Richard W. Abbey

Education:
University of California, Berkeley
(B.S., with honors, 1969)
University of California, Los Angeles
(J.D., 1972)

Admitted:
California (1972)
United States District Court, Northern District of California (1974)
United States District Court, Central District of California (1974)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (1974)

Affiliations:
Order of the Coif
The Sonoma County Bar Association (President, 1981-1982)
Professor of Law, Empire College of Law (1976-1986)
Sonoma County Family YMCA (Board of Directors, 1993-Present) and (President, 1999-2001)
The State Bar of California (Member Business and Real Estate Sections)
The American Bar Association

Specialties:
Commercial and Banking Law
Real Estate Law
Corporate Law
Employment Law
Mediation

Practice Emphasis:
Dick has been a member of the firm of Abbey, Weitzenberg, Warren & Emery, through several name changes, since 1973. Over the years, his practice has focused upon real estate, commercial, corporate and financial institution litigation and transactions. Through that period of time, he has acted as primary counsel to Exchange Bank and Sonoma National Bank and as regional litigation counsel for Westamerica Bank and its subsidiaries. His experience in real estate matters covers all facets of transactions and litigation and, for a number of years, he was primary defense counsel for Merrill Lynch Realty and Prudential Real Estate and its real estate agents. Over the past several years, his practice has included an emphasis on corporate and partnership disputes, and a focus on representation within the wine industry, including the representation of growers and wineries.

Special Training:
Dick has served for a number of years as a judge pro tem in the Sonoma County Superior Court. He is also a member of the Arbitration Panel for Sonoma County Consolidated Courts and a fee arbitrator for the Sonoma County Bar Association. He has taken numerous courses on negotiation strategy, mediation and alternative dispute resolution, and has recently completed the course on negotiation strategy for lawyers presented by the Negotiation Strategy Institute, a two day intensive hands-on course. As a private mediator, he has conducted dozens of mediations in the last several years.