Judge Andrew J. Guilford

2018 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Ninth Circuit

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA — Judge Andrew J. Guilford has been recognized with the prestigious 2018 American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Ninth Circuit. He will be presented with the award by Chief Judge Sidney Thomas at the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference in Anaheim, California, in July.

Guilford has been a United States district judge since 2006. He has sat by designation with the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is one of six Patent Pilot Program Judges in the Central District of California. The ten-year program, which is in effect in fourteen federal district courts, is designed to enhance judges’ expertise in patent cases. He is president of the District Judges Association.

Co-founder and Master of the Bench in the Howard T. Markey Intellectual Property American Inn of Court in Irvine, California, Guilford served as the Inn’s first president from 2013 to 2015. He is an honorary member of the Judge Paul R. Michel IP American Inn of Court, and of the Pepperdine/Strauss American Inn of Court for Dispute Resolution.

Before becoming a district judge, Guilford was a business trial lawyer with Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton for 30 years. He handled a wide variety of cases relating to intellectual property, unfair competition, finance, and professional liability. He was elected a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers in 1992 and teaches a course on trial advocacy at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law.

As a Regent Scholar at UCLA, Guilford received his AB degree in economics summa cum laude in 1972 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his JD degree from UCLA in 1975 and was an associate editor of the UCLA Law Review.