Richard A. McFarlane

SENIOR ASSOCIATE

Richard A. McFarlane has over thirty years of experience practicing as a litigation attorney in California. Dr. McFarlane grew up in Orange County, California and in New Jersey.  He completed his undergraduate education with a Bachelor of Arts in history from California State University Fullerton in 1987.  Dr. McFarlane received his law degree from Southwestern University School of Law in 1991, and immediately opened his own practice specializing in litigation, estate planning, and bankruptcy.  In 2001, Dr. McFarlane returned to academia where he completed a Master of Arts in history (2006) and a Doctor of Philosophy (2011), before teaching at the University of California Riverside for a few years.  In 2016, Dr. McFarlane returned to practicing law full-time. 

Dr. McFarlane is the author of several papers and one book on legal historical subjects, and on heraldry. 

Bar Admissions

  • California, 1991

  • United States Supreme Court, and other federal courts

Education

  • California State University, Fullerton, Bachelor of Arts, 1997

  • Southwestern University School of Law, Juris Doctor, 1991

  • California State University, Fullerton, Master of Arts, 2006

  • University of California, Riverside, Doctor of Philosophy, 2011

Publications

  • “The Nevada Water Law of 1913: A Populist Response to Progressivism,” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 78 (May 2019):621.

  • The Only-Two-Party System: Why Third Parties are Unconstitutional. Orange, Calif: Lex Scripta Legal Research Group, 2014.

  • “The Lady in Purple: The Life and Legal Legacy of Gladys Towles Root,” California Legal History, 6 (2011): 357.

  • “There is No Substitute for a Mother’s Love: The Rise and Fall of the ‘Tender Years Doctrine’ in California,” California Legal History, 2 (2007):165

  • “Historiography of Selected Works on Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902),” History of Africa, 34 (2007): 437

  • “Good As Gold: An Inquiry into the Constitutional Legal History of Legal Tender Notes in the United States, Humanities and Social Science Journal 1987: 96.

Published Cases

  • Alvis v. Espinosa, 181 L.Ed. 2d 986, 80 U.S.L.W.3425 (2012)

  • Gore v. Reisig, 213 Cal. App. 4th 1487, 153 Cal. Rptr. 3d 433 (2013)