender Bias Recommendations, 1991-1994
Volunteer mediator/arbitrator, Los Angeles Superior Court, 1994 -1999
Chair, Lawyers Support Committee, Los Angeles Legal Aid Foundation Annual Fund Drive, 1994-95
Los Angeles County Bar Association, ABA Relations Committee, 1991-1995; ADR Section, Executive Committee, 1994-1997
Board of Trustees, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA, 1995-2004
Editorial Board, Western Legal History (1988); Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society, 2000-
Chair, ADR Committee, Santa Barbara Bar Association, 2006
Board of Directors, The Alliance for Children’s Rights, 1993-1996
Board of Directors, Inner City Law Center, 1991-1996
Board of Visitors, Stanford Law School, l986-l988; 1989-1991; Executive Committee, 1989-1991
Deputy General Counsel, Independent (Christopher) Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, 1991
Lawyer Representative, Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, l986 & l987, 1993-1995; alternate, 1992-1993
Faculty member, National Institute for Trial Advocacy, l973, l978- (national, regional, specialized and teacher training programs); Member, NITA Board of Trustees, 1991-2008; Chair, 2006-2008.
Committee on Women in the Law, State Bar of California, l985-88, Chair, l987-88
Board of Governors, Association of Business Trial Lawyers, l982-l984
Board of Directors, Public Counsel, l980-l983
AWARDS: California Women Lawyers, 2020, Joan Dempsey Klein Distinguished Jurist Award
Century City Chamber of Commerce Woman of Achievement in Law, 1992; Santa Barbara Women Lawyers, D. Talmage Woman of the Year, 2012
Publications
(Partial List)
Business Litigation, California Civil Practice (6 vols.) (Thomson/West) (supplemented semiannually)
Contributing Author, The College of Commercial Arbitrators Guide to Best Practices in Commercial Arbitration (JurisNet 2006), (2nd Ed. 2010), (3d Ed. 2014)
Contributing Author, Alternative Dispute Resolution: The Litigator’s Handbook (ABA Section of Litigation)(N. Atlas, S. Huber, E. Trachte-Huber, Eds.) (2000)
Numerous articles on gender equity, ADR, mentoring, Santa Barbara Lawyer, most recently “Thirty Years Later–Inching Up” (September 2019)
Book Review, Jurist, Presumed Equal: What American’s Top Women Lawyers Really Think About Their Law Firms, Nossel and Westfall, (March 1998)
Contributing Author, The Woman Advocate: Excelling in the 1990’s (Prentice Hall Law & Business) (J. Snyder, A. Greene, Eds.) (1994)
Thinking About Mediation, Litigation (Summer 1993)
Why the Task Force on Children?, Litigation (Spring 1993)
Where Have all the Mentors Gone?, Litigation (Winter 1992)
Where are We Going Anyway?, Litigation (Fall 1992)
Women as Rainmakers, Litigation (Spring 1991)
(with Jean Maclean Snyder and Robin Page West)
Endangered Species, Stanford Lawyer (Spring/Summer 1989)
Bar Watch, For Women Lawyers, It’s Still an Uphill Climb, California Lawyer (Sept., l987)
Women Under the Law: The Pedestal or the Cage?,
43 Kan. B. J. 25 (l974)
Roe v. Wade: The Right of Privacy Revisited,
2l Kan. L. Rev. 527 (l973) (with S.L. Kovar)
Contact Information
Louise A. LaMothe, A Professional Corporation
Contact Form & Calendar
Phone: 805) 563-2800
Mobile: (310)503-9867
Fax:(805) 563-1270
Tax ID: 95-4567848
Document Downloads
General and Confidentiality Documents
Checklist for Pre-Mediation Conference
Suggestions for Mediation Preparation
LAL Videoconference Ground Rules
Download Documents
Schedule an Appointment
Our calendar is updated often for your convenience. We urge you to call to check the very latest availability and to confirm Judge LaMothe’s schedule. Call (805) 563-2800 to confirm your booking.
