R. Chris Lim, Esq.

Appellate (Litigation)

Los Angeles, California

Personal Introduction

My prior successes include favorable settlement of decades-old prison litigation originating from an inhumane, year-long lockdown at a California prison; dismissal of an action that reunited a wrongfully accused Native American woman with her children; and a total reversal on appeal of a criminal conviction based upon a faulty plea agreement. I graduated from New York University where I double majored in mathematics and history. After law school, I worked as a waiter, a high school math teacher, and a computer programmer at a fintech firm in New York City and San Francisco. Later, I received my law degree from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in Los Angeles. I am a graduate of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College in Dubois, Wyoming and the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, Georgia.

Practice Composition

Litigation

Education

USC Gould School of Law Doctor of Jurisprudence/Juris Doctor (J.D.) (2004)

New York University Bachelors Degree (1995)

Practice Summary

I have been a State Certified Appellate Specialist since 2021. I have practiced appellate law continuously since 2012 when I got my start serving as a law clerk to the Honorable John T. Noonan, Jr. of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. As Judge Noonan's law clerk, I prepared bench memoranda on a wide array of issues including civil rights, employment discrimination, and tort law and worked on over 25 different federal appeals. During law school, I was an extern to the Honorable Robert H. Henry of the Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Oklahoma City. Since 2012, I have briefed and argued many civil and criminal appeals in both state and federal courts. In total, I have worked on hundreds of appeals. Among these are appeals that have involed anti-SLAPP, civil rights, criminal, employment, family, real estate, tort, trademark, and wills and trust law. These have included weighty matters arising both from million dollar judgments and life sentences. I am currently a member of the Judicial Nominations Evaluation (JNE) Commission of the State Bar of California (2023 to 2026). In addition, I have been a judge pro tem for the Los Angeles County Superior Court for the past two years.