Clifford & Brown

Richard G. Zimmer

Mr. Zimmer graduated with Highest Honors from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1979. In Law School he served on the Law Review and was published. He also was intensely involved and received honors in Appellate Moot Court Competition. Mr. Zimmer began his legal career in Kern County as a Kern County Deputy District Attorney prosecuting cases from 1982 to 1987. He has extensive jury trial and courtroom experience and has tried cases before most all of the Kern County judges. As a civil litigator with the law firm of Clifford & Brown, he has gained extensive civil litigation experience over the past twenty plus (20+) years involving a wide variety of business disputes, agricultural matters, water and environmental issues, employment matters, oil and gas matters, personal injury cases, etc. He has an individual “AV” rating with Martindale-Hubbell, a widely respected and relied upon rating system for attorneys.

Because of his extensive litigation experience, including over one hundred (100) jury trials and many more court trials, along with his broad based civil litigation experience, he often handles large litigation disputes in numerous practice areas. Some of Mr. Zimmer’s achievements and career highlights include:

• Extensive litigation background, including roughly five (5) years in the Kern County District Attorney’s Office trying cases ranging from misdemeanors to special circumstances murder cases, followed by over twenty (20) years of civil litigation experience at Clifford & Brown, along with appellate decisions in both criminal and civil cases.
• Has tried over one hundred (100) jury trials and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, a prestigious organization composed of experienced trial attorneys.
• Lengthy civil litigation practice, including water and environmental law, business disputes, large pipeline disputes, agricultural and real estate disputes, employment disputes and personal injury matters on both the plaintiff and defense sides.
• Jury and court trial experience litigating cases in numerous areas of practice, ranging from multi-million dollar disputes to more every day business and environmental disputes.
• Continuing involvement in two of the largest groundwater adjudication cases in California history, including the Santa Maria Groundwater Basin Adjudication and the Antelope Valley Groundwater Basin Adjudication, which began in 1999.

Mr. Zimmer’s unique and extensive criminal, administrative and civil litigation background, including business, water and environmental litigation, provide him with a unique skill set not commonly found among water, environmental and business attorneys. His current practice consists of approximately 60% water and environmental issues and 40% business litigation matters.