EXHIBIT 99

                   THE FIRST AMERICAN FINANCIAL CORPORATION


                                                  Contact:  Thomas A. Klemens
                                                  Chief Financial Officer
                                                  (714) 558-3211, ext. 7442


                   THE FIRST AMERICAN FINANCIAL CORPORATION
                       ANNOUNCED SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS PLAN


SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA, OCTOBER 23, 1997 - The First American Financial
Corporation (NYSE: FAF) announced today that its Board of Directors has
adopted a Shareholder Rights Plan designed to enhance the Board's ability to
prevent a hostile acquiror from depriving shareholders of the long-term value
of their investment and to protect shareholders against attempts to acquire
the Company by means of the unfair and abusive takeover tactics that are
prevalent in many unsolicited takeover attempts.  The Rights Plan will help
guard against partial tender offers, squeezeouts, open market accumulations
and other strong-arm tactics designed to gain control of the Company without
paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium.  The Rights Plan is
not being adopted in response to any specific effort to acquire control of the
Company, and the Company is not aware of any such effort.

     Under the Rights Plan, after the close of business on November 15, 1997,
each holder of the Company's Common Shares, $1 par value, will receive a
dividend distribution of one Right for each Common Share held.  Each Right
entitles the holder thereof to buy a Preferred Share Fraction equal to
1/100,000 of a share of Series A Junior Participating Preferred Shares of the
Company at an exercise price of $265.00 per Preferred Share Fraction.  Each
Preferred Share Fraction is designed to be equivalent in voting and dividend
rights to one Common Share.

     The Rights will be exercisable and will trade separately from the Common
Shares only if a person or group, with certain exceptions, acquires beneficial
ownership of 15% or more of the Company's Common Shares or commences a tender
or exchange offer that would result in such person or group beneficially
owning 15% or more of the Common Shares then outstanding.  Prior to this time,
the Rights will not trade separately from the Common Shares.  The Company may
redeem the Rights at $0.001 per Right at any time prior to the occurrence of
one of these events.  All Rights expire on October 23, 2007.

     Each Right will entitle its holder to purchase, at the Right's
then-current exercise price, Preferred Share Fractions (or other securities of

The First American Financial Corporation) having a value of twice the Right's
exercise price.  This amounts to the right to buy Preferred Share Fractions of
the Company at half price.  Rights owned by the party triggering the exercise
of Rights will be void and therefore will not be exercisable.

     In addition, if, after any person has become a 15%-or-more stockholder,
the Company is involved in a merger or other business combination transaction
with another person in which the Company's Common Shares are changed or
converted, or if the Company sells 50% or more of its assets or earning power
to another person, each Right will entitle its holder to purchase, at the
Right's then-current exercise price, common stock of such other person (or its
parent) having a value of twice the Right's exercise price.

     Details of the Shareholder Rights Plan will be mailed to shareholders in
the near future.

     The First American Financial Corporation, based in Santa Ana, California,
is the nation's leading provider of real estate-related financial and
information services.  The company's subsidiaries include First American Title
Insurance Company, a national and international title insurer; First American
Real Estate Information Services, Inc., which offers tax monitoring, credit
reporting, flood certification, mortgage loan servicing systems, appraisal
services, mortgage document preparation and field inspection services
nationally; First American Home Buyers Protection Corporation, a home warranty
company; and First American Capital Management, an investment advisory firm. 
The company also operates First American Trust Company and First Security
Thrift Company in Southern California.  First American Financial has more than
10,000 employees in over 400 branch offices in the United States and abroad. 
Information about the company's subsidiaries and an archive of its press
releases can be found at http://www.firstam.com on the Internet.

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