From the 10th floor of the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse in Santa Ana, Judge Andrew Guilford has a perfect view of northern Orange County.
That includes Angel Stadium of Anaheim—which remains a sore spot for Guilford.
“I have always been interested in flying the Orange County flag, until I had the experience of a certain lawsuit,” he said, looking at the Big A off in the distance.
Before being appointed a federal judge for the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana in 2006 by President George W. Bush, Guilford was best known as the lawyer who represented Anaheim in its fight with Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim owner Arte Moreno over the baseball team’s name.
As a lawyer with Los Angeles-based Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP’s Costa Mesa office, Guilford led the fight to reverse Moreno’s renaming of the team from Anaheim Angels to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
“I got involved with the lawsuit because it became part of an evolving issue about Orange County not getting the respect it deserves,” Guilford said.
An Orange County Superior Court jury found in favor of Moreno in 2006.
Guilford called it “the biggest disappointment of my professional career.”
“It was certainly one of the cases I cared the most about,” he said.
Guilford, who calls himself a “former” Angels fan, vowed that if Anaheim lost the name battle, he never would go to another game at Angel Stadium.
True to his word, Guilford said he hasn’t attended a single game since 2006, when he watched the Angels play the Los Angeles Dodgers. Guilford, a native of Santa Monica, rooted for the Dodgers.
“I’ve not been back since that one game,” he said. “I’ve turned down tickets to see the playoffs.”
Role as a Judge
Since becoming a judge, Guilford has become a major figure in business law here. When companies here squabble, it seems they often end up before Guilford.
“I do seem to deal with a number of civil cases on a regular basis involving OC companies,” he said.
Guilford’s work is split between civil and criminal cases.
He presided over the criminal trial of former sheriff Mike Carona, litigation between the local office of Britain’s Experian Group Ltd. and Arizona’s LifeLock Inc., and Rancho Santa Margarita-based auto financier Finance Express LLC’s case against Lake Success, N.Y.-based DealerTrack Holdings Inc.
As a lawyer, Guilford said his job was to try to convince someone to make a decision in favor of his clients.
Now he works for his “bosses in Washington,” he said.
As a judge, Guilford said his job is to dole out justice based on the facts and the reading of the law.
“It’s different on many levels,” he said.
At Sheppard Mullin, Guilford specialized in business litigation including professional liability, intellectual property, finance and unfair competition cases.
He represented Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc. in a federal trademark trial and a patent case and handled numerous trials for San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co.
A lifelong baseball fan, Guilford represented former Angels slugger Reggie Jackson in various cases.
Guilford said he sometimes misses the action of being a lawyer.
“Frankly, even at my age, I’d rather play basketball than referee basketball,” he said. “There are times when I would love to get out there and play.”
As a judge, Guilford’s most high-profile case has been the Carona corruption trial.
The case has led some to compare Guilford to former federal Judge John Sirica—who ordered Richard Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes—because of the role recordings played in Carona’s trial.
Carona, who was sentenced by Guilford to nearly six years in prison for witness tampering, remains free pending an appeal.
Another case before Guilford involves Carpinteria-based CKE Restaurants Inc., operator of Carl’s Jr., which sued San Diego-based Jack in the Box Inc. over a 2007 ad campaign.
In TV commercials, Jack in the Box took aim at the quality of Angus burgers served at Carl’s Jr., which argued the spots were misleading.
Guilford said his philosophy is to determine the facts and apply the law.
“Sometimes it’s pretty straightforward,” he said. “Sometimes it’s a little obscure and you need more research to see it clearly.”
How busy the federal court is has been a surprise, according to Guilford.
“We’ve had a number of judges retire, so the work is being divided up accordingly,” he said.
Guilford said his choice to become a judge was the right one given a shakeout that’s playing out among lawyers with lower fees, more competition and even layoffs.
“I took a government job just at the right time,” Guilford said.
Passions
One of Guilford’s passions is photography. His office is decorated with photos from trips to India, Israel, Jordon and Egypt.
“I like photography because you get to observe different things and notice things you didn’t when you first took the photo,” he said.
Sports are a big part of Guilford’s life.
He has spent much of this decade on a personal crusade to try to get the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to vote in former Dodger shortstop and base stealer Maury Wills.
“You have a hero at age 13, and then you become fortunate enough to meet him,” Guilford said of Wills.
The son of a Santa Monica bus driver, Guilford went to the University of California, Los Angeles, and remains a loyal Bruins fan.
Guilford said he and his wife moved from Coto de Caza to Trabuco Canyon after his two daughters moved out and “because your salary shrinks when you move from private to public service.”
