Thurman W. Arnold III, CFLS*
T.W. Arnold attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon in 1974. He was awarded a "Certificate of Excellence" that year. Luminaries who attended Reed include Steve Jobs, poet and author Gary Snyder ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") and radical radio personality, "Dr. Demento" - none of whom Thurman claims to have known.
In 1979 Thurman graduated with Honors from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He next attended the Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon, where he acted as an editorial staff member for its nationally recognized Environmental Law Journal. He earned his
Juris Doctorate in June, 1982.
In November, 1982, Mr. Arnold was admitted to the California Bar and joined his father's Palm Springs legal practice, which was originally established in 1953. Mr. Arnold has tried criminal and numerous civil cases to jury verdict with excellent results, gaining extremely useful trial skills that family law attorneys otherwise don't accumulate. He is recognized as a Certified Family Law Specialist (CFLS) by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.
Protecting rights and resolving disputes is an Arnold tradition spanning 160 years. Thurman Arnold III is a fifth generation attorney. His grandfather, Thurman Arnold Sr., taught at Yale Law School together with
U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas from 1930 to 1938 and authored books on legal realism and economics that remain in print today. In 1938 President Roosevelt appointed him to be the United States Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division for the Department of Justice, and Thurman, Sr., began to dismantle companies that conspired to destroy smaller businesses. In 1943, Thurman Arnold, Sr., accepted a post as a Justice for the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. He did not relish being a Judge, however, insisting he'd "rather be talking to a bunch of damn fools [judges] than listening to a bunch of damn fools [lawyers]". In 1946 he formed the Washington D.C. Law Firm of Arnold, Porter & Fortas, which became
Arnold & Porter when Abe Fortas was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1965. In the 1950's Arnold, Porter and Fortas was one of the few Washington law firms that stood against Senator Joseph McCarthy, representing government employees and private citizens who were prosecuted falsely as alleged communists,
pro bono.
Thurman Arnold, III exclusively practices Family Law. He is a prolific writer and all of the content on this website including his Blog is his original work. To the extent you are interested in his views, which contain a bias in favor of mediation and collaborative processes for working through relationship conflict, you can learn more by moving around this site.
The Arnold tradition is one of pride, ethics and dedication.
Certified Family Law Specialist Thurman W. Arnold
Memberships, Licenses, Associations and Public Service
- State Bar of California (Admitted, 1982)
- Central District Court of the United States (Admitted, 1983)
- Certified Family Law Specialist, California Board of Legal Specialization (2010)
- Family Law Section, State Bar of California
- Association of Certified Family Law Specialists (ACFLS)
-
Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC)
- International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP)
- Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR)
- Academy of Family Mediators
- Los Angeles Collaborative Family Law Association (LACFLA)
- Los Angeles County Bar Association
- National Council on Family Relations (NCFR)
- American Bar Association, Family Law Section
- Riverside County Bar Association
- Desert Bar Association, Family Law Committee
- Desert Bar Association Arbitration Panel/Attorney Client Fee Disputes
- Past Member of the Warren Slaughter (2000-2002), American Inns of Court
- Service as a Temporary Judge of the Superior Court, Riverside County
- Martindale-Hubbell Client Review Rated Lawyer of Preeminent 5.0 out of 5.0 as of November 1, 2010. [Date of latest review published on martindale.com and lawyers.com]
- Chair, Family Law Section of the Riverside County, Desert Bar Association, 2012
Accredited Continuing Education and Specialization Training (2009 to 2012)
| Date |
Courses |
Instructors |
Hours |
| 3/2009 |
Family Law Refresher Course |
CFLR |
11 |
| 6/2009 |
Family Law Specialization Training |
CFLR |
45 |
| 9/2009 |
Two Day Collaborative Training |
LACFLA |
13 |
| 1/2010 |
Judicial Ethics for Temporary Judges |
Riverside County Superior Court |
3.0 |
| 2/2010 |
Advanced Conflict Resolution |
American Institute of Mediation
|
10 |
| 3/2010 |
Family Law Refresher Course |
CFLR |
11 |
| 3/2010 |
Family Law Attorney Fees |
ACFLS |
3.5 |
| 5/2010 |
Divorce Mediation Training
|
Forrest S. Mosten, CFLS
|
40 |
| 5/2010 |
Working With Your Forensic Accountant
|
White, Zuckerman, Warsavsky
|
1.0 |
| 6/2010 |
AFCC Conference Denver, CO |
AFCC |
15 |
| 9/2010 |
Calender Management in Family Court |
Administrative Office of the Courts |
1.5 |
| 9/2010 |
Custody and Visitation |
Administrative Office of the Courts |
2.0 |
| 9/2010 |
Child and Spousal Support |
Administrative Office of the Courts |
2.0 |
| 9/2010 |
Determining Income in Family Court |
Administrative Office of the Courts |
1.0 |
| 9/2010 |
Characterizing Property |
Administrative Office of the Courts |
1.5 |
| 9/2010 |
Dividing Property |
Administrative Office of the Courts |
2.0 |
| 10/2010 |
Mediation Intensive Training |
Gary J. Friedman |
40 |
| 1/2011 |
Mediation for Conflict Professionals |
Friedman/Himmelstein/Fischer |
40 |
| 6/2011 |
AFCC Conference, Orlando, FL
|
AFCC |
15
|
| 9/2011 |
Dealing with Debt in Family Law Cases |
Attorney's Briefcase/Thomas Wilson |
1.5 |
| 11/2011 |
Mediation Training Refresher |
Understanding in Conflict |
40 |
"I am committed to continuing education
and cutting edge family law training and professional practices."
~ T. W. A. ~
