Lawyer Profile:
Robert J. Sheppard

The firm's senior partner, Robert J. Sheppard, is regarded as one of San Francisco's premier attorneys in the fields of real estate law, landlord/tenant law, rent control law, premises liability and property owners' liability, wrongful eviction cases, business disputes as well as tort/personal injury cases and disputes involving insurance companies and insurance law.

In 2006, 2007 and again in 2008, Robert Sheppard was voted "Super Lawyer of Northern California," a distinction reserved for a select few attorneys out of over 50,000 lawyers.  He was selected a "Super Lawyer" in the field in Real Estate Law and in conducting Mediations and Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Since 1978, Robert Sheppard has successfully litigated numerous jury trials, and has obtained highly praised verdicts and settlements for his clients, including several dozen "six and seven figure" cases.  He routinely handles complex, multi-party tort/real estate litigation cases.

For the past twenty five years, Robert Sheppard has been in demand as a Lecturer to other attorneys and judges, regularly speaking at Continuing Education of the Bar courses, Rutter Group Seminars, State Bar Conventions, and State Bar Real Property Educational Conferences on landlord/tenant litigation, Unlawful Detainer litigation, Rent Control, Wrongful Eviction lawsuits and other real estate and premises liability related legal issues.    He has published numerous articles in the statewide Real Property Law Journal for the California State Bar .

Since 1996, Robert Sheppard has been in high demand as a Private Mediator helping parties resolve disputes and all types of contested litigation cases.

• His mediation and negotiation skills have earned him wide respect in the legal community as a tenacious "problem solver."
• Robert Sheppard has enjoyed an exceptionally impressive record for resolving contested disputes between landlords and tenants, disputes between neighbors, HOA disputes, disputes between sellers and buyers of real estate, disputes with real estate agents, disputes between parties claiming conflicting interests in real estate, and general business disputes.
• He is a member of "The Real Estate Neutrals" - a select group of experienced real estate Mediators in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• He was recently elected to the Board of Directors of "The Mediation Society" - a professional association of experienced mediators in Northern California.
• Mr. Sheppard's reasonable rates for mediation services have saved litigants thousands of dollars as opposed to more costly and less efficient AAA or Judicial and Arbitration Mediation Services.
• Robert Sheppard also serves as a Private Arbitrator on binding arbitration cases, and has been specially appointed Discovery Magistrate and Referee to resolve discovery disputes between litigants and their respective attorneys.
• Robert Sheppard serves as a Neutral Arbitrator in cases involving medical malpractice claims against Kaiser Permanente Hospital.

Robert Sheppard serves as a Temporary Judge for the San Francisco Superior Court. He has served in this capacity from 1988 to the present. He has presided over 500 trials and settlement conferences. Robert Sheppard is widely regarded as a fair minded, resolution-oriented practitioner by both tenants as well as landlords, by both monetary claimants as well as insurance companies.

Robert Sheppard's clients have returned to him for their estate planning needs, including preparation of Revocable Living Trusts, Wills, Durable Powers of Attorney, Advanced Health Care Directives, Nominations of Guardian, and general Probate work.   He has worked on multi-million dollar estates, and has protected millions of dollars of savings to his clients through estate planning, trusts and probate litigation.

Between 1979 and 1982, Robert Sheppard served as one of the first Administrative Law Judges for the San Francisco Residential Rent Stabilization Board, presiding over dozens of hearings on rent adjustment cases. He enjoyed an impressive record of never having one of his Decisions overturned by the appellate Rent Board or a Court.

Robert Sheppard routinely serves as an Expert Witness.  He has testified as an Expert Witness in both Federal and State Court, before juries, at bench trials, at judicially-ordered arbitrations and at fee dispute arbitrations, on standards of care for property owners, for landlords, for tenants and on real estate issues in general.  Robert Sheppard also offers testimony on standards of care of lawyers (both plaintiff and defense).

For E-Mail contact: rs@sheppardlaw.com
Phone: 415-296-0900 ext.23