Sheldon Rubin

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

RISK MANAGEMENT                       REAL PROPERTY                                    MEDIATION

EXPERT WITNESS                          TITLE INSURANCE                  EXPERT CONSULTANT

 BUSINESS DISPUTES  

Mr. Rubin provides the following services for disputes and matters which involve high liability exposure and complex legal and factual issues:

                                                                       CLAIMS ANALYSIS, SECOND OPINIONS and EXIT STRATEGIES

   for transactional disputes or pending actions

STRATEGIC DISPUTE MANAGEMENT

to manage the risk of an adverse result and the cost of ongoing litigation

PREVENTIVE LAW & DUE DILIGENCE

(avoiding legal risks and crisis prevention)

providing clients with the opportunity to identify, assess and address risks before they develop into losses or a business crisis

MEDIATION

Facilitative and evaluative mediation services in situations when parties seek an alternative to a conflict that is without imminent resolution or do not want to risk an adverse result or the cost of ongoing litigation.

Mr. Rubin is on the roster of Commercial Arbitrators for the American Arbitration Association.

Mr. Rubin is also the Managing Member of International Land Title Consultants, LLC, which provides due diligence services for inbound investors and advice concerning credit enhancement products for use in domestic and international real estate transactions.

PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE

In 1973, Mr. Rubin opened his law office in Beverly Hills and subsequently opened branch offices in San Francisco and Dallas.  Mr. Rubin currently maintains his offices in Century City.

Mr. Rubin was elected and currently serves as General Counsel of Provident Title Company which issues title insurance policies in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura Counties, California. 

From 1961 until 1973, Mr. Rubin worked for Chicago Title and Trust Company and Chicago Title Insurance Company responsible for land title searching, examining, underwriting and claims in California, Illinois, Nevada and Arizona.  His responsibilities also included assignments as Counsel for the Escrow Department, Trust Department and subsidiaries of the companies.

Mr. Rubin received both his Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Land Economics and his Law Degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  Mr. Rubin was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1960 and the California Bar in 1972. He is a member of the California, Illinois State, Los Angeles, and Chicago Bar Associations.  

During the past 40 years, Mr. Rubin’s experience and practice has been concentrated in business, real estate and insurance disputes and transactions (including title insurance coverage litigation and underwriting).  He has performed these services for various parties, including insureds, underwriters, owners, and lenders, throughout the United States in most of the commercial centers of the country.  He has developed an expertise for managing, directing and structuring the settlement of complex litigation and transactional disputes before litigation. 

Mr. Rubin’s real estate experience involved many types of disputes, including:  adjoining owners; adverse possession; boundaries; brokers; construction loans; due diligence; easements; encroachments; escrows; fiduciary responsibilities; financing; foreclosures; fraud; Hawaiian land rights; homeowners associations; joint ventures; landlord and tenant; lender liability; lis pendens; marketable title; mechanics’ liens and numerous other involuntary liens; mineral rights; mortgages; option contracts; partnerships; priorities and recording; purchase and sale; restrictive covenants; specific performance; statute of frauds; trust deeds; trusts; water rights; and workouts. 

Mr. Rubin’s experience with title insurance, property insurance and liability insurance disputes involved:  bad faith; policy coverage and interpretation; punitive damages; reservation of rights; tender of defense; and, subrogation.

During the past 40 years that Mr. Rubin has been in private practice, he has been involved in and responsible for more than 300 high liability title insurance claims and real estate workouts, most involving between $1,000,000.00 and $200,000,000.00 in potential liability. 

Mr. Rubin has frequently counseled title insurers and their claims departments to diligently apply proactive, aggressive planning to avoid claims and control unexpected claims expense; and, to conduct operations, underwriting and claims audits on a timely basis resulting in procedures that reduced the cost of claims.

In 1978 Mr. Rubin, with the approval of the Attorneys General of California and Nevada, appeared as amicus curiae and filed a brief on behalf of the California Land Title Association in the original action filed by the State of California against the State of Nevada, in the Supreme Court of the United States.  This action involved the determination of the boundary line between the States of California and Nevada, invoked under Article III, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution of the United States. 

In 1990 Mr. Rubin represented the California Land Title Association before the Insurance Commissioner for the State of California in connection with the proposed enactment of the unfair claims settlement practices regulations. Mr. Rubin successfully argued and negotiated for the exclusion of the title insurance industry from the applicability of the regulations. 

In 1991 Mr. Rubin served on the California Insurance Commissioner’s Consumer Complaints and Unfair Practices Task Force.

In 1983 Mr. Rubin was nominated and elected as a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.  He chaired the Title Insurance Committee for three years and currently chairs the International Title Assurance Subcommittee.  He was a member of the Board of Governors of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers (2003-2005). 

For the past 30 years Mr. Rubin has been an active member of the American Land Title Association and is a member of the ALTA International Development and Title Counsel Committees.

For the past 30 years, Mr. Rubin has been active in the American Bar Association.  He served as Chair of the Title Insurance Committee of the Real Property, Trust & Estate Law Section for three years and served as a Vice-Chair of the Title Insurance Litigation Committee of the Tort and Insurance Practice Section. 

Mr. Rubin was a member of the faculty of the Practicing Law Institute and participated in many programs and authored publications relating to escrows and title insurance.  He was a participating author of the Title Insurance Chapter of the American Law of Real Property, published by Matthew Bender, and has authored book reviews for the American Bar Association. 

During the past thirty (30) years, Mr. Rubin has been a speaker at numerous professional programs dealing with real estate, title insurance and escrows.  He has been nominated by his peers, as a leading practitioner, for inclusion in:  The International Who’s Who of Real Estate Lawyers and Who’s Who Legal, California (as a leading practitioner in Real Estate and Title Insurance).

Mr. Rubin has been on the advisory board of a major Los Angeles bank and counseled many businesses in connection with their business strategies and marketing efforts.  He is on the American Arbitration Association panel of commercial arbitrators.

Mr. Rubin has been selected as a Super Lawyer for eleven(11) consecutive years (2005-2015); Practice Area:  Real Estate.

Mr. Rubin is rated AV® Preeminent™ 5.0 out of 5 by Martindale Hubbell. 

2016 Addendum

Testifying expert, in an eight week jury trial for an insured in a claim on a title insurance policy, resulting in a $25,000,000 verdict(policy limits).

Appointed to the Executive Committee of the Beverly Hills Bar Association Section on Conflict Resolution. The Committee has created a Mediation Referral Service with an approved list of panel mediators.

Appointed by the President of the American Land Title Association to the Claims Administration Committee.

Co-chair of the International Real Estate Transaction Library created by the American College of Real Estate Lawyers and the American Land Title Association. The primary mission of the Library is the creation of an on-line reference tool for lawyers and title professionals when engaging in international real estate transactions.