While in law school, Judge Altman was permitted to handle litigation matters, and while a student, tried and settled cases in and around the Boston area. Following graduation, he went with the firm of Loeb and Loeb where after six months he was permitted to handle litigation matters from start to finish. He litigated and tried business cases in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Ventura counties and also did complex transaction work. Wanting to be in court on a daily basis, he joined the Los Angeles County District Attorneys office in 1970, and for ten years, tried hundreds of criminal cases. He received commendations from local officials and from the California Legislature. He was co-counsel with 9th Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Stephen Trott on the so called "Watergate West" case which involved criminal activity in California by White House "Plumber's "group.

Judge Altman was appointed directly to the Superior Court in 1980. He retired in March 2000 having spent twenty years on the bench. He enjoyed a distinguished career and in 1990 received the Outstanding Trial Jurist Award in Los Angeles County Bar Association. For many years he handled criminal cases in the downtown Criminal Courts Building. For two years he handled exclusively court trials, taking on trailing cases when both sides were willing to waive jury and permit him to make the decision. About a third of the cases were homicides and Judge Altman routinely tried five or more cases a week. He was the only judge ever to have such an assignment and was honored by both the Criminal Court Bar Association and the Los Angeles County Bar Association Criminal Justice Sections as their trial judge of the year.

For the last ten years of his public career, Judge Altman had a civil assignment in Santa Monica. He handled the master calendar, law and motion, ex-partes, etc. and conducted mediation and settlement conferences on a regular basis. His colleagues maintain that during his career he probably tried and settled as many cases as any judge in California. He has handles every variety of civil dispute and has served as an "all purpose" judge in complex cases. Most recently he handled the case of The Real Holding Company v. Martin an extraordinarily convoluted real estate fraud case that involved multiple lawsuits and had been in the Superior and Appellate Court for thirteen years when it reached Judge Altman. Judge Altman consolidated the cases, conducted a jury trial, handled numerous pre and post trial motions which ran the gamut of civil procedure, wrote some twenty opinions and worked out a global settlement.

Judge Altman was elected multiple times to the Superior Court's Executive Committee, and for many years, served on both the BAJI and CALJIC committees. He also served as a Trustee of the California Law Library.

Referrences and Additional Biographical Information Available Upon Request.