Arne Werchick

Personal and Community Service

County of Hawaii Board of Appeals (2018 - 2020)

Board of Directors (and Board Secretary), Friends of the Library, Kona [F.O.L.K] (2016 - 2022 ); organized and chaired the NJABCTCC [Not Just Another Book Club Travel Conversation Circle], F.O.L.K. (2017 - 2024)

Board of Directors, Aloha Performing Arts Company [APAC] (2017 - 2019)

Palm Desert Rent Review Commission (2006 – 2015; Chair 2009 - 2015)

Town of Truckee Planning Commission (1999 - 2001)

Tahoe Donner Association Governing Documents Revision Committee (1997- 2000)

Tahoe Donner Architectural Standards Committee (alternate 1997-1999, member 1999 - 2000)

USTA NorCal certified umpire (1998 - 2000)

Tahoe Donner Tennis Club Board of Directors (1997-1999)

Conseiller, Confrerie des Vignerons de Saint Vincent Bourgogne et Macon USA (1984-1990)

Vice President, United Nations Association of San Francisco (1969-1970). Vice President, Medical & Professional Society (1977; Director 1978-1979)

Life member, Sierra Club and East African Wild Life Society

Professional Background

Special Counsel, California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform [CANHR] , 2009 – 2015).

Special Deputy Trial Counsel, State Bar of California, Office of Trial Counsel (2010 – 2015).

Presiding Arbitrator of the State Bar of California (2006 - 2008).

Administrative Law Judge pro tem, California Office of Administrative Hearings - Keyhea hearings regarding involuntary administration of psychiatric medications to prison inmates (1998 - 2003).

Judge pro tem, San Francisco Superior Court, civil jury trial, settlement conferences, small claims appeals (1991-1997). Nevada County Municipal Court, small claims (1996 – 2004).

California State Bar Committee on Professional Liability Insurance (2011).

California State Bar Committee on Mandatory Fee Arbitration (2001–2008; Chair 2004-2005; Vice Chair 2002-2004).

President, California Trial Lawyers Association (now CAOC) (1980); Vice President (1978 and 1979); Board of Governors, California Trial Lawyers Association (1976-1986).

Chair, California Trial Lawyers Association Amicus Curiae Committee (1982, 1985 and 1986, member 1974-1976, 1978, 1980-1986).

Assistant Editor, California Trial Lawyers JOURNAL (1970-1977).

Chair, California Trial Lawyers Association Committee on Malpractice Law Litigation (1976).

Vice chair, Bar Association of San Francisco Committee on Arbitration and Mediation of Fee Disputes (1996 - 2009).

Assistant Professor of Law [adjunct faculty], University of California Hastings College of the Law, 1971-1984, teaching courses in Legislation and Legislative Advocacy, Government Tort Litigation, and Trial Practice.

Board of Contributors, Medical Malpractice Law & Strategy, affiliated with New York and National Law Journals (1983-90).

Advisory Committee on Voir Dire, Judicial Council of California (1988-1992), established originally by statute as California Task Force on Voir Dire; coauthor of standardized Juror Questionnaire for Civil Cases adopted by California Judicial Council (form MC-001) (1993).

Editorial Board, San Francisco Attorney,Bar Association of San Francisco (1991-1995).

Chair, Section on Insurance, Negligence & Compensation Law, Bar Association of San Francisco (1971)

Vice Chair, California State Bar Committee to Confer with the California Medical Association (1979-1980)

Vice Chair, Medical-Legal Liaison Committee, Bar Association of San Francisco (1970)

Chair, CTLA Legal Students Committee (1970).

Member, Private Judging Advisory Panel, Institute for Social Analysis (1991).

Lawyer delegate to Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, Seattle, Washington (1969).

Board of Governors, Western Trial Lawyers Association (1983-1986).

Chair, State Legislation Subcommittee, Association of Trial Lawyers of America (1981-1982); Vice-chair, ATLA Administration Department (1983); member ATLA Board of Governors, (1980-1983).

Consultant to Nevada Trial Lawyers Association before Assembly Judiciary Committee of the Nevada legislature (1985).

Consultant to Alaska Bar and Trial Lawyers Associations to Alaska Governor's Commission on Medical Malpractice (1975).

Faculty member: National College of Advocacy, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Reno, Nevada (1981).

Civil College of Advocacy, San Francisco, Hastings College of the Law (1978).

Instructor, "Law for the Layman," YWCA of San Francisco, 1965.

Teaching Assistant, Department of Speech, University of California (1961-1964).

J.D., University of California (Boalt Hall, 1964); A.B., "Communications and Public Policies," University of California (Berkeley, 1961).

Course certificate, Aircraft Accident Investigation, Institute of Aerospace Safety and Management (University of Southern California (1969).

Mediation training: Commercial Mediation, 40 hours, ADRA (1994); Commercial Arbitration, 7 hours, American Arbitration Association (1994); Fee Dispute Mediation and Arbitration, Bar Association of San Francisco, 11 hours (1992, 1995 and 1996); Advanced Mediation, 13 hours, John Paul Jones Group (1997)

Admitted to practice: California Bar, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and United States District Court for the Northern District of California (1965); United States District Court for the Eastern District of California (1982); United States District Court for the Central District of California (1998); United States Supreme Court (1968).

Legal Experience

From 1965-2005 full-time preparation and trial of civil cases. Areas of primary emphasis were professional liability (attorney or physician malpractice) and medical-legal issues generally; attorney fee disputes; technical liability; personal injury; product liability. Additional experience included business and real estate disputes, insurance carrier liability (in particular insurance bad faith claims), construction defect, elder financial abuse, maritime personal injuries, and other types of damages litigation in California Superior Courts, Nevada District Court, and the United States District Court.

Appellate practice included approximately fifty cases before the California Courts of Appeal and Supreme Court. Appellate case of interest included:

American Bank and Trust Company v. Community Hospital of Los Gatos-Saratoga (1984) 36 Cal.3d 359; briefed and argued (and reargued) before the California Supreme Court on behalf of amicus curiae California Trial Lawyers Association testing the constitutionality of the 1975 Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act.

Edwards v. Pacific Fruit Express (1968) 390 U.S. 538, 20 L.Ed.2d 112, 88 S.Ct. 1239.

Chambers v. Kay (2002) 29 Cal.4th 142.

Gallo v. Peninsula Hospital (1985) 164 Cal.App.3d 899; limited use of undisclosed expert witnesses.

Gampell v. Superior Court (1982) 33 Cal.3d 242; established the authority of the Governor to fill appellate court vacancies authorized by the Legislature.

Nogueiro v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan (1988) 203 Cal.App.3d 1192; establishing arbitrators' authority to determine law applicable to arbitration awards.

Price v. Shell Oil (1970) 2 Cal.3d 245; expanded the product safety doctrine of strict liability to apply to leased products.

Ramirez v. Superior Court (1980) 103 Cal.App.3d 746; prohibited enforcement of arbitration agreements involving individual patients where the patient did not knowingly and voluntarily agree to arbitration.

Truman v. Thomas (1980) 27 Cal.3d 285; expanded the doctrine of "informed consent" in medical malpractice cases.

Recognition of Experience certificates: "Professional Negligence," "General Trial Lawyer," and "Products Liability," California Trial Lawyers Association, 1979.

Publications Authored

BOOKS

A. Werchick, CIVIL JURY SELECTION (Colorado Springs CO: Wiley Law Publications, 1988; 2d ed. 1993)

A. Werchick and R. Werchick, THE GREAT BARRIER REEF: A GUIDE TO THE ISLANDS AND RESORTS (San Carlos CA: Wide World, 1986; 2d ed. 1988)

A. Werchick, LEGISLATION AND LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY [looseleaf: cases and materials for course in Legislation] (San Francisco: Hastings College of the Law, 1981, revised 1983)

GOVERNMENT TORT LIABILITY [looseleaf: cases and materials for course in Government Litigation] (San Francisco: Hastings College of the Law, 1974)

PAMPHLET

Werchick and Hobart, The Great No-Fault Hoax of 1980 (Sacramento: California Trial Lawyers Association, 1980)

ARTICLES and LETTERS [PARTIAL LIST]

Werchick, Editorial opinion: “How to Fix Our Broken Health Care,” West Hawaii Today, page 4A, July 11, 2017

Letter: "A Reluctance to Divest," New York Times, page A30 [New York edition], December 9, 2016

Editorial opinion: "TMT and the Importance of Scientific Discovery," West Hawaii Today, page 5A, May 27, 2016

"Attorney Fee Agreements and Fee Disputes: Cases, Source Materials and Recent Developments," California Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) program, “Attorney Fee Agreements and Fee Disputes” (2007; 2010; revised, updated and retitled 2013)

"Recent Developments in the Law of Attorney's Fees," Program Materials (program 141), California State Bar Convention (October 2006), revised 2010.

“Who's Afraid of the Presiding Arbitrator?”, Desert Bar Association Journal (Spring 2007)

“Thou Shalt Not Sue Thy Client,” Desert Bar Association Bulletin (April 2006)

"Fletcher v. Davis: Is this the End of Liens to Secure Attorney Fees?" Consumer Attorneys of California Forum (September 2005)

"Recent Developments in the Law of Attorney's Fees: Are You Protected?" Program Materials (program 87), California State Bar Convention (September 2005)

“Attorney Fee Disputes, Arbitration Agreements, and Aguilar v. Lerner,” California State Bar Journal (May 2005)

"So You Think You're Going to Get Paid: Legal Obstacles and Ethical Traps Affecting Attorney's Fees," Program Materials (program 76), California State Bar Convention (October 2004)

“Awarding Program Filing Fees,” Arbitration Advisory prepared for State Bar Committee on Mandatory Fee Arbitration (October 2003)

"Division of Attorney Fees: Selected Cases and Materials", (July 2002); used as Reference Materials for program, "Will Your Fee Agreement Survive the Supreme Court?", California State Bar Convention (October 2002)

"Tort Liability for Architectural Barriers under the Americans with Disabilities Act", CTLA Forum (January 1997)

"To Speak the Truth," San Francisco Lawyer (February 1994)

"Glebe House," San Francisco Lawyer (December 1993)

"Briefly Noted: Deposition Reporting and the Computer," San Francisco Lawyer (August 1993)

"A Reasonable Facsimile," San Francisco Lawyer (February 1993)

"Don't Call Me . . . ," San Francisco Lawyer (June 1992)

"Warp Two: Life in the Fast(Track) Lane," San Francisco Lawyer (December 1991)

"Potent Portables," San Francisco Lawyer (December 1991)

"Legal Malpractice: the Case for Evidence of Settlement and Verdict Value," Barristers Law Journal (October 1991)

"A Beach in Fiji," San Francisco Lawyer (August 1991)

"Judge Not . . . : Controversy in Private Judging," San Francisco Lawyer (August 1990)

"A Bill of Rights for South Africa," San Francisco Lawyer (April 1990)

"Arbitration and Good Faith," CTLA Forum (October 1989)

"Who Will Question Jurors?" CTLA Forum (September 1988)

"When Doctors Sue Doctors," Medical Malpractice Prevention (May-June 1987)

Shore and Werchick, "Exempting Malpractice Death Cases from MICRA," CTLA Forum (May 1986)

Werchick, "New Malpractice Trouble: Be Prepared!" Physician's Management (September 1984)

"Four Baffling Litigation Syndromes," Medical Malpractice Law and Strategy (February 1984)

"Fifty Percent of Dead: The Indivisible Injury and the Joint Liability Doctrine," CTLA Forum (October 1983)

"Deposing the Doctor Defendant," PRACTICING LAW INSTITUTE (1983)

"Method Not Madness: Selecting Today's Jury," Trial (December 1982; reprinted in The Best of Trial [ATLA Press 1990] pp. 161-170)

"Ten and a Half Magic Steps for Deposing the Opposition Expert," CTLA Forum (September 1982)

"Periodic Payments: The New Crisis in Compensation," California Trial Lawyers Association JOURNAL (19:1 1981)

"Twelve on Trial," CTLA Forum (October 1980)

"Better than a Thousand Words," PRACTICING LAW INSTITUTE (1982)

"Suing the Hospital: The Plaintiff's Case," P.L.I. (1977)

"Special Problems of Evaluating and Settling Medical and Dental Malpractice Cases," and "Bad Faith and the Settlement of Personal Injury Cases," P.L.I. (1976)

"Trial Tips: Voir Dire Revisited," California Trial Lawyers Association JOURNAL (14:2 1975)

"Trial Tips: Arguing Obscure Instructions," California Trial Lawyers Association JOURNAL (14:2 1975)

"Pitfalls in Federal Tort Claims Suits," California Trial Lawyers Association JOURNAL (1972)

"Trial by Jury" (Book Review), The Brief Case (1964)

Invited Lectures

Alameda - Contra Cost County Trial Lawyers Association (1988)

American Bar Association National Legal Malpractice Conference, "The Millennium Approaches - A Look at the Next Five Years (Phoenix, Arizona, 1995)

American College of Legal Medicine (Kona, Hawaii, 1983)

Association of Trial Lawyers of America, National Convention -- "Preserving the Doctrine of Enterprise Liability Against Legislative Attack" (Montreal, 1981)

Bar Association of San Francisco Word Perfect Users Group -- "Computerizing the Small Firm Civil Litigation Practice" (1991)

California Applicants Attorneys Association (1981)

California Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) -- “Attorney Fee Agreements and Fee Disputes” (2007, 2010, 2013); "Attorney Fees" (2006); "Malpractice" (2004); "Strategic Tips for Successfully Propounding and Opposing Written Discovery" (2004); "Effective Jury Voir Dire" (2002, 1997, 1991); "Fundamentals of Civil Pretrial Practice" (2002); "Preparing For, Taking and Using Depositions" (2006, 2005, 2003, 2000, 1997); "Civil Discovery" (1999) "Focus Groups" (1993); "Joint and Several Liability: The Tough Issues" (1986)

California Court Reporters Association Midwinter Seminar (Reno, Nevada, 1989)

California Judges Association Media Conference on California Courts (1986) -- "Analysis of Tort Liability and Insurance Issues in the Context of Proposition 51"

California State Bar Association Annual Conventions -- “Attorney's Fees: You Put in the Time, But Can You Collect?” (2008 two-hour program, Monterey); “Lawyers Getting Paid Ethically: Not an Oxymoron” (2007 two-hour program, Anaheim); "Two Dozen (or more) Reasons You May Not Get Paid" (2006 two-hour program, Monterey); "Recent Developments in the Law of Attorney's Fees: Are You Protected?" (2005 two-hour program, San Diego); "So You Think You're Going to Get Paid: Legal Obstacles and Ethical Traps Affecting Attorney's Fees" (2004 two-hour program, Monterey); "Attorney Fee Sharing and Referral Fees" (2003 two hour program, Anaheim); "Fees in Flux" (2003 two hour program, Anaheim); "Will Your Fee Agreement Survive the Supreme Court?" (2002 two-hour program, Monterey)

California State Bar arbitrator training programs: Beverly Hills Bar Association (advanced program, 2008), Contra Costa County (2002), Desert Bar Association (2006), Los Angeles County (2004, 2005), Nevada County (2003), San Bernardino County (2004), Santa Clara County (2003)(advanced program, 2006)

California Trial Lawyers Association Midwinter and Annual Conventions (1970-1987)

Century City Bar Association (2002) -- "Will Your Fee Agreements Survive the Supreme Court?"

Civil College of Advocacy - faculty (Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco, 1978)

Contra Costa County Bar Association -- "Nuts and Bolts of a Solo Litigation Practice" (1999)

Desert Bar Association -- "Lawyers Getting Paid Ethically: Not an Oxymoron" (2006)

Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association (1979)

Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association (1985)

National College of Advocacy (ATLA, Reno, Nevada, 1981)

Nevada Trial Lawyers Association (1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1992)

Northern California Association of Defense Counsel (1983)

Northern California Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters (1981, 1982)

Practicing Law Institute - faculty (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986)

San Francisco Law School Moot Court Program (1987)

South Africa Law Commission -- "Professional Liability" (Pretoria, South Africa, 1990)

Tahoe-Truckee Bar Association -- "Automating the Small Law Office" (1994); "Nuts and Bolts of a Solo Litigation Practice" (1999)

University of San Francisco Health Law Association -- "Consumer Consequences of Medical Malpractice Litigation" (1991)