Lunch Time General Session – Judicial Perspective: Exploring Opportunities To Utilize Mediation Options To Avoid Trial

Trevor Murphy is a California licensed (#822), bondable private fiduciary. He is a partner with Professional Fiduciary Services (PFS) of California. PFS is a group of independent professional fiduciaries who serve as trustee in a Living Trust (any type of trust), personal representative in a Will, agent for Advance Health Care Directives and Power of Attorney for Financial Matters. He also is qualified to serve as a probate court appointed Conservator of the Person and of the Estate.

Along with his fiduciary duties, Trevor concurrently holds the title of President & CEO for Financial and Estate Literacy. This is a nonprofit, 501c3 organization, that presently conducts annual programming “It’s Your Estate!” and “It’s Your Money!” educational workshop series per year. The mission of Financial and Estate Literacy is to prevent financial elder abuse by educating seniors to take control of their financial, estate, and charitable giving decisions. As president, Trevor manages a network of estate planning attorneys, financial advisors, and planned giving experts that volunteer as presenters at public libraries, community centers, and senior center in Orange County.

Trevor is also a member of the Orange County Planned Giving Roundtable; OC Chapter for the Association of Fundraising Professionals; Orange County Bar Association associate member for the Trust and Estates, Elder Law, and the Conservatorship, Guardianship, and Protective Proceedings sections.

Trevor’s educational background includes a MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in Washington DC, with a concentration in International Business and Government. He also earned a BA in Economics from UC Berkeley. Trevor is also certified in Fiduciary Management for Trustees by CSU Fullerton.

Prior to becoming a professional fiduciary, Trevor was the Executive Director and Chief Development Officer for Save Our Youth where he handled all aspects of charitable planning and major gifts. He stewarded the largest private financial incentive merit scholarship program in California; responsible for dispersing over $500,000 annually to qualified, low-income students going to college.

While living in Washington DC, Trevor also worked as Political and Economic Risk Analyst for Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). This organization is the US government’s development finance institution that mobilizes private capital to help solve critical development challenges and in doing so, advances US foreign policy. Trevor also worked for the US State Department in the Bureau of African Affairs on their Economic Policy staff.

Other international work experience includes serving as Executive Director the Amy Biehl Foundation in Cape Town. Trevor managed a $1 million grant from USAID to develop youth violence prevention programming in post-apartheid South Africa. Trevor also served in the Peace Corps in Tanzania, East Africa where he was an Economics faculty member at a Tanzanian college.

Trevor executes his fiduciary duties by establishing trust, encouraging open communication, promoting independent thought, and attaining performance excellence and accountability. His experience will play well in working with families to resolve financial conflicts.

Hon. Gerald G. Johnston (Ret.) joined JAMS in 2024 after serving over 24 years as a judge with the Orange County Superior Court. From 2014 to 2023, Judge Johnston was the supervising judge of the Probate and Mental Health Division. From 2016 to 2019, he was appointed by the chief justice as a member of the Judicial Council Probate and Mental Health Advisory Committee. Prior to becoming a judge, Judge Johnston served as deputy secretary for law enforcement and general counsel for the California Environmental Protection Agency. He began his legal career as a deputy district attorney in Orange County. Over the past 20 years, Judge Johnston has taught trust, probate, conservatorship and mental health law and proceedings for the Center for Judicial Education and Research (CJER).

During his tenure as a judge, Judge Johnston has overseen thousands of trust, probate, guardianship, conservatorship, elder abuse and mental health matters.

Judge Belz served on the Orange County Superior Court Bench for 15 years following 32 years as a trial attorney. During his years as a trial attorney, he handled a wide assortment of personal injury cases to trial and verdict in both state and federal courts. In 2009, he was appointed to the Orange County Superior Court. In January 2010, he was assigned to a family law courtroom where he handled a broad range of family law matters from initial petition to trial. Judge Belz says his five years in family court were some of the most meaningful years of his professional career. He was particularly interested in high-conflict custody and visitation cases and the toxic stress impact those cases have on children. He has written and taught on the subject of toxic stress and children. In 2016, Judge Belz was assigned to a probate courtroom where he handled various probate calendars. He was asked to handle the complex long-cause trust trials with a time estimate of more than 4 days. In the nine years on the probate panel, Judge Belz has handled trust, probate, guardianship, and conservatorship trials. As long-cause trial judge, he has handled 88 trust trials. He has presided over trust trials up to 22 days in length.

Judge Belz strongly believes in settlement. A graduate of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution in December of 2000, Judge Belz began mediating cases during his years as a trial attorney from 2001 to 2009. He has handled several hundred mediations. A trial lawyer by trade, he enjoyed sitting as a bench officer in the long and complicated trust trials but strongly believes, with few exceptions, that every case can and should settle. Judge Belz’s extensive trial experience with juries and as a bench trial officer has given him a keen insight into assessing the strengths and weaknesses of cases. Judge Belz understands the importance of patience, persistence, empathy, and trust in the mediation process.

Teresa Gorman is licensed as a Trust & Estate Specialist attorney by the State Bar of California. Teresa is also a Real Estate Broker. Teresa is an adjunct professor at UC Riverside teaching Trust Administration.

Teresa was the founding attorney of a boutique law firm representing Private Professional Fiduciaries for almost 20 years. Teresa’s law practice included extensive trial work in the area of Trust & Estate litigation, trust administration, conservatorships, estate planning and probates. Teresa represented Private Professional Fiduciaries in complicated cases. Teresa was regularly appointed by the Court to serve as court-appointed counsel and Guardian ad Litem.

In 2018 Teresa sold her law practice and joined Fiduciary Real Estate Services. Teresa brings an experienced legal eye to the real estate transaction protecting the fiduciary client from potential claims from buyers, tenants and beneficiaries in Trust & Estate real property transactions.