Randall Christison concentrates on the professional development of lawyers. Knowing that a law firm’s capital is its legal talent, his goal is to make law firms better law firms by making their lawyers better lawyers. He consults with law firms to devise systematic professional development methods and assists in the management of the professional development program.
Randall is a highly experienced lawyer, litigator, teacher, curriculum designer and legal writer. As a lawyer, he has been recognized by his peers to be one of the 10% of American lawyers who have received an AV Peer Review Rating, a rating he has held continuously since 1986. An AV rating “shows that a lawyer has reached the height of professional excellence. He or she has usually practiced law for many years, and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity.”1
As a litigator, he has tried to verdict well more than thirty jury trials, and tried to judgment more than one hundred bench trials and arbitrations. He was selected by the Superior Court to serve as a judge pro tem and arbitrator, and has heard more than 150 cases. Three of his trials were televised.
As a teacher, he has been assisting lawyers for twenty years in all aspects of their professional development, and has taught programs in time management, writing, litigation, and in various substantive legal fields. He has been invited by the California judges’ college (Center for Judicial Education and Research), the National Association of Attorneys General, California Continuing Education of the Bar, American Meteorological Society, Association for Continuing Legal Education, Professional Development Consortium, and San Diego Consumer Attorneys to present training programs. He has also presented to members of private law firms and of the offices of the U.S. Attorney and district attorney. He currently limits his teaching to litigation practice and writing programs.
As a curriculum designer, Randall has designed, developed, and delivered more than one hundred training programs for lawyers and paralegals, courses consistently rated by the lawyers attending them as “excellent.” He is also approved by the State Bar of California as a Continuing Legal Education provider.
As a writer, Randall was invited by the prestigious University of California’s Continuing Education of the Bar to write chapters in California Government Tort Liability and California Trial Practice, as well as to update both those books and Civil Procedure During Trial. In addition, he has written for the Professional Development Quarterly on the application of knowledge management to lawyer succession planning. He has also written for the same journal a highly regarded series on the application of modern adult learning theory techniques to the training of lawyers. As one professional development manager said, "Randy's articles are practical, stimulating and full of wisdom—definitely worth reading!"
Before joining Wolf Management Consultants, Randy was the chief of litigation with a mid-sized San Diego law firm, and a senior litigator and manager with the Attorney General of California, heading up the San Diego natural resources and torts sections. In 2000, he was selected by the Attorney General to establish and manage a professional development program for that 1,100-lawyer office. The program was renowned for its innovativeness and its cost-effectiveness.
Randy served as submarine officer during the Cold War. At the time he was the U.S. Navy’s youngest qualified submarine officer.
He has his bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from the University of Southern California and his law degree, also cum laude, from Santa Clara University, where he was also a member of law review.
1- CV, BV and AV are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies.
