Current Employment Position(s)

Associate, since 1997

Lawyer Overview

Not many law firms have an expert on the English common law nor much occasion to use one. But when, in representing Anna Nicole Smith in the United States Supreme Court, an issue arose concerning the jurisdiction of the English Chancery Courts in 1789, GMSR knew exactly who to tap Alan Diamond. Alan combines a wealth of practical litigation experience with the intellectual curiosity, achievement and creativity that GMSR seeks to bring to every case.

Raised in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, Alan graduated with a B.A. in communications and political science from New York University in 1971. He graduated from George Washington University Law School in 1974, where he served as Managing Editor of the law review. Moving to the West Coast, Alan joined Loeb & Loeb in Los Angeles in 1974, devoting his practice to complex civil litigation. In 1979, he joined Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg & Tunney in Los Angeles, again concentrating on a variety of business litigation.

Alan was about to make a 180-degree change in his life. After taking a short summer program at Cambridge University in England, Alan became enamored of both the academic life and the United Kingdom. Enrolling in Trinity Hall, one of the oldest colleges at Cambridge University, Alan began a divided existence, attending Cambridge during the academic year, and then serving as of counsel to O'Neill & Lysaght in Los Angeles during the summers, where he continued to handle complex business litigation as well as white collar criminal cases. Alan received his L.L.M. with honors from Cambridge in 1984, and his Ph.D. in 1992, specializing in English Legal History. Forgoing the opportunity to stay in England and teach law as a Cambridge Don, Alan returned to Los Angeles where he worked full-time as a litigator for O'Neill & Lysaght. In 1997, he joined GMSR where, befitting his broad background, he has handled a wide variety of civil appellate matters in such areas as civil rights, medical malpractice, land use, and breach of contract.

Alan is an avid movie fan and happily admits to being stuck in the Golden Age of Hollywood. A devotee of the Great American Song Book and the classic singers of the thirties, forties, and fifties, Alan is an expert on old time show business, a love cultivated when he served as a studio page at the Ed Sullivan Show while in college.

While Alan has an abundance of practical experience, few practicing lawyers have his wealth of teaching experience as well. Alan taught pre-trial advocacy at the University of Southern California Law Center from 1982 to 1985, and was an adjunct professor there in 1985, teaching English Legal History. He conducted legal history seminars at Corpus Christi College, Magdalene College, and Trinity Hall in Cambridge. Alan has also edited an academic volume on the work of a leading Victorian thinker, Sir Henry Maine, contributing an introduction as well as a chapter for that volume.

Areas of Practice

• Appellate Law
• Administrative Law
• Business Litigation
• Constitutional Law
• Government Tort Liability
• Healthcare Law
• Real Property
• Tort Litigation

Representative Cases

• City of Riverside v. Valley Outdoor, Inc., 2005 Cal.App. Unpub. Lexis 8211 (California Court of Appeal 2005)
• Nelson v. County of Los Angeles, 113 Cal.App.4th 783 (California Court of Appeal 2003)
• Trancas Property Owners Assn. v. California Coastal Commission, 2001 Cal.App. Unpub. Lexis 636 (California Court of Appeal 2001)
• Desert Healthcare Dist. v. PacifiCare FHP, Inc., 94 Cal.App.4th 781 (California Court of Appeal 2001)
• Hamel v. Keel, 2001 Cal.App. Unpub. Lexis 2630 (California Court of Appeal 2001)

West Practice Categories

Administrative Law, Business & Commercial Law, Constitutional Law, Health & Health Care Law, Litigation & Appeals, Federal Appellate Practice, State Appellate Practice, Real Estate Law

Classes and Seminars

• Instructor, Pre-Trial Advocacy, University of Southern California Law Center, 1982 - 1985
• Adjunct Professor, English Legal History, University of Southern California Law Center, 1985
• Supervisor, English Legal History, Corpus Christi College, Magdalene College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 1987 - 1989
• Panelist, The Human Rights Act: The Practical Implications For British Policing-Learning From The U.S. Experience, London, England, 1999

Past Employment Positions

• O'Neill & Lysaght, 1987 - 1993
• Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg & Tunney, 1979 - 1981
• Loeb & Loeb, 1974 - 1978

Education

• Cambridge University Faculty Board of Law The Old Schools, Cambridge, England, 1984
  LL.M.
  Honors: With Honors
• The George Washington University Law School, Washington, District of Columbia, 1974
  J.D.
  
  Law Review: George Washington Law Review, Managing Editor
• Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK, 1992
  Ph.D.
• New York University, New York, NY, 1971
  B.A.
  Major: Communications
  Major: Political Science

Published Works

• Declassification of Sensitive Information: Comment on Executive Order 11652, 41 G.W.L. Rev. 1052, 1974
• "Fictions, Equity and Legislation: Maine's Three Agencies of Legal Change", in Diamond (ed.) The Victorian Achievement of Sir Henry Maine, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1991
• "Introduction," in Diamond (ed.) The Victorian Achievement of Sir Henry Maine, Cambridge Univ. Press, 1991
• Review of Reel Justice: The Courtroom Goes To the Movies, by Paul Bergman and Michael Asimow, 11 Western Legal History, No. 2, Summer/Fall, 1998

Address

5900 Wilshire Boulevard
12th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Phones

(310) 859-7811

Faxes

(310) 276-5261

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.gmsr.com
http://www.greinesmartin.com