At the end of 1998, R.A. Carrington retired from the daily practice of law after almost a quarter century as a civil trial lawyer with scores of trials under his belt. He had never planned on becoming a lawyer. However, when he was completing his master's degree, he realized that the job opportunities for teachers were limited. He decided to change career paths and entered the University of Southern California Law School.

After law school, R.A. worked as in house counsel for a financial institution in Los Angeles and then did real estate, land use, eminent domain and business litigation in Orange County. He started his own practice in 1980 and moved to Santa Barbara in 1984 where he continued to practice civil trial law until the end of 1998.

During his career, Mr. Carrington joined various professional organizations including the American Board of Trial Advocates [ABOTA], the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel, Consumer Lawyers, etc. A complete list of organizations is found in his resume, which is on file at the CADRe office.

Mr. Carrington was able to incorporate his love of teaching into his legal career. He has taught at UCLA, UCI, Pepperdine University, and the Santa Barbara College of Law. He is presently an adjunct law professor at Pepperdine Law School.

Mr. Carrington became involved in Alternative Dispute Resolution in the early 1980's when he joined the Los Angeles and Orange County Arbitration Associations and the American Arbitration Association. He joined the Santa Barbara and Ventura County Arbitration Associations when he moved to Santa Barbara. He also began working as a settlement master for some of the Santa Barbara Superior Court Judges in the 1980's; presently acts as a settlement master for all of the South County Superior Court Judges; and has been appointed a discovery referee and special master by various superior court judges.

Mr. Carrington became interested in mediation when he was asked to mediate a complicated business dispute. He received his beginning and advanced mediation training from the Straus Institute of Dispute Resolution and has been acting as a mediator since the early 1990's.

The 2002 CAALA Arbitrators & Mediators Evaluation Survey stated that Mr. Carrington was "[V]ery knowledgeable. Insurance companies respect his opinion, extensive trial experience (ABOTA), excellent mediator, fair, objective arbitrator. Extraordinarily capable and forthcoming with efforts and involvement. He is very thorough and fair.".

Mr. Carrington is an approved neutral for numerous insurance companies. He is an approved neutral for Kaiser and for the American Arbitration Association.