Judicate West, one of California’s leading providers of private dispute resolution services, has added Judge Lesley D. Holland, formerly of the San Joaquin Superior Court, to its roster of neutrals. Judge Holland is based out of the Sacramento office and available statewide as a mediator, arbitrator, and private judge.
“Judge Holland has been well respected and well liked within the Central Valley legal community, and he draws upon his 45 years of diverse experience as a trial judge, civil litigator and mediator to help parties find resolution. He has already handled more than 300 mediations and, as judge, guided and facilitated thousands of resolutions, settlements and verdicts,” said Var Fox, Executive Vice President and Co-Founder of Judicate West. “Judge Holland is a patient judge and a good listener, and he knows how to connect with all types of people and personalities. On top of his outstanding disposition, he is gracious and humble, and we are thrilled to welcome him to the Judicate West family.”
Following more than 22 years of service, Judge Holland retired from the San Joaquin Superior Court in 2019. He was elected as the Presiding Judge in 2014 and was named the court’s first Supervising Judge for the Civil Division in 2011, serving through 2014. Judge Holland spent the last several years as Of Counsel at Herum Crabtree Suntag Attorneys, where he devoted his practice to alternative dispute resolution services in civil matters with emphasis on probate/trusts and estates, business/contractual, construction, employment, professional malpractice, real estate and personal injury disputes. Judge Holland spent the first 18 years of his career in private practice, trying commercial, products liability and construction defect matters.
Judge Holland held numerous leadership positions for the San Joaquin Superior Court, including chairing the Executive Committee (2014-2015); the Civil Committee (2010-2014); and the Local Rules Committee (2010-2018). He also co-chaired the court’s ADR Committee (2008-2014). Judge Holland serves as a mediator for the Third District Court of Appeal’s civil mediation program and on the Commission on Judicial Performance’s panel of qualified special masters. He is a member of the California Judges Association; the Judge Consuelo M. Callahan Inn of Court, of which he is a past president; bar associations in Sacramento, San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties; and the Association for Conflict Resolution.
In spring 2019, Judge Holland completed the Pepperdine University School of Law Straus Institute’s intensive 42-hour program – “Mediating the Litigated Case.” He earned his J.D. from the University of California, College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings Law) (1979), where he was the Review Editor of the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly. He received his B.A., cum laude, from Occidental College (1976).
