Dan Lawton is our Latest Featured Speaker!

Our latest featured speaker is Dan Lawton of Klinedinst PC!

Dan is speaking at our upcoming 10th Annual Advanced Appellate Practice Program (CA) program on January 21st and 23rd, 2025. This program is taught by a host of seasoned appellate attorneys. The majority among them hold the distinction of being Certified Legal Specialists in Appellate Law, and many have previously served as staff attorneys for various appellate justices. Designed for those well-versed in appellate practice, this seminar delves into intermediate to advanced level topics in appellate law and practice, and assumes attendees already have a foundational understanding of the subject matter.

Dan is co-teaching “How to Advise your Trial Attorney about Post-Trial Motions and the Appeal” on January 23rd. You can see the detailed agenda and the rest of the program, and sign up to watch it live or purchase OnDemand Streaming or a recorded package download here.

Dan will also be teaching at our upcoming Trial Essentials: What Every New Litigator Needs to Know program on February 11th and 13th, 2025. This program is designed for those attorneys who would like to learn the skills they need to be successful at trial.  While it is geared for newer attorneys, those seeking a refresher can benefit from new ideas and advice from the bench. Your faculty includes judges and seasoned trial attorneys from both sides of the aisle. After the basics are covered, your faculty will then spend the bulk of the program giving you advice about all aspects of your trial. They will discuss how to do an effective witness examination and how to nail your cross-exam – of the lay or expert witness.  Your faculty will advise you on how to approach lay and expert witnesses differently and how to impeach on the cross. Throughout the program the judges will be giving you their advice from the bench – what they see that works and what they see that fails and common mistakes you should avoid. You can purchase a recorded package, OnDemand Streaming, or to attend live here.

Dan has previously taught at our 9th Annual Advanced Appellate Practice Program earlier this year, and you can purchase a recorded package or OnDemand streaming here. The last time Dan spoke, the reviews from our attendees were terrific, so you do not want to miss him teaching again in 2025.

Throughout his career in private practice, Dan Lawton has focused on civil trial work and complex commercial and intellectual property litigation on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. He also has a deep background in civil appeals, and is certified as a legal specialist in Appellate Law by the State Bar’s California Board of Legal Specialization. The certification is a distinction held by only 36 lawyers in San Diego County. His first job out of law school was a clerkship with Ninth Circuit Judge Thomas Tang.

Dan regularly counsels both corporate and individual clients in a variety of settings, often in negotiations and sometimes in transactions. His corporate clients have included companies whose stock is publicly-traded and companies whose stock is closely-held. They have included life sciences companies, pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers and distributors of various products, landowners and property developers, large corporations, a local major league baseball franchise, automobile dealerships, and “mom-and-pop” businesses. His individual clients have included officers, directors, and shareholders (both majority and minority) of corporations, bankers, elected officials, politicians, professional athletes and coaches, attorneys, accountants, land owners, entrepreneurs, and entertainers.

Dan has tried multiple jury trials, bench trials, and arbitrations, and litigated many cases to disposition short of trial (by way of motions to dismiss and for summary judgment). Dan has obtained settlements and judgments in his clients’ favor totaling tens of millions of dollars, and obtained what is believed to be the third-largest jury verdict in the legal history of Imperial County (for ,286,461, after a nine-week jury trial). Over the span of more than 30 years, his caseload has included cases involving patent infringement, copyright infringement, trade secret theft, unfair competition, defamation, and business torts (such as trade libel and intentional interference with contractual relations). Dan has handled civil appeals and writs in both the California and federal courts. Dan has successfully litigated cases against some of the largest law firms and government agencies in the State of California.

In January 2009, Dan learned of his nomination for inclusion in 2009 San Diego Super Lawyers based on anonymous peer evaluation. He was so honored again in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 in the primary practice area of intellectual property litigation. Nominations for SuperLawyer designation are peer-driven, and fewer than 5% of lawyers in California earn the distinction. In 1997, two years after opening his own practice, Dan earned an “AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Dan has been a team leader in the J. Clifford Wallace Chapter of the American Inns of Court since 2015. In that role, he has been responsible for putting on mandatory continuing legal education programs for the Inn, a group whose membership consists of lawyers and Judges and is by invitation only. In September 2015, Dan won an award for Best Program via anonymous peer vote for a short documentary he produced entitled “Avoiding Deathbed Regrets and Having Work/Life Balance.” The documentary combined excerpts of interviews with 25 local lawyers and Judges with data concerning work/life balance for attorneys and jurists.

Active within the legal and business community. Dan has participated in numerous charitable and pro bono programs. Dan has earned multiple Wiley W. Manuel awards for community service from the State Bar of California for pro bono work on behalf of indigent refugees fleeing persecution and seeking asylum in the United States. The San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program awarded Dan its Distinguished Service Award in three separate years for his pro bono work on behalf of refugees.

We are thrilled to have you back Dan!