Judges and Judiciary
Jul. 24, 2002
Levity Rules
VALLEJO - On first impression, Judge Paul Beeman appears to be a slacker. Asked why he majored in political science as an undergraduate, he said, "Maybe because it didn't have a language requirement, or maybe because I didn't have to take statistics."
Paul L. Beeman
Solano County Superior Court judge
Vallejo
Career highlights: Appointed by Gov. Gray Davis, 2000; private practice, Beeman & Beeman, 1973-2000; arbitrator, Solano County Courts, 1990-2000; judge pro tem, Solano County courts, 1987-88.
Law school: McGeorge School of Law 1973
Age: 55
Asked why he majored in political science as an undergraduate, he said, "Maybe because it didn't have a language requirement, or maybe because I didn't have to take statistics."
He went to McGeorge School of Law because his father did and because "I didn't get in to Stanford and Boalt."
"Look at my résumé," the judge said. "Let's see. Beeman started in '68 and he didn't get out until '73. Was he the dumbest guy in the class?"
Hardly. The Solano County Superior Court judge's attendance at McGeorge bookended his military service in Vietnam. At the time, the law school was flunking more students than it was passing.
Beeman's self-deprecating manner belies his wit and diligence. His humor is disarming.
"When we were doing arbitrations and things got somewhat tense, he would always just crack a joke to take the tension down a few notches or allow things to move along at a more civilized level rather than a confrontational one," said Sal Bellia, a Vallejo civil and personal injury lawyer.
Bellia knew Beeman in his private practice days, conducted several arbitrations before him and has sat in his courtroom.
These days, Beeman is assigned to adult criminal matters at the Solano County Courthouse in Vallejo. He has been there since January, when he moved from the Fairfield courthouse where he heard juvenile delinquency and dependency matters.
"Juvenile was hard," Beeman said. "It was very hard - just the sheer volume of cases. We worked from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. every day and always worked through lunch. This [adult criminal assignment] has very hard days, but there are breaks. If you've only gone in [to chambers] for three hours on a Sunday, that's a good deal."
Beeman was appointed to the bench April 10, 2000, by Gov. Gray Davis. A colleague, Dan Russo, had urged him to consider seeking a judgeship.
Russo, a criminal law specialist with Morton & Russo of Vallejo, said he was walking along a street, when Beeman spotted him from his car and offered him a ride.
"I was grumbling about what SOBs judges are and how stupid they are," Russo said. "I said, 'You know, you should run. You're a decent guy, you're a trial lawyer.'"
"One of the things he said that really impressed me was 'It would be hard for me.' He knew a judge had to make unpopular decisions. But, I said, 'Yes, but that's what would make you a really good judge.'"
Russo described Beeman as "a bright guy with good sense of humor."
"Most judges I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire," Russo said. "I am notorious for saying bad things about judges. Paul is really a decent human being.
"Most judges, when they first get on the bench, feel it's necessary to bite everyone in the neck - the alpha thing. He hasn't done that. He attempts to have lawyers clarify what they are trying to say without insulting them. He's patient."
Beeman, 55, grew up in Vallejo, the sixth generation of Beemans in the area. His father, Bill, was a flight captain in World War II. Later, while flying, Bill Beeman was badly burned in an accident caused by an aircraft design defect. Outraged that he got so little compensation for his injuries, he decided to become a trial lawyer.
The senior Beeman was influential in his son's decision to become a lawyer.
Majoring in political science at Cal State-Hayward, Beeman "didn't know what in the world" he was going to do with his degree.
"One day, I was talking to my dad and he said, 'You could go to law school. It's not that hard.' He was wrong. It was hard as hell. McGeorge was a bar mill then. They flunked people out in droves."
Beeman started out with a night school class in the early summer of 1968, then began taking daytime classes that August. Within two weeks, he got drafted. He dropped out of school and appealed the draft notice. It was rescinded. But since he had lost two weeks of instruction, he went back into the night school program. He got another draft notice - it, too, was rescinded - and then another notice. He tried to explain that the courses he was taking were yearlong, not semester.
On a Friday the 13th in 1969 he took his last course final of the year and got his induction notice, telling him to appear July 2 at Fort Lewis, Wash.
Beeman said he was assigned duty as a legal clerk and ordered to report in Oakland on Oct. 5.
"I got out of Fort Lewis on Sept. 19 and I came right down and got started in night school at McGeorge because I knew I could commute," Beeman said.
After completing a course in estates and land, Beeman was sent to Vietnam.
"I couldn't commute from there to McGeorge," he noted.
He was in Vietnam six months. Within 10 days of returning home upon completing his tour (shortened four months by the Pentagon), he went back to McGeorge, graduating two years later, in June 1973. Despite Beeman's complaints about how hard law school was, he managed to "shock the pants off" one professor by getting the second-highest grade in a class on closed corporations.
Taking the State Bar exam, though, was a little tricky.
"You're taking the bar in '73 on classes you took in '68," Beeman said. "That'll give you a little pucker power."
Still, Beeman was successful, and the young lawyer went to work with his father at Beeman, Bradley, Brown & Beeman in Vallejo - later Beeman and Beeman - specializing in personal injury and product liability.
During his 27 years there, his most memorable case, he recalled, was a product liability suit against a gun manufacturer. He said he worked on it from 1984 until late 1990, often seven days a week, and wound up with $191,000 in out-of-pocket costs.
The case settled for what Beeman called a "token" amount, and it took him three years to dig himself out financially.
In his later years at the firm, he said, he realized he had become the one thing he most dreaded becoming - a businessman. So he began to think more seriously of vying for a judgeship.
His transition from lawyer to judge was fairly smooth, but there are some things he misses.
"You don't get to speak your mind as freely," Beeman said. "When I was a lawyer, I enjoyed that right a great deal."
Karen Jensen, a Solano County deputy district attorney assigned to a felony trial team, said she had appeared in Beeman's court many times when he had the juvenile assignment.
"He's a pleasure to appear in front of," Jensen said. "He's very personable. He'll listen to everything you have to say. If you don't know the answer [to a question of law] it's better to say 'I don't know' than not respond at all because he respects that."
Married at 19 and later divorced, Beeman raised a daughter, Lauren, now grown and a teacher.
Here are some of Beeman's recent cases and the lawyers involved:
People v. Jones, VCR155712
Prosecution: Deputy District Attorney Bonnie Dennison, Vallejo
Defense: Kathryn Streem, Vallejo
People v. Heath, VCR154870
Prosecution: Deputy District Attorney Jim Highsmith, Vallejo
Defense: Harvey Bender, Vallejo
People v. Krous, VCR157477
Prosecution: Deputy District Attorney Larry Kuo, Vallejo
Defense: Claudia Quintana, Vallejo
People v. Phillipson, VCR151602
Prosecution: Deputy District Attorney Denise Harrison, Vallejo
Defense: Daniel J. Healy, Vallejo
People v. Wilson, VC43333
Prosecution: Deputy District Attorney Denise Harrison, Vallejo
Defense: Kathryn Barton, Vallejo
Linda Rapattoni
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