Fairfield, California – The Superior Court of California, County of Solano announces the retirement of the Hon. Paul L. Beeman after almost 18 years on the bench, effective March 5, 2018. Judge Beeman was appointed to the Solano Superior Court by Governor Gray Davis on April 10, 2000. He has served as the Court’s Presiding Judge (2012-2013), Assistant Presiding Judge (2010-2011), Supervising Judge of the Vallejo Branch (2008-2011) and Supervising Civil Judge (2017). He has served in criminal and juvenile departments, but spent most of his judicial career presiding over civil matters, including complex litigation, CEQA matters and all the Court’s asbestos trials.
Judge Beeman is a native of Solano County. He grew up in Vallejo and graduated from Hogan High School. He attended California State College at Hayward where he received a B.A. in Political Science. He started attending the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, in Sacramento, but law school was interrupted with military service in the U.S. Army. He served in the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1971, including time in Vietnam as a Legal Clerk. After returning from military service, he restarted his legal education at McGeorge School of Law, graduating in 1973.
Upon graduation from law school, he became a partner with his father, William L. Beeman, in the law firm of Beeman & Beeman. The firm specialized in personal injury, product liability, medical malpractice and federal tort claims. He tried over 30 civil and criminal jury trials and arbitrated or mediated over 150 cases for the Superior Court prior to becoming a judge.
Judge Beeman has been active in statewide and local organizations. As a judge, he served as an Executive Board Member for the California Judges Association (2013-2016). He served as Chair of the Court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, overseeing a complete overhaul of the Court’s ADR programs. He served on the Court’s Executive Committee from 2008-2013 and again in 2017. He received the Law Day Liberty Bell Award in 2008 from the Solano County Bar Association. When he was a member of the Solano County Bar Association, he cofounded and was a participating member of the Lawyers in the Library program from 1995 until he became a judge. He has attended many programs and received multiple certificates at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University.
He has served as faculty for the Straus Institute/Pepperdine teaching mediation skills to the judiciary and lawyers in Uganda. He also co-sponsored two one-week long trainings on mediation presented by the Straus Institute in Solano County for judges and attorneys, bringing in speakers from all over the country to speak on mediation. He has also served as faculty for Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) in Evidence and Discovery.
As stated by Judge Beeman, “I want to thank my colleagues, our court employees, and attorneys from across the State for making my time on the bench such a pleasure. Being in a position to help people resolve critical and complex issues has been extremely rewarding. I am very appreciative of the privilege to have served in this capacity.”
Upon his retirement, Judge Beeman is looking forward to participating in private mediation.
Categorized in: Court Notices
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