Mr. Houts was admitted to the California Bar Association in 1985 and has been practicing continuously in the San Diego area ever since.  He  received his legal degree, a Juris Doctor, from the University of San Diego.
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Mr. Houts' early career at Sullivan, Delafield, McDonald, and Middendorf centered around the representation of Trustees and creditors in Bankruptcy Court and general civil litigation.  Later he developed an active practice representing banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions, working extensively in the area of creditor's rights, debt collection, foreclosure, and enforcement of judgments.  Unlike many collection attorneys, he has significant experience and expertise in the area of consumer debt collection, and has helped many financial institutions negotiate the maze of rules arising out of State and Federal Fair Debt Collection Laws.  Mr. Houts has also worked in the relatively obscure area of Mobilehome foreclosure laws and performed Landlord/Tenant related services for foreclosing lenders and landlords on occasion, such as Unlawful Detainer litigation.



Mr. Houts served as in-house counsel and Director of Human Resources for Citizens National Mortgage Company for a time in the early 1990's, where he advised all departments of the company on legal matters and managed the personnel resources of the company.



The knowledge of lending and collection Mr. Houts gradually accumulated through those experiences and connections to his home town of La Habra, California lead him to seek and obtain a certification to close loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration's 504 Lending Program.  Mr. Houts has been a Certified 504 Closing Counsel for a number of Certified Development Companies in the Southland, with numerous closings since he began that work in 1994, about the time he opened the practice which today has become Randolph C. Houts and Associates.  This continues to be a favored and growing area of Mr. Houts' practice.

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Doing creditor work also lead Mr. Houts in the direction of training financial institutions on compliance with lending, bankruptcy, and collection laws.  For example, he developed extensive training materials for financial institutions on the subjects of Bankruptcy Law, Collecting Debts, Judgment Enforcement, and Fair Debt Collections, among others.  Mr. Houts has presented these materials in company settings as well as in dozens of webinars for national publishers.  Mr. Houts is also the author of Pratt's State-by-State Collections, a book in publication several years ago which covers selected topics of debt collection in all U.S. States, providing guidance to creditors considering litigating a debt in another state.



Mr. Houts' practice has broadened in recent years and while he still represents financial institutions, particularly credit unions, he now has select businesses, including unclaimed property agents, business owners, and individuals which he advises in the area of debt collection and enforcement, but also general business law.  Mr. Houts also works in the areas of business formation, business sales, real property law, even adoption on occasion.  He drafts and does risk review for contracts and commercial leases and edits and ghost-writes technical or controversial letters for executives and others.