Hon. Enrique Romero (Ret.)

1946-2021

“Judge Romero will be remembered as having an enormous impact on the California legal community, bringing passion, character and personality to the profession. Judge Romero touched innumerable lives along the way. We’ve lost more than a partner. We’ve lost a leader, a mentor and a friend. He truly embodied the spirit of our firm and will be deeply missed.”- The Partners of Signature Resolution

Education

  • LL.M. (Taxation), Georgetown University Law Center
  • J.D., USF School of Law
  • Master of Public Administration, UCLA
  • B.A., UCLA

Biography

The late Judge Romero oversaw nearly every type of civil matter, including A-list celebrity disputes, catastrophic personal injury matters, all aspects of labor and employment litigation, insurance coverage disputes, legal malpractice actions, eminent domain/inverse condemnation disputes, and complex business litigation.

During his eight years on the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Judge Romero made quite a mark by calling his calendar at 7 a.m. every morning to preside over initial case management conferences, mandatory settlement conferences, ex parte matters, and motion and law matters, all in the pursuit of resolving matters thoroughly yet expeditiously. Judge Romero made settlement a priority in every case assigned to him, presiding over as many as a thousand MSCs a year throughout the United States and England. Besides his direct calendar civil docket, Judge Romero also presided over probate and family law cases and was the Supervising Judge in the South Central District, presiding over the court’s civil master calendar for four years.

Judge Romero had extensive, diverse experience in law that went far beyond civil litigation. He was one of the few dispute resolution professionals with a Master of Law in taxation, which made him well-qualified to handle complex business litigation. In addition, he was a Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division and a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he conducted grand jury investigations and prosecuted matters involving hate crimes and police abuse/brutality throughout the U.S. He also served as a Special AUSA in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and as an AUSA in the Organized Crime, Money Laundering, and Major Narcotics Unit in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Judge Romero was uniquely qualified to preside over federal cases as well as those tied to Latin America, Asia, and the U.K.

Experience

  • Founding Partner, Signature Resolution (2017-2020)
  • Neutral, ADR Services, Inc. (1999–2017)
  • Judge, The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles (1992–1999)
  • Assistant United States Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Central District of California
  • Assistant United States Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Southern District of Florida
  • Special Assistant, United States Department of Justice

Professional Achievements and Memberships

  • California’s Top Neutral, Daily Journal
  • Power Mediators, The Hollywood Reporter