Rob Epstein is a former partner of Epstein Holtzapple Christo LLP and a full-time mediator with 35 years of civil litigation experience, including more than 30 years specializing in trust, estate, probate, conservatorship, and fiduciary disputes. He has represented beneficiaries, trustees, conservators, family members, charities, financial institutions, businesses, public entities, and individuals throughout California. Having spent decades litigating some of the most emotionally charged and financially significant disputes that come before the courts, Rob brings a practical, informed, and even-tempered approach to mediation.
Trust and estate disputes often involve far more than legal claims. Family history, grief, perceived unfairness, and damaged relationships frequently play as large a role as the law itself. Rob has tried and litigated will contests, trust contests, fiduciary disputes, elder abuse claims, contested conservatorships, and other probate matters. This background enables him to quickly identify the legal, practical, and emotional issues that drive these disputes and help parties navigate them toward resolution.
While many outstanding mediators come from the bench, Rob brings the perspective of a trial attorney. He understands the challenges of confronting opposing counsel and presenting to the court while sitting alongside anxious clients who expect justice in a system built on settlements. "Equitable frustration" -- meaning some level of shared disappointment on both sides -- can be the definition of success, unless parties are willing to incur the risk and expense of trial. As an attorney, Rob has helped clients make hard decisions time and time again, in a wide variety of cases throughout California.
In addition to his probate and fiduciary practice, Rob has litigated a broad range of civil actions, including neighbor disputes, personal injury, medical negligence, employment, real estate, public entity liability, business and shareholder disputes, banking matters, shareholder derivative cases, insurance coverage, broker negligence and non-disclosure actions, mortgage fraud, environmental claims, land use matters, landlord-tenant disputes, and civil harassment actions.
Rob's mediation experience began when he completed the United States District Court's 40-hour mediation training program and joined the court's volunteer mediator panel. Over the next decade, he conducted more than 50 federal mediations. Following the conclusion of his litigation practice, Rob completed additional mediation training through Pepperdine University's Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution and now devotes his practice exclusively to mediation.
Rob has also served as elected City Attorney of San Rafael since 2007 and regularly serves as a judge pro tem for the Marin County Superior Court, experiences that further inform his ability to evaluate disputes objectively and facilitate resolution.
Rob offers flexible scheduling, including full-day, half-day, and hourly mediations.
For scheduling and availability, please contact pnc@ehc.law.
Rob serves as City Attorney of San Rafael (first elected in 2007, reelected four times). In 2021, Rob became the longest-currently-serving elected city attorney in California.
Rob previously served as Town Attorney of San Anselmo (2006-2018), and City Attorney of Belvedere (2006-2018). Rob also has served as Interim Town Attorney for Tiburon, and has represented the cities of Corte Madera, Novato, Piedmont, and Petaluma (and numerous special government districts) in litigation matters.
As a Marin County city attorney, Rob has provided legal advice and counsel to more than 45 elected city council members, 10 city managers, eight chiefs of police, and has attended more than 750 city council meetings.
Rob regularly assists the Marin County Court as a judge pro tem, and previously served for more than 10 years on the volunteer mediator panel for U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Rob is a past president of the board of Legal Aid of Marin, past president of the Richard Sangster American Inn of Court (Marin/Sonoma/Napa), and past vice president of the board of the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center. Rob currently serves as a member of the Board of Cedars of Marin, which provides day programs and residential services for adults with developmental disabilities. Rob has coached the San Rafael High School Mock Trial team since 2011.
Rob graduated with highest honors from UC Berkeley with a degree in Rhetoric (1985), and received his Juris Doctor from University of California College of the Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings College of Law) (1991), where he served as a federal judicial extern for the Hon. Fern M. Smith (Ret.).