Current Employment Position(s)

Associate, since 1997

Lawyer Overview

Ever since his judicial clerkship in 1971, Peter has focused his practice on appeals, writs, and complex motions. His 1965 University of California, Berkeley, undergraduate degree in political philosophy and constitutional law provided firm footing for his later decision to join the law profession.

Earning his Juris Doctor degree in 1971 from Loyola University School of Law, Peter graduated in the top 5% of his class and was Managing Editor on the Law Review Editorial Board. After graduation, his incomparable 18-month stint as Research Attorney for Otto M. Kaus, Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Five (later Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court) was the preamble to a legal career specializing increasingly in appellate litigation.

In early 1973 Peter joined the then-small downtown Los Angeles business litigation firm of Beardsley, Hufstedler & Kemble as an associate, becoming a partner in 1978. He grew with the firm over the years, capped in the late 1980s by his partnership with his former mentor in the transformed firm of Hufstedler, Kaus & Beardsley. With the Hufstedler firm, Peter practiced regularly in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and California Courts of Appeal, as well as federal and state trial courts across southern and central California. Throughout that 19-year practice, he maintained a concentration on appeals and writs, with particular substantive emphasis on fiduciary issues arising from partnerships, estates, trusts, and small businesses.

Peter has long performed pro bono legal services at both individual and institutional levels. He has served since his appointment in the late 1980s on the Board of Directors of Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County. He has served as its President, and he now sits as a member of its Executive Committee. Peter has also actively served for many years on the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Amicus Briefs and Appellate Courts Committees.

For approximately five years during the early 1990s, Peter moved with his family to Ojai, California, where his wife founded and operated a small business and his daughter attended high school. Practicing of counsel to the Ventura firm of Muegenberg, Norman & Dowler, Peter continued to focus his practice on appeals and writs, regularly appearing for argument in Division Six of the Second District California Court of Appeal as well as in other appellate courts throughout southern California. He also actively participated in the programs of the Ventura County legal community, he taught remedies at a local law school, and he continued his Board position with NLS, his active participation with committees and activities of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and his regular service as a mediator for the Second District Court of Appeal's Mediation Program. In 1995, Peter returned with his wife to the Los Angeles area, handling appeals and complex issues for a small commercial and business litigation firm.

In 1997 Peter joined GMSR and in 2001 he was certified as a specialist in Appellate Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. Peter now confines his practice to the representation of civil clients – individuals, companies, and public agencies – in the prosecution and defense of appeals and writs on their behalf.

Areas of Practice

• Appellate Law
• Administrative Law
• Arbitration and Settlement Enforcement
• Healthcare Law
• Insurance Law

Representative Cases

• Fuller-Austin Insulation Co. v. Highlands Ins. Company, 135 Cal.App.4th 958 (2006)
• Jonathan Neil & Associates, Inc. v. Jones, 33 Cal.4th 917 (2004)
• Saint Agnes Medical Center v. PacifiCare of California, 31 Cal.4th 1187 (2003)
• Groom v. Health Net, 82 Cal.App.4th 1189 (2000)

West Practice Categories

Administrative Law, Health & Health Care Law, Insurance Law, Litigation & Appeals, Federal Appellate Practice, State Appellate Practice

Certification/Specialties

• Appellate Law, State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization, 2001

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Los Angeles County Bar Association (Amicus Briefs Committee)
• Los Angeles County Bar Association (Appellate Courts Committee)
• California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District (Mediator)
• San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services, 2004 - 2006 (President)
• San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services (Member, Board of Directors)

Classes and Seminars

• Instructor - Remedies, Southern California Institute of Law, Ventura, California, 1992

Pro Bono Activities

• San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services, 1989 - Present

Past Employment Positions

• Law Offices of David B. Bloom, 1995 - 1997
• Muegenburg, Norman & Dowler, Of Counsel, 1991 - 1994
• Murray, Bradshaw & Budzyn, Of Counsel, 1990 - 1991
• Hufstedler, Kaus & Beardsley, Partner, 1973 - 1990
• California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Five, Presiding Justice Hon. Otto M. Kaus, Research Attorney, 1971 - 1973

Education

• Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, California, 1971
  J.D.
  
  Law Review: Loyola Law Review, Managing Editor, 1970 - 1971
• University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 1965
  A.B.
  Major: Political Science

Published Works

• California Civil Procedure During Trial (Contributing Author), CEB, v. 1 supp. 1985-1986
• Procedure Module, California Civil Practice (Consulting Editor), Bancroft-Whitney, 1992

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