Hon. Daniel J. Buckley (Ret.)

Hon. Daniel Buckley (Ret.) brings over 40 years of experience, innovative thinking, and leadership skills to Signature Resolution. His background as a litigator in private practice and a judge, including as the Presiding Judge of Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles—the largest court in the country—makes him the perfect choice for litigants in search of a balanced, insightful, and neutral facilitator and decision maker.​

 ​Judge Daniel Buckley is well known for his people skills and ability to truly listen to both parties before making a more objective evaluation of the case. His uncanny knack for understanding a case’s strengths and weaknesses and his extensive experience makes him an ideal neutral. ​​

 ​Judge Buckley spent his entire attorney career at the firm of Breidenbach, Buckley, Huchting, Halm & Hamblet, where he was a general civil litigation defense attorney with a focus in the areas of toxic torts, professional negligence, personal injury, and insurance coverage. Evident by his membership in ABOTA, Judge Buckley was an experienced trial attorney. He litigated several landmark cases in the country, including Newman vs. Stringfellow, which was considered the largest toxic tort case in the early 1990s with over 4,000 plaintiffs. Judge Buckley was a co-lead trial attorney for the State of California in a year-long trial with 17 bellwether plaintiffs.​​

He left private practice in 2002 after being appointed to the Superior Court. Over time, Judge Buckley served in many leadership positions at the courts: the Supervising Judge of the East District, the Supervising Judge of the Civil Department, the Assistant Presiding and, most importantly, Presiding Judge of the Los Angeles courts in 2017 and 2018. His last assignment in the court was at the prestigious Complex Courts. Judge Buckley handled a wide range of case types, including business and commercial, catastrophic injury, class action, construction, entertainment, insurance, intellectual property, mass tort, real estate, and many others. During his last year on the bench, he assisted in the settlement of a number of large, high-profile lawsuits, including Riot Games, the USC Tyndall case, and the UCLA Heaps case.​

 ​During his time as assistant and presiding judge in Los Angeles, he was instrumental in transforming the technology of the Los Angeles Superior Court. His efforts brought its systems into the modern age, specifically in case management and judicial administration. ​

 ​Judge Buckley is also devoted to teaching and advancing education. He has served as an adjunct professor at Notre Dame Law School, Loyola Law School, and USC Gould School of Law, teaching trial advocacy and California Civil Procedure. He taught many courses to judges on evidence, civil law, judicial administration, and ethics. Every year he was an instructor for New Judge Orientation, which covered ethics and courtroom management for new judicial officers.  ​​

Judge Buckley was recognized as Judge of the Year by CAALA (2015), Pasadena Bar Association (2015) and the Korean Community Lawyers Association (2015). Other recognitions include the Judicial Civility Award from ABOTA (2014), a Hall of Fame recipient from the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel (2015), the Administration of Justice Award from the San Fernando Valley Bar Association (2018), the Spencer Brandeis Award by the Family Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (2014), Person of the Year from Metropolitan News (2015), and the Daniel O’Connell Award from the Irish American Bar Association (2014). ​