Armand Arabian

Judge Armand Arabian stepped down from the bench in 1996. But for a price the retired California Supreme Court justice is still open for business. Arabian, 77, is one of many retired judges who have chosen not to completely jump into retirement, choosing instead to earn a lucrative living in the private sector as mediators or arbitrators to companies and individuals. “I gave up my oath of office, and I gave up my oath of poverty,” he said. Arabian, who charges on average between $450 and $500 an hour, has located his firm across the street from the courthouse on Van Nuys Boulevard. Case loads are predominately mediations of real estate and business disputes, but he also handles arbitration cases. And he has “divide and conquer rooms” reserved in the office so angry parties can begin their negotiations separately. Arabian says his public career is one reason clients choose him, versus thousands of other mediators and arbitrators in the area. The son of Armenian immigrants who survived the Armenian Genocide, he spent six and a half years as an associate justice on the California Court of Appeal. For six years, he was an associate justice on the California Supreme Court and was a Municipal and Superior Court judge in Van Nuys. Arabian is perhaps best known for his contributions to the evolution of rape law. In the 1970s, he refused to read an instruction that urged jurors to be cautious when examining the claims of a female, because rape is a charge “which is easily made, and once made, difficult to defend against, even if the person accused is innocent.” That decision was upheld by the California Supreme Court in 1975. As a private mediator, Arabian said, he helps people and relieves the clogged court calendars. There is more certainty with the mediated decisions, he says. Presiding over a jury trial is like watching “a craps table” where jurors often are distracted and a decision may not always offer justice. Retired judges often have weathered criticism in their arbitration business, because critics say they’re likely to side with those who often hire them. But tilting the scales of justice “is something you just don’t do,” he said. Arabian resigned as a court-appointed referee on a civil lawsuit in 2000 after the Los Angeles Times reported he had a previous relationship with an attorney on the case, current Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris. No one involved in the case accused Arabian of bias. Parris and Arabian had served as co-counsel on a case a year earlier. But in a letter to the court Arabian defended himself and stepped down because he felt “betrayed and abused” after his ethics were questioned, according to the Times. More than a decade later, Arabian dismissed the ordeal as “such a minor issue” in a long career. Since launching his mediation and arbitration business in 1996, Arabian’s intake has remained steady, he said. He doesn’t keep track of his case load, just takes on as much work as he likes. Does he ever regret leaving the bench? No, he said, “It was time to smell the roses.” But while many view mediation or arbitration as the perfect retirement, Arabian said it’s difficult to build a practice, especially now. Retired judges and attorneys have flooded the market with their services. And with a job market tough for attorneys in California, many are increasingly trying to make a second life in mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution, he said. Arabian said he’s convinced at least five judges who were thinking of stepping down for a life in the private sector to stay put on the bench. “It’s gotten rather crowded to put it mildly.”