Oct 18, 2026
Hon. Tony L. Richardson (Ret.) Joins ADR Services, Inc.
ADR Services, Inc. is proud to welcome Hon. Tony L. Richardson (Ret.) to our panel of distinguished neutrals.
Judge Richardson brings more than four decades of legal experience to his work as a neutral, including nearly three decades in private practice handling complex commercial litigation and more than thirteen years on the Los Angeles County Superior Court. His career has placed him on both sides of the bench in sophisticated civil disputes. He has experience as a trial attorney and partner at several prominent national law firms, as a trial court judge managing an independent civil calendar, and for seven years as a member of the Superior Court’s Appellate Division. In 2020, he also served by assignment as a Justice Pro Tem of the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division Seven. During his judicial career, he authored thousands of appellate opinions and decisions, including several published opinions.
Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Richardson developed a broad complex litigation practice representing clients in state and federal courts. His formative years were spent at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he rose from associate to partner during a 17-year tenure and tried insurance coverage, contract, and product liability matters. His practice also encompassed mass tort, antitrust, unfair business practices, intellectual property, and other complex business disputes. He later served as a partner at Reed Smith LLP and SNR Denton US LLP before being appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2012.
Judge Richardson’s substantive experience extends well beyond traditional commercial disputes. Over the course of his practice and judicial career, he has handled matters involving insurance coverage, employment discrimination and wrongful discharge, Labor Code and PAGA claims, consumer disputes, personal injury, restrictive covenants, real property, breach of contract, residential and commercial unlawful detainer, habitability, lemon law, child abuse, mass torts, construction defects, professional malpractice, intellectual property, police misconduct, and partnership disputes. His years deciding appeals and teaching appellate practice also give him substantial experience evaluating procedural and appellate issues, including matters potentially subject to arbitration.
Judge Richardson also brings substantial experience assessing complex disputes at the appellate level. That background allows him to examine not only the immediate strengths and weaknesses of a party’s position, but also the procedural, evidentiary, and legal issues which may affect a case as it progresses through litigation and potential appellate review. Combined with decades of trial and litigation experience, this perspective makes him particularly well suited to serve as a neutral for sophisticated commercial matters, contract disputes, cases presenting difficult legal questions, and disputes in which the parties would benefit from a neutral capable of taking a deep dive into both the record and the law.