Howard B. Wiener

Associate Justice, May 30, 1978 - December 31, 1993
 

Howard B. Wiener was born in Providence, Rhode Island on February 1, 1931. He attended Brown University there, graduating in 1952 with a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy, cum laude, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa Society. Three years later, he obtained his law degree from Harvard University Law School. He served as a law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Harrison in Los Angeles, California from 1955 to 1956. He was admitted to the California Bar on January 10, 1956. During the next 20 years, he was in private practice in West Covina. He was extremely active in the legal community, serving as President of the Pomona Valley Bar Association in 1968, on the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles County Bar Association from 1969 to 1971, and on the State Bar Board of Governors from 1972 to 1975 (Vice President, 1974-1975). On July 25, 1975, Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. appointed him to the San Bernardino County Superior Court. The Governor elevated him on April 19, 1978, to succeed Associate Justice Richard D. Ault on Division One of the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District. Following confirmation and the administering of the oath on May 26, the appointment took effect four days later. During his tenure on the Court, he remained active in the community, serving as Chair of the Board of Visitors of the University of San Diego School of Law, President of the William B. Enright American Inn of Court from 1991 to 1993, and Chair of the Judicial Council's Advisory Committee to Study Legislative Proposals on Trial Court Unification in 1981. He was an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego School of Law (1979-1986) and California Western School of Law (1986-1994) teaching professional responsibility and appellate advocacy respectively. He also obtained a Masters of Laws Degree in judicial process in 1982 from the University of Virginia Law School in Charlottesville, Virginia. He retired from the Court on December 31, 1993. He is co-author with Jon B. Eisenberg and Ellis J. Horvitz of the California Civil Practice Guide, Civil Appeals and Writs, published by The Rutter Group. He has been actively engaged in private dispute resolution since January 1994, serving in more than 1700 cases as a mediator, arbitrator and private judge.