Hon. Craig D. Karlan (Ret.)

Profile

“Every lawsuit is a legal riddle, wrapped in a financial mystery, inside an emotional enigma.”

Judge Craig D. Karlan

Hon. Craig D. Karlan (Ret.) is a trial lawyer’s judge; he is an invaluable asset to trial lawyers, due to his impassioned commitment to studying and mastering every aspect of a jury trial over the past 32 years. Judge Karlan’s expertise is evidenced by a track record of trying countless cases to verdict, both as a litigator and as a judge, in addition to guest lectures he has presented to influential associations including the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, the Beverly Hills Bar Association, and the Santa Monica Bar Association on topics such as Opening Statements, Closing Arguments, Cross-Examination, and Expert Witnesses.

Judge Karlan’s passion for jury trials enables him to be an exceptionally effective settlement officer. Having served as a judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court, West District, for over 20 years, he approaches all cases with the knowledge and experience gained from presiding over thousands of general jurisdiction civil matters of every imaginable variety, from filing to trial to post-judgment motions. He can quickly gauge the value of a given case, and he has heard and ruled upon hundreds of attorney fee motions, allowing him to ascertain reasonable fees and costs through verdict and even collection.

Judge Karlan’s 20-year judicial career has been defined by exceptional service at the Santa Monica Courthouse. During his 14 years as an Independent Calendar courtroom judge, he handled as many as 730 cases at a given time with unwavering accuracy and efficiency. In addition, he served as the West District Probate Judge for eight years, demonstrating extraordinary acumen while navigating complicated high-net-worth probate cases involving complex financial issues and emotionally charged familial dynamics. After presiding over his first Mandatory Settlement Conference in 2003, Judge Karlan has applied his commitment to facilitating fair and reasonable outcomes to the hundreds of settlement conferences he has handled since then in nearly every type of civil action, including probate and family law. Judge Karlan’s strength as a settlement officer has directly resulted in the resolution of not only his own cases, but also those of his bench colleagues.

In addition to his love for jury trials, Judge Karlan is a lifelong student of game theory and negotiation tactics, further enhancing his ability to settle disputes. While studying at Harvard Law School and as an undergraduate at Yale University, he had the opportunity to learn from esteemed academic luminaries including Professors Thomas Schelling (Nobel Prize winner for having “enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis”), James Sebenius (Wise Choices), Barry Nalebuff (Thinking Strategically), and Douglas Rae, amongst other distinguished lecturers in this area.

Drawing upon a well-rounded academic foundation in negotiation, strategy, and dispute resolution, Judge Karlan has a unique perspective for resolving litigation. He is extremely familiar with Professor Roger Fisher and his acclaimed book Getting to Yes. As a testament to this fact, Judge Karlan successfully negotiated against students of Professor Fisher in the Williston Negotiation Competition as a 1L at Harvard Law School, demonstrating both tenacity and skill when it comes to negotiating from positions of strength or weakness. Simply put, Judge Karlan’s extensive trial experience, coupled with his innate understanding of game theory and negotiation strategy, allow him to quickly ascertain each case’s “BATNA” – Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement.

Judge Karlan is committed to helping you settle your matter.

Representative Cases

Testimonials

“Carmen and Judge Karlan demonstrated a particularly effective “bedside manner” with some difficult personalities. You have to see through what everybody is claiming and see what really is fueling people’s anger or need to litigate. Some people may be running on emotion, but their claims may not be that viable. To be a good mediator, you really have to cut through that stuff and see what’s at the bottom of everybody’s reasons for litigating and know how to deal with counsel. So, it’s a lot of finessing personalities, and I just thought they did a really good job with that.”

“Judge Karlan ultimately managed to settle our case nine months after the initial mediation session. I think we all thought ‘This case is never going to settle’, and I was just planning on trying it. But he stayed on both sides, and I would get these periodic phone calls. He was very persistent. It took nine months to do it, but he did it, and some mediators wouldn’t do that. They’d get a little frustrated, and they’d think, ‘The case is never going to settle. That’s fine. You guys try it’. But he just continued to work with us in a very high-level, professional way.”

“I thought Judge Karlan was a great judge, but he may even be a better mediator. Judges have hundreds of cases they’ve got to deal with, and he handled that very well and very professionally with great judicial demeanor. But now that he’s doing mediations, he just has more time. He has more time to spend on one individual case. He gets to know the lawyers; he gets to know the parties. So while I think he was an outstanding judge, he may turn out to be an even better mediator.”

“I’ve appeared before hundreds of judges, and I’ve never appeared before a finer judge than Judge Karlan, and those talents really have extended on to his role as a mediator. He’s an extremely smart person. He’s very creative and thinks outside the box and gets great results, He’s very conscientious, and he’s sincerely interested in the case you have with him. He treats it like a matter before the U.S. Supreme Court.”

“Judge Karlan is a very smart guy, and he is incredibly business-oriented. He came up with some ideas that neither party could see. There’s no mediator I’ve worked with that works harder than Judge Karlan. For one of our cases, we had a several-day mediation, and he was a dog on the bone. He would not let it go until he got it resolved.”

“I was fortunate to try Judge Karlan’s first case when he was assigned to the Santa Monica Courthouse. It was a contentious commercial unlawful detainer trial. Judge Karlan brought to both counsel’s attention a fact we both overlooked and which resulted in settlement. I was also before Judge Karlan over the years on other matters. Judge Karlan mediated a case that another judge brought to him, which also involved extremely difficult clients (and in that case, an equally difficult opposing counsel). I was amazed that Judge Karlan was able to settle the case. Judge Karlan is smart as a whip, incredibly insightful, and anticipates issues. He did so with an incredible judicial temperament that was always respectful to all parties and counsel. I would wholeheartedly recommend Judge Karlan for any matter, including complex litigation, entertainment, intellectual property and real estate matters.”

“I had the privilege of appearing before Judge Karlan and felt the benefit of his organized, well-reasoned and respectful approach not only to applying the law but also to running an efficient courtroom (with a volume of 500+ cases pre-pandemic and possibly as many as 800 post-pandemic), all to the satisfaction of the lofty goals of administration of justice.”

“Judge Karlan brings the finest legal mind, unmatched real world experience, an extraordinary work ethic and the finest people skills imaginable to mediation. I say that based upon my recent mediation experience with him. His use of his experience and talents resulted in the settlement of an extremely difficult and emotional dispute.”

“Very impressed with the experience as well as the effectiveness of our mediator”