1st Annual Advanced Appellate Conference (Civil) (CA)(2016) (OnDemand Streaming or Recorded Packages)

What You Will Learn

• New rules
• Tech issues in protecting and presenting the appellate record
• Tech tools
• E-filing overview
• How the court uses technology
• Linking to cites / cross linking to the record
• Using tablets in the appellate courtroom

Brief writing and oral argument strategies

• Writing for justices who read their briefs on tablets
• Addressing focus letters and tentative opinions
• Strategies for oral argument when dealing with tentative opinions

 Advanced issues in protecting and presenting the record

• Special problems and solutions in presenting the record
• Court reporter issues
• Designating and presenting the record in cross, multiple and subsequent appeals
• Handling omissions, correcting and augmenting the record
• Using agreed and settled statements
• Special procedures for:
  • administrative records
  • juvenile
  • conservatorship
  • unfair competition
  • false advertising

Q/A Roundtable with audience and moderator 

Special appeals 

• SLAPP
• Family law
• Probate
• Attorney fees
• Appeals to the appellate division of the superior court
• Interlocutory appeals and extraordinary writs

Rehearing and Requests to Publish

• Petitions for Rehearing
• Requests to Publish
• Requests to de-publish

California Supreme Court practice 

• Certification of cases from the federal courts to the CA Supreme Court
• Petitions for review
• Amicus letters and briefs
• Merit briefs
• Oral argument differences between the appeals court and supreme court
• Options after the CA Supreme Court opinion

Testimonials

“Thank you. The program, panelists, and participants were excellent.” Teresa Stinson, Esq.

“Very useful, informative program. Every speaker was excellent! ”  Kevin Meek, Esq.

“Excellent seminar. It’s one of the best I have attended.” Bob Lucas, Esq.

“It’s great to have presentations targeting experienced appellate lawyers.  Tremendously useful.”  Tom Freeman

“Very practical and would definitely attend again and recommend to others.”

“Very current and useful information.”

“Wonderful!” Chris Lim, Esq.

“I’m glad I came and definitely glad I joined the networking lunch.” Rochelle Wilcox, Esq.

“Organization and administration were excellent and very efficient.”

“Learned some good and valuable things.”  Lawrence P. Hellman

“Organization and administration of program was excellent – very efficient.”

“Greg Wolff was worth the price of admission on his own.”

“All of the speakers were great.”

“Good, vigorous discussion.”

“Great program and location. The lunch itself was great, as was the opportunity to network.”

“Great seminar.”

Faculty

Los Angeles Faculty:

Scott Wm. Davenport, Esq.
Partner
Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Trester LLP

Mr. Davenport is a California State Bar Certified Appellate Specialist. 

Scott Wm. Davenport is the head of the firm’s Appellate Practice Group. A Certified Specialist in Appellate Law, Mr. Davenport has served as the Chair of the California State Bar Committee of Bar Examiners and the Appellate Law Advisory Commission. He is an AV-Rated attorney and was selected by Los Angeles Magazine as a "Super Lawyer," one of Southern California’s Top Lawyers for 6 of the last 8 years. Throughout this career, Mr. Davenport has served as the lead counsel in approximately 400 appellate matters, many of which resulted in published opinions involving cases of first impression, including a per curiam summary reversal in the United States Supreme Court. He has also written multiple amicus briefs on behalf of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a national organization known for its civil rights victories and tolerance education programs.

In addition to currently serving as an Appellate Settlement Officer with the Second District Court of Appeals, Mr. Davenport has served as a judge pro tem in the San Bernardino Superior Court. particular. Mr. Davenport recently co-authored a book for the Continuing Education of the Bar on the proper use of scientific evidence, is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Daily Journal and has recently been featured in the State Bar’s Ad Campaign, “What Kind of Lawyer Becomes a Certified Specialist?” He also served as a legal consultant on the CBS television series “The Guardian,” an activity which resulted in the drafting of a recurring character for the program named “Scott Davenport.” 

In 2006, Mr. Davenport was involved in three United States Supreme Court matters and one matter before the California Supreme Court. In 2007, Mr. Davenport was back in front of the High Court, this time obtaining a summary reversal in Rettele v. County of Los Angeles. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Davenport filed multiple briefs in the California Supreme Court in the Marriage Cases, as well as an Amicus Curiae brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the subsequent constitutional challenge to Proposition 8.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Davenport served as a Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice and as a judicial extern with both the California Court of Appeal and the United States District Court. Based on this background, Mr. Davenport is often called upon to defend the State of California and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in extraordinary writ petitions venued in the variety of trial and appellate courts throughout the state. Mr. Davenport is also a licensed real estate broker who provides practical advice to the firm’s real estate clients.

In 2011, Mr. Davenport authored a book on Workers’ Compensation Appeals. He is also slated to present on the topic of workers’ compensation appeals at an attorney convention in December with Joseph Miller, the Chairman of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (the equivalent of the Chief Justice of the WCAB).

Fluent in Spanish, Mr. Davenport has coached youth baseball and soccer, and is a 32nd Degree Mason and a Shriner. A long-time hockey fan, Mr. Davenport finally strapped on the blades himself seven years ago and has been playing ice hockey at least once a week ever since. On two occasions, he was fortunate enough to play in exhibition games immediately following an Anaheim Duck regular season game. He also recently competed in his first half marathon. Mr. Davenport and his wife of 21 years reside in Irvine with their three children.

Pablo Drobny, Esq.
Counsel
Complex Appellate Litigation Group, LLP

Pablo Drobny served as a lead appellate research and writs attorney for more than 36 years. Assigned to Division Seven of the California Court of Appeal’s Second District, Pablo analyzed thousands of appeals and writ petitions, in every conceivable area of law and at every stage of civil and criminal litigation.

He personally played a pivotal role in the development of writ practice in California appellate courts. Alone responsible for handling all writ petitions assigned to Division Seven for much of his career, Pablo gained a deep understanding of extraordinary writ relief and innovated creative procedural devices to streamline writ procedures in California appellate courts. One of those devices is now commonly known as the “suggestive Palma” practice, which was approved by the California Supreme Court and is currently utilized statewide as a method of granting expeditious writ relief to litigants. Pablo also routinely advised justices about complex appellate motions and orders, including motions to dismiss appeals, view sealed transcripts, take judicial notice, augment the appellate record, and file amicus briefs.

Pablo is also heavily involved in judicial education, and taught many California appellate justices the approaches they still use to decide cases. He has served on dozens of planning committees for the courts’ annual Judicial Attorney Institutes, chaired the statewide Appellate Judicial Attorneys Education Committee, developed broadcasts for judicial attorneys and non-attorney staff with the Center for Judiciary Education and Research, and regularly gave educational presentations to Supreme Court and Court of Appeal justices and their staff. Pablo is a frequent lecturer and panelist on the writ process and on other facets of civil and criminal appellate law and procedure. His presentations include programs at annual meetings of the California State Bar, the California Judges Association, the California Public Defenders Association, the Lawyers’ Club of Los Angeles, The Rutter Group, Pincus Professional Education, and other bar associations and Inns of Court statewide. He has been guest lecturer at Loyola Law School and annual lecturer for the law school extern program at the Second District.

Pablo received his J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School. Before commencing his career at the Court of Appeal, he practiced with Perkins Coie LLP and as corporate counsel for U.S. companies doing business in developing countries. He earned his B.A. with highest honors from Johns Hopkins University, where he captained the soccer team, was selected as an All-American, and was later admitted to the Johns Hopkins Athletic Hall of Fame. He also received an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, awarded to just 22 scholar-athletes nationwide.

Jennifer Louise King, Esq.
Partner
SK Appellate Group, LLP

Jennifer King is certified as a specialist in appellate law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. She is an experienced appellate lawyer who has focused exclusively on appellate work for the past 20 years. Her experience has given her unique insight into all aspects of the appellate process.

She spent more than 10 years as a judicial attorney at the Second District Court of Appeal, where she worked on a wide range of civil matters, including those involving land use, labor and employment law, insurance coverage, medical malpractice and toxic torts. In private practice, she handled post-trial motions and appeals for clients including corporations, developers, insurance companies and public entities. She has appeared before the California Courts of Appeal, the California Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel. She clerked for the Honorable Alicemarie H. Stotler, formerly the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. 

Jennifer taught appellate advocacy at Loyola Law School, and legal research, writing and advocacy at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. For several years, she also taught a course on how to pass the appellate specialization exam. 

Beyond her practice, Jennifer is actively involved with the California State Bar. She is a member of the State Bar’s Committee on Access to Justice, and formerly served on the State Bar’s Committee on Appellate Courts. She chaired the State Bar’s Appellate Law Advisory Commission, which administers the appellate specialization program.

She served as the President of the Board of Directors of the California Supreme Court Historical Society, an organization dedicated to preserving and promoting California’s legal and judicial history.

In her community, Jennifer serves as the city’s Mayor, and she previously served on her city’s Planning Commission. She has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Peninsula Education Foundation and the President of the Board of Directors of the YWCA of the Harbor Area and South Bay.

Jennifer graduated from Stanford University with a degree in political science, with distinction. She received her law degree from Stanford Law School.

Hon. Kira L. Klatchko
Judge and Certified Legal Specialist in Appellate Law
Superior Court of California, Riverside County

Judge Kira Klatchko was appointed to Riverside County Superior Court in 2016. She currently sits in Palm Springs in an unlimited civil department.

Before joining the bench, Judge Klatchko was a Civil Appellate Law Specialist, certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization and handled both state and federal appeals arising from all areas of civil practice for clients as varied as cities, businesses and families. Judge Klatchko was a partner at Lewis Brisbois, and served as was vice chair of the firm’s national Appellate Practice Litigation group. Prior to joining Lewis Brisbois, Judge Klatchko was a partner at Best Best & Krieger where she served as chair of the firm’s appellate group. She served for six years on the State Bar of California’s Standing Committee on Appellate Courts, including a term as its chair.

Judge Klatchko is co-author of the “California” chapter of the “Appellate Practice Compendium” (ABA 2012), an insider’s guide to appellate practice. She is co-contributing editor of “California Civil Appeals and Writs” (Matthew Bender 2014), a comprehensive two-volume practice guide for appellate counsel and general litigators. Judge Klatchko was repeatedly named to the list of Super Lawyers for Southern California in Appellate Law. She is a former president of the Riverside County Bar Association, and previously served five terms as chair of the Riverside County Bar Association Appellate Section. Judge Klatchko was also a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Judge Klatchko has served as an adjunct professor at La Verne College of Law, teaching legal research and writing. She has also lectured on appellate ethics and practice at numerous conferences and seminars, including the California State Bar Annual Convention, the State and Local Legal Center Supreme Court Practice Seminar, and Pincus Professional Education’s Annual Advanced Appellate Conferences in Los Angeles.  

In 2014, Judge Klatchko was inducted into the Desert Bar Association Hall of Fame, as Outstanding Young Attorney of the year. In 2010, Judge Klatchko was recognized by the City of Palm Springs and Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce with the Athena International Award for Young Professional Leadership, recognizing her professional success and work in the community. 

Judge Klatchko received her bachelor’s degree in political science, with distinction, from the University of California, Berkeley. She earned her master’s degree in business administration from the Executive Management Program at the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. She earned her law degree at the University of California, Davis, School of Law, where she served as editor-in-chief of the U.C. Davis Journal of Juvenile Law & Policy.

Joseph Lane
Law Clerk
California Court of Appeal

Joseph A. Lane received his B.A. from California State University at Northridge in 1975.  He served as a deputy clerk with the Court of Appeal from 1979 to 1987; and as Chief Deputy Clerk from 1988 to 1991.  He was appointed Clerk of the Court in January 1992 and Clerk/Administrator in January 1997, and Clerk/Executive Officer of the Court in November 2007.  He is the seventh person to serve as Clerk of the Court since the Court’s creation in 1904.

Joseph is a member and past-president of the California Appellate Court Clerks Association and has been a member of the National Conference of Appellate Court Clerks (NCACC) since 1988.  He was NCACC President 1998 – 1999, and served on the Executive Committee 1993 – 1995,  co-hosted the 2000 Annual Conference of the NCACC in Newport Beach; and Chaired the Program Committee for the Annual Conference in 1994 and 1999, in addition to serving or chairing other committees.

Mr. Lane served as an advisory member to the California Judicial Council from 1997-1999; Memberships: Appellate Advisory Committee and Chair of Education Subcommittee 1992 -1996; Court Technology Committee, 1993-1996 and 2002 – 2005; Judicial Administration Institute of California, 1994-1998; National Associate of State Judicial Educators, 1993 & 1998; California Judicial Administration Conference Planning Committee (CJAC) 1999 and 1994; Point Panic Bodysurfing Club, Honolulu HI, 1998.

Wendy C. Lascher, Esq.
Partner/Certified Legal Specialist in Appellate Law
Ferguson Case Orr Paterson LLP

Though Wendy Lascher is one of California’s best-known appellate lawyers, her work on behalf of clients often begins well before an appeal. By crafting motions and consulting on trial strategy, Wendy helps clients either avoid appeals in the first place, or to be well-positioned to win cases on appeal. 

After nearly four-decades at her appellate-focused boutique, Lascher & Lascher, Wendy brought her practice to Ferguson Case Orr Paterson in 2011. She brought with her a California State Bar-certified appellate specialty in which she has represented clients in front of the United States Supreme Court, many times before the California Supreme Court, multiple U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, and in every California Court of Appeal district. She has also handled cases in state and federal trial courts. 

Wendy has handled a wide range of appeals involving multinational corporations, municipalities and other government entities, complex family law, Death Row and other criminal cases, employment, real estate development, bankruptcies and other matters. 

Previously a president of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers, she regularly features in Los Angeles Magazine’s "Super Lawyers" roundups of top lawyers as well as its listings of the "Top 100 Southern California Super Lawyers" and "Top 50 Women Super Lawyers," and she is Av-Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbard. She also regularly lectures at the Ventura and Santa Barbara Colleges of Law and regularly speaks about appellate law and other matters for a variety of legal organizations. Widely published in legal journals, she is also the long-time editor of CITATIONS, the newsletter of the Ventura County Bar Association. 

Wendy has been a mentor with the Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Ventura County since 2008. She has also served as a board member at First National Bank of Ventura, Channel Counties Legal Services, the KCLU advisory board, and the Planned Parenthood Ventura Advisory Council. When not working or volunteering, Wendy enjoys gardening, early morning workouts, hiking, and spending time with her family. She is also a student pilot and expects to acquire her private pilot’s license in 2017. 

John P. Lepo
Assistant Administrator/Clerk
California Second District Court of Appeal

John Lepo is currently the Chief Deputy Clerk for the California Second District Court of Appeal.  He is a 1972 graduate of John Carroll University.  After 13 years with the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court in Cleveland, Ohio, he joined the Court of Appeal in 1985.  He has served as the senior deputy clerk for Divisions One, Five, Seven and Eight. In the five years immediately preceding his appointment as Chief Deputy in June of 2015, he was responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining the court’s system for the internal movement of electronic documents.

Robin Meadow, Esq.
Partner/Certified Appellate Specialist
Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland LLP

Few appellate specialists have successfully tried a jury case.  Robin Meadow tried jury cases for over 20 years at a major commercial firm, while also handling appeals, in many fields of law.  Over time, he realized that it’s nearly impossible to excel at both trials and appeals, because the skill sets and practice rhythms differ completely and often clash. Concluding that his greatest strengths lay in appellate work, Robin joined GMSR in 1994, handling his last trial late that year.

Robin’s trial-court experience gives him a unique perspective on appellate work.  He understands the demands and pressures trial lawyers face and the many ways that things can go wrong in the trial court.  And he is very much at home consulting with trial lawyers during trial, helping them protect their appellate record so they’re well positioned to either preserve a victory or overturn a defeat.

Robin’s practice at GMSR continues the substantive focus he developed in his earlier years—business disputes, real estate, partnerships, and probate and entertainment law.  But, like most appellate lawyers, he is a generalist and at GMSR has also handled multiple significant appeals involving healthcare, family law, personal injury and bankruptcy.

He is also an expert in technology for appellate lawyers and courts.  A pioneer in the use of electronic records and briefs, Robin co-authored the California Second District Court of Appeal’s first protocol for electronic briefs (since adopted by other California Courts of Appeal), and he filed the first electronic brief ever accepted by a California appellate court.

When he isn’t practicing law, he enjoys spending time with his family, reading about history and playing bass guitar in a rock band.

T. Peter Pierce, Esq.
Certified Appellate Specialist
Richards, Watson & Gershon

T. Peter Pierce is a shareholder specializing in writs and appeals. Mr. Pierce, a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers, is certified as a specialist in appellate law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. He has been recognized as a Southern California Super Lawyer in appellate law in seven of the eight years from 2009 to 2016. 

Mr. Pierce represents public agencies and private clients across a broad range of cases involving business disputes, land use and zoning, inverse condemnation, constitutional law, telecommunications law, fair housing law, redevelopment dissolution, elections law, CEQA and other areas. He has litigated cases at the merits stage before the Supreme Court of the United States and the California Supreme Court. Mr. Pierce frequently appears before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the many divisions of the California Court of Appeal.

Mr. Pierce served on the California State Bar Appellate Law Advisory Commission from 2011 to 2014. He is a past Chair of the California State Bar Standing Committee on Appellate Courts on which he served from 2006-2010. Mr. Pierce is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s appellate courts section.

Mr. Pierce is a contributing author of the following CEB treaties: 

California Civil Appellate Practice (3d ed.)

California Civil Writ Practice (4th ed.)

California Administrative Mandamus (3d ed.)

Outside of his law practice, Mr. Pierce serves on the Board of Governors of the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles. He is an avid triathlete and in each of the last four years completed a 549-mile, seven-day bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, raising over ,000 for charity in the process. He competed in and finished his first half-ironman triathlon in Utah in May 2015. 

Immediately following law school, Mr. Pierce served as a law clerk to the Honorable Marcel Livaudais, Jr. on the United States District Court in New Orleans.

Before attending law school, Mr. Pierce was a broadcast journalist.

Benjamin G. Shatz, Esq.
Partner, Certified Legal Specialist in Appellate Law
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Ben Shatz is a certified specialist in appellate law who has briefed hundreds of civil appeals, writs and petitions in state and federal courts covering areas of law including employment, entertainment, copyright, trademark, land use, banking, insurance, product liability, professional liability, wrongful death, punitive damages, class actions, anti-SLAPP and unfair competition. Before private practice he served as law clerk to Robert J. Johnston, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Nevada, and as extern to Dorothy W. Nelson, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Ben is Editor-in-Chief of California Litigation, the journal of the State Bar’s Litigation Section, chairs the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s State Appellate Judicial Evaluations Committee and serves on the executive committee of LACBA’s Appellate Courts Section. He is a past Chair of the State Bar Committee on Appellate Courts and the LACBA Appellate Courts Committee.

Since 2005, Ben has coordinated lawyer volunteers for the ACE (Appellate Court Experience) program, in which high school students visit the Second District Court of Appeal, for which he was honored as Lawyer of the Year (Private Sector 2008) by the Constitutional Rights Foundation. He has been named a Southern California Super Lawyer in Appellate Practice (2004-2015); listed in Best Lawyers in America for appellate practice (2012-2015); and is AV-Preeminent rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Ben is a frequent lecturer and publisher of articles on appellate practice, is an editorial consultant for the Matthew Bender Practice Guide on California Civil Appeals & Writs, and blogs at Southern California Appellate News (http://socal-appellate.blogspot.com).

John A. Taylor, Jr., Esq.
Partner, Certified Legal Specialist in Appellate Law
Horvitz & Levy LLP

John Taylor is a partner at Horvitz & Levy, where he has been practicing since 1993.  He is a California State Bar Certified Appellate Specialist.

Mr. Taylor has been lead appellate counsel in dozens of appeals in a wide variety of areas (his name currently appears on over 40 published opinions and many more unpublished opinions), including matters involving entertainment law, the right of publicity, the Unfair Competition Law (UCL), breach of contract, insurance coverage, wage and hour law, employment discrimination, personal injury, California’s “lemon law,” arbitration awards, and trusts and estates.

In 2012, Mr. Taylor was lead counsel in Don Johnson Productions, Inc. v. Rysher Entertainment, obtaining a million reduction of a million judgment against his client.  Mr. Taylor has also participated in numerous cases before the California Supreme Court, and in 2009 was lead counsel in obtaining a closely watched decision overturning a million judgment against a coffee manufacturer for the unauthorized use of the plaintiff’s photograph on the label of its coffee jar. In addition, he has authored amicus curiae briefs in the California Supreme Court on issues such as evidentiary requirements in product liability and wage and hour litigation; the scope and application of Proposition 64’s amendments to the UCL; public policy issues arising out of subcontractor indemnity provisions in residential construction contracts; the constitutionality of Proposition 5, the Indian gaming initiative; and the validity of the Seaman’s tort. 

Mr. Taylor is a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers and the Los Angeles County Bar Appellate Courts Section. In 2007, Mr. Taylor was appointed by Chief Justice Ronald George to serve on the Judicial Council Appellate Advisory Committee of California, as one of the three private civil attorneys on the committee, and in 2010 was reappointed to a second term.

In 2009, Mr. Taylor was named to the Top 100 list of leading lawyers in California by the Los Angeles & San Francisco Daily Journal. He is “AV Preeminent” rated by Martindale Hubbell, has been listed every year since 2006 as a Super Lawyer and as a “Best Lawyer” by The Best Lawyers in America, and was included among the overall Top 100 Southern California lawyers for 2011 by Super Lawyers magazine. In 1994, Mr. Taylor was honored as the “Outstanding Young Lawyer” of the year by the Los Angeles Chapter of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society.

Mr. Taylor received his Bachelor of Arts from Brigham Young University (summa cum laude) and his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude). Following law school, he held a judicial clerkship with the Hon. Patrick E. Higginbotham, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit. Before joining the firm, Mr. Taylor was a litigation associate with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. He is admitted to practice in the California and Utah state courts, the United States Supreme Court, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

San Francisco Faculty:

Brian P. Barrow, Esq.
Of Counsel
Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett

Brian P. Barrow is a shareholder of Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett, PC. 

Mr. Barrow is a civil litigator with broad experience handling legal disputes venued in both state and federal courts in California. He has been responsible for all aspects of those cases, including trial, but has particular background in complex law and motion proceedings, post-trial matters, writs, and appeals.  Notably, Brian has handled more than 100 appellate matters in his career, appearing in courts throughout California and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  He is listed as an attorney on more than a dozen published appellate opinions and has also served as a settlement officer for the Court of Appeal in Los Angeles.

In 2004, Brian’s peers voted him a Southern California “Rising Star,” an honor given to promising attorneys under the age of 40.Subsequently, in both 2005 and 2006, he was voted a Southern California “Super Lawyer.”Most recently, in 2007, he was voted as one of the top Super Lawyers practicing in Orange County.  Born and raised in Long Beach, California, Brian received his law degree, Cum Laude, from Whittier Law School.  While a student, he served as an editor of the law review and won the American Jurisprudence Award in Civil Procedure.  He also holds an undergraduate degree in Politics from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Hon. Daniel H. Bromberg
Justice
California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District

Daniel H. Bromberg was appointed to the Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District, by Governor Gavin Newsom in January 2023. 

From 2019 to 2021, Justice Bromberg served as a Deputy Secretary for Legal Affairs in the Governor’s Office, where he supervised lawyers in the California Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resource Agency, Department of Transportation, and Department of Food and Agriculture. During this period, Justice Bromberg also supervised litigation concerning, among other things, the border wall and COVID-19 restrictions. 

Both before and after serving in the Governor’s Office, Justice Bromberg was in private practice. He began his career as an associate at Cahill Gordon & Reindel in New York, working primarily on First Amendment matters. He subsequently moved to JonesDay in Washington, D.C., where he became a partner in the appellate practice. In 2005, he moved to California to join Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, where he helped found the appellate practice group and remained until joining the Governor’s Office. After leaving the Governor’s Office, Justice Bromberg joined Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in San Francisco as the head of the firm’s appellate practice. 

Mr. Bromberg graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in history from Yale University and magna cum laude with a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Law Review. He clerked for the Honorable Louis F. Oberdorfer on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit and then for the Honorable A. Raymond Randolph on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. 

Justice Bromberg has taught continuing legal education classes on writing and appellate practice. In addition, in 2021 and 2022, he was a senior research fellow at the California Constitution Center at the Berkeley School of Law. During the same period he was a senior appellate practice fellow in the Center for Litigation and the Courts at UC College of the Law, San Francisco and the founding director of the California Appellate Advocacy Project. 

Robert M. Dato, Esq.
Of Counsel
Buchalter

Robert M. Dato primarily represents clients in business litigation and employment matters, with particular emphasis on appeals and related proceedings. Mr. Dato, a Certified Appellate Specialist in California since 1996, has handled more than 400 appellate matters in state and federal courts throughout the United States and served as the national coordinating appellate counsel for two major pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Mr. Dato was previously a senior research attorney to Presiding Justice David G. Sills of the California Court of Appeal in Santa Ana, where he prepared approximately 200 appellate opinions in substantive areas ranging from family law to complex business litigation matters. He also occasionally served as the court’s writ attorney, reviewing and making recommendations regarding writ petitions filed with the court.

Mr. Dato is the author of CEB’s Handling Civil Appeals: Action Guide, a co-author of CEB’s Civil Appellate Practice treatise, and a contributor to CEB’s “Civil Procedure During Trial” treatise. He is currently a member of the Orange County Bar Association’s Professionalism and Ethics Committee.  He is a past chair of the State Bar’s Committee on Administration of Justice and a past chair of the Orange County Bar Association’s Appellate Law Section. Mr. Dato is AV Preeminent rated by Martindale Hubbell. Mr. Dato was recognized as a 2016 and 2019-2021 Southern California Super Lawyer, as well as a 2013 Top Rated Lawyer in the area of Commercial Litigation by American Lawyer Media in conjunction with Martindale Hubbell.

Susan Horst, Esq.
Counsel
Complex Appellate Litigation Group, LLP

Susan Horst is a specialist in writs of mandamus and prohibition in the California appellate courts. For more than 31 years, Susan served as the writ attorney for the California Court of Appeal for the First District, Division One, in San Francisco. Susan is one of the only practicing attorneys in California to have devoted virtually her entire career to appellate writs. As writ attorney in the First District, Susan evaluated thousands of pre- and post- trial writ petitions in all types of civil and criminal matters. In the process, she learned precisely what the justices on the Court of Appeal look for before taking the extraordinary step of granting writ relief — and what an opposing party needs to highlight to have the best shot at getting a petition denied.

Susan’s three decades at the Court of Appeal gave her both extensive writing experience and a wide-ranging knowledge of substantive law. Susan’s casework ran the gamut from business and commercial litigation, to personal injury and employment matters, to real estate, insurance, and products liability cases, to professional negligence, disqualification, and privilege issues. The procedural postures of the writ petitions she handled were equally wide-ranging, and included pleading defects and class certification, sealing of court records, discovery disputes, summary judgment, settlement, and enforcement of judgments.

Her practice today focuses on writ petition consulting in the appellate courts and trial court work in anticipation of writ relief. Susan also lectures widely on writ practice and procedure. She has presented seminars to the San Francisco City Attorney, District Attorney and Public Defender Offices, the State Bar of California, California Continuing Education of the Bar, The Rutter Group, PINCUS Professional Education, bar associations across California, and the Center for Judicial Education and Research. She is the co-author of Chapters for Continuing Education of the Bar publications, as well as training materials for numerous continuing education lectures.

Susan’s career at the Court of Appeal followed motion and jury trial skills she developed early on as an Assistant District Attorney in San Francisco. She holds her J.D. from the Santa Clara University School of Law, where she graduated summa cum laude — even though she attended law school part-time at night, while working as a full-time administrator at Stanford University during the day. She also has her B.A. in English from Stanford.

In her spare time ,she also volunteers on the Advisory Board of Advokids, a foster children’s advocacy group, and provides pro bono advice and representation through the Advokids Appellate Project.

Audra Ibarra, Esq.

Law Office of Audra Ibarra

Audra Ibarra is an experienced civil and white-collar appellate attorney.  She also consults on attorney fee and dispositive motions, as well as trial strategy.  She has over a decade of appellate experience and has personally tried 40 jury trials.  She is a former supervising Assistant US Attorney, litigator at a large national law firm, and Deputy District Attorney.  She has received national recognition and awards for her cases.  She won a reversal in an important case before the California Supreme Court on appellate attorney fees in Conservatorship of McQueen.

Audra serves on the Committee on Appellate Courts of the State Bar of California, the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors of California Women Lawyers (CWL), and the Board of Directors of the California Minority Counsel Program.  She is also the Chair of the Amicus Committee of CWL.

Gary A. Watt, Esq.
Partner
Hanson Bridgett

Gary serves as Chair of the firm’s Appellate Practice. He is a State Bar approved Certified Appellate Specialist, handling writs and appeals in all of the California appellate courts, including the California Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. His practice also includes dispositive motions such as SLAPP, summary judgment, and post-trial motions. His appellate experience gives him unique insights into complex cases and esoteric disputes. He excels at issue spotting and arrives at thoughtful solutions to business problems. His practice includes risk management such as interpreting contracts, indemnity provisions, and more.

A passionate appellate lawyer and law professor, Gary has been on the faculty at U.C. Hastings College of the Law since 2001 teaching various appellate law courses and coaching intercollegiate moot court competition teams. Consistent with Hanson Bridgett’s commitment to pro bono work, Gary currently serves as Director of U.C. Hastings’ Ninth Circuit clinical program: the Hastings Appellate Project. As Director, he supervises law students in the pro bono legal representation of appellants. He is also a frequent lecturer at MCLE presentations throughout the Bay Area, and has taught hundreds of lawyers over the years on a vast array of appellate and litigation best practices.

Gary is also Chair of the Contra Costa County Bar Association’s appellate practice section. A prolific writer, Gary is a frequent contributor to the Daily Journal, The Recorder, and other legal publications, with over 75 published articles to date. 

Don Willenburg, Esq.
Partner
Gordon Rees

Don Willenburg is a partner in Gordon & Rees’s Oakland and San Francisco offices, and leader of the firm’s Appellate Practice Group.  He is past chair of the Appellate Practice Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco, and presently chair of the amicus briefs committee of the Association of Defense Counsel of Northern California and Nevada. Mr. Willenburg has extensive experience in appeals and writs in a variety of substantive areas of the law, including asbestos and silica litigation; employment; construction; bankruptcy and financial reorganizations; insurance coverage disputes; and entertainment and intellectual property transactions.

Mr. Willenburg has guest lectured at the University of Southern California and Pepperdine Law Schools, and has served as a moot court justice at a number of law schools in Los Angeles and San Francisco. He has volunteered as judge pro tem and as a Penal Code section 1524 special master.

Greg E. Wolff, Esq.

Complex Appellate Litigation Group, LLP

Greg spent nearly three decades in the chambers of four different California Supreme Court justices, analyzing thousands of petitions for review, evaluating hundreds of Supreme Court briefs, and helping the justices draft scores of opinions and orders. He served as a Senior Judicial Attorney for retired Chief Justice Ron George for 10 years, the Head of Chambers for Justice Carlos Moreno for 10 years, the same role for Justice Goodwin Liu for 3 years, and then again for Justice Leondra Kruger for 4 years. All told, over 27 years, Greg gained deep insight into how the Court functions as an institution and how its individual justices reach decisions — along with how best to persuade them. Greg also served for four years as a research attorney at the California Court of Appeal.

He became the Supervisor of the Appellate Section of the Criminal Branch and handled appeals for the Civil Liability Section. In those roles, Greg argued before the California Supreme Court in Serna v. Superior Court (1985) 40 Cal.3d 239, and obtained nine published opinions from the California Courts of Appeal, as well as 12 by the Appellate Division of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Greg has given dozens of continuing education programs on persuasive writing and the inner workings of the California Supreme Court. As an Adjunct Professor at Hastings College of the Law for 18 years, Greg taught Moot Court as well as Legal Research and Writing, helping students to understand how to analyze complex legal issues and express themselves clearly orally and in writing. 

Greg is a former Executive Committee-member of the CLA Litigation Section’s Committee on Appellate Courts. He also was on the Board of Directors of the Marin County Bar Association. Greg is a graduate of Southwestern Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from UCLA.

Fees

Seminar Materials are included with OnDemand and all recorded package options.

OnDemand Streaming!  On-Demand Streaming allows for a single person to view the seminar unlimited times until one year after the seminar is held.

Recorded Packages!  Recorded Packages allow for a single person to download and view the program recording and are also available via DVD or CD.

Discounted rates are available for 2-4 attorneys at your firm.  Licenses are available for law firms or agencies that would like to distribute the video package or OnDemand Streaming access to more than four attorneys at their firm or agency.

Fees:

OnDemand Streaming:  $429

Recorded Packages via Download or CD/DVDs:

Video Recording – DVD or Download: $429

Audio Only (for in your car, etc.) Recording – CD or Download:  $429

Order both the Video and Audio Only Packages for only $50 more – Download, DVD or CD: $479

$10 shipping and sales tax (in California) are added at checkout to DVD/CD orders.

Your OnDemand access is good for up to one-year from the time of purchase.  Please be sure to select OnDemand Streaming to the right and check out. OnDemand can be watched from any type of device.

*The Video recording is a video of the webinar (with sound). The Audio Only recordings are audio files only and are for those who wish to listen to it without watching a video (such as in the car or while walking).

Note: OnDemand Streaming can be watched from any device. However, all download packages must be downloaded to a computer first, before transferring them to another device due to downloading as zip files containing both the video/audio and a large folder with seminar materials contained in the download package.

CLE Credit

This program is available for both Self-Study and General Participatory CLE.*

CA General:  This program is approved for 6.5 units of general CLE in California.

CA Self Study (only) Certified Legal Specialist:  This program is approved for 6.5 hours of Legal Specialization Credit in Appellate Law. (Expires 01/28/2021)

CA Participatory Certified Legal Specialist:  This program is approved for 6.5 hours of Legal Specialization Credit in Appellate Law. (Expires 01/28/2018)

*General Participatory CLE:  For those states that make a distinction between self-study and Participatory CLE (CA, IL, NY), please write down the Verification Codes read out during the program by speakers or our announcer and email them to us at info@pincusproed.com and we will issue your Participatory CLE certificate.

This program is approved for CLE in the states listed above.  Upon request, Pincus Pro Ed will provide any information an attorney needs to support their application for CLE approval in other states other than what is listed above.

Terms and Policies

Recording policy: No audio or video recording of any program is permitted.

Seminar Cancellations: Should you be unable to attend for any reason, please inform us in writing no later than 14 days prior to the event and a credit voucher will be issued. If you prefer, a refund, less a $50 non-refundable deposit, will be issued. No refunds or credits will be given for cancellations received within 14 days of an event. However, if you notify us within 14 days of an event, and wish to convert your in-person attendance registration to an Audio CD package (with handout), we can do so. A small additional shipping charge, and sales tax in CA, will be incurred. No shipping charge is incurred for downloads. We will also issue a voucher for the amount paid if you notify us within 14 days and prefer not to have the audio recording.

Substitutions may be made at any time.

Webinars, Tele-seminars and Webcast Cancellations: Once log-in codes and passwords are issued for a webinar, tele-seminars or webcasts, a refund is not possible. If for any reason you cannot attend the event after you have received the codes, we will automatically convert your registration to an instant streaming/instant download or CD format and provide you with the information you need to access the recording after the program concludes and the recording is available.  Conversions to CD require a $8.50 shipping fee, and in CA, 9% sales tax.

Downloads/CDs/DVDs – Refund policy:

Downloads are non-returnable/non-refundable once purchased and received. Tapes, CDs and DVDs are returnable for a full refund or replacement if defective, within 90 days of purchase.

Reminder: The room temperature at hotels and other seminar locations are notoriously hard to control. Please bring a sweater or jacket in case it gets cold and/or layer as if you are going to the movies so you are comfortable.