Appellate Boot Camp(s) - CA

Moderators:

Mr. Shatz is certified as an appellate law specialist by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization and is a member of  the Appellate Practice Group in the Los Angeles office of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP.  He has briefed hundreds of civil appeals, writs and petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Courts of Appeals, California Supreme Court and California Courts of Appeal, covering a variety of practice areas.  Mr. Shatz frequently contributes appellate law articles to periodicals including CEB’s Civil Litigation Reporter, Los Angeles Lawyer, California Lawyer, and the Daily Journal.  He is the Chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Appellate Courts Committee and the Vice Chair of the California State Bar's Committee on Appellate Courts.  He has been named by Los Angeles Magazine and Law & Politics Magazine as one of Southern California’s “Super Lawyers” in the field of Appellate Law, 2004-2010.

Mr. Shatz also served as Law Clerk to the Honorable Robert J. Johnston, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Nevada and as Extern to the Honorable Dorothy W. Nelson, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Mr. Shatz graduated magna cum laude from Pepperdine University School of Law, and was an Associate Editor of the Pepperdine Law Review and an Assistant Editor of the California Supreme Court Survey.

Kevin Fong is the co-leader of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw and Pittman LLP's Appellate Practice Team. He has argued and briefed numerous cases before state and federal appellate courts, including appearances in 80 published decisions. He has argued six cases before the California Supreme Court, prevailing in five of the six cases and establishing important precedent in the fields of banking, libel defense, public employment and municipal regulation. As an associate, he successfully argued before the California Supreme Court in a libel defense case on behalf of a newspaper that had published a series of investigative articles detailing police and prosecutorial misconduct in the conviction of an alleged Chinatown gang murder. The victory resulted in reversal of a $6 million judgment against the newspaper.

Mr. Fong has successfully represented clients in numerous multi-million dollar appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, including prominent cases on banking issues and arbitration proceedings. In 1994, he successfully argued a prominent Ninth Circuit case defining the scope of fiduciary duties in a multi-bank loan, resulting in reversal of a $1.8 million judgment against a bank. In 1996, he was lead attorney in an important Ninth Circuit case defining the conflict of interest rules for arbitrators, resulting in reinstatement of a $5 million arbitration award for his client. In addition to arguing numerous cases before the Ninth Circuit, Mr. Fong has authored briefs in leading cases favorably decided by the Second Circuit, Fourth Circuit, Fifth Circuit, Eighth Circuit, Eleventh Circuit, Federal Circuit and the United States Supreme Court, including a landmark administrative law case, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, 467 U.S. 837 (1984).

Mr. Fong completed a three-year appointment to the Appellate Courts Committee of the State Bar of California in 1986, and was elected to the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers in 1991. Mr. Fong has been certified as a specialist in appellate law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. Mr. Fong is one of the contributing authors of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy's (NITA) commentaries to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. He is one of the appellate lawyers in California recently selected by his peers for inclusion in the Best Lawyers in America 2007.

Following law school, Mr. Fong served as law clerk to the late Honorable Constance Baker Motley, former Chief Judge of the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Fong graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1979 and was the Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Civil Rights - Civil Liberties Law Review. Mr. Fong has also been published in the National Law Journal.

Retired Justice Nickolas Dibiaso served on the Fifth Appellate District Court of Appeal for more than fifteen years.  Justice Dibiaso currently practices with Dowling, Aaron and Keeler as an Appeals and Writs specialist.  Justice Dibiaso also acts as an independent arbitrator, mediator, special master and discovery referee.  Previously Justice Dibiaso served as a Superior Court Judge for the Fresno County Superior Court, from 1985 to 1989.  Justice Dibiaso has extensive experience in all capacities — as an attorney, trial court judge, and appellate justice.  Justice Dibiaso served as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and was a partner at Thomas, Snell, Jamison, Russell, Williamson & Asperger from 1970 until becoming a judge in 1985.  Justice Dibiaso has taught numerous courses as an Adjunct Professor of Law for the San Joaquin College of Law and has participated in a multitude of legal education programs for various bar associations and private legal education providers.  

Faculty:

Frank J. Menetrez is a Research Attorney for the Honorable Frances Rothschild, California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 1. Prior to joining the court, Mr. Menetrez practiced appellate law at Horvitz & Levy LLP in Encino and was an Associate at Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP in Los Angeles, California. Mr. Menetrez graduated from the UCLA School of Law with multiple honors, was Editor-in-Chief for the UCLA Law Review, is a Member of the Order of the Coif and clerked for the Honorable A. Wallace Tashima, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Mr. Menetrez also holds a Ph.D. and a Masters Degree in Philosophy.

Sarah Waldstein has been an appellate research attorney since 1990.  She worked for Associate Justice F. Douglas McDaniel, retired, in the Fourth Appellate District, Division Two before coming to the Second Appellate District, Division Three.  She is currently a Senior Judicial Attorney for Associate Justice Richard D. Aldrich.  Prior to joining the court, Ms. Waldstein was an Associate at Brown, Rudnick in Boston, Massachusetts.  Ms. Waldstein received her J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1988, where she served as an editor of the Environmental Law Review.

Gina M. Calvelli has been a Senior Appellate Court Attorney since 2001.  Ms. Calvelli formerly worked for Associate Justice Richard M. Mosk (Division 5) and currently works for Associate Justice Thomas L. Willhite, Jr. (Division 4).  Between 1993 and 2001, Ms. Calvelli was a Parter at Riordan & McKinzie where she specialized in Appellate Law.  Prior to joining Riordan & McKinzie, Ms. Calvelli practiced at the San Francisco firm of Khourie, Crew & Jaeger.  Ms. Calvelli is a 1991 graduate of Stanford Law School.

Maria Kivel has been a Senior Appellate Research Attorney for California Court of Appeal, First District since 1994. Prior to joining the court, Ms. Kivel spent five years in private practice in primarily public interest law. Ms. Kivel Clerked for the Honorable Harry Pregerson of the 9th Circuit from 1988 to 1989. She received her law degree from Sanford Law School in 1987 and has taught at Stanford Law School as a Guest Lecturer.

Marnie Sayles has been the Lead Judicial Staff Attorney for the First Appellate District, Associate Justice James R. Lambden, of the California Court of Appeal for eleven years. Prior to joining the court, Ms. Sayles worked in private practice as a Discovery Referee and had a civil and criminal appellate practice. From 1995 to 1996 Ms. Sayles served as a Federal Public Defender in the Eastern District of California. Ms. Sayles has also served as a research attorney for the Alameda County Superior court and as an associate at Morrison and Foerster in the litigation division.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Ms. Sayles was an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Ms. Sayles graduated from the Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley.  While at Boald Ms. Sayles received several awards.  She also holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Ms. Sayles is also published in numerous social science and legal publications.

Kathleen  DeSantis has worked for the Fifth District Court of Appeal for twenty-three years.  Since 2000, Ms. DeSantis has been the Managing Appellate Court Attorney. 

Prior to that, Ms. DeSantis served as Senior Research Attorney to Presiding Justice Donald Franson, Presiding Justice Hollis G. Best, and Associate Justice James Thaxter.  

From 1985 to 1987 Ms. DeSantis served as a research attorney for the Fresno County Superior Court.  Prior to that time, Ms. DeSantis litigated at  Chern, Brenneman & Garcia in Santa Maria. 

Ms. DeSantis graduated Cum Laude from Hastings College of Law and is a Member of the Order of the Coif.   Ms. DeSantis is the Co-chair/co-editor of the Judicial Attorneys Manual 3rd edition 2004 and the 2007 revision and is on the Steering Committee of the Fresno County Bar Association’s Appellate Law Section.

Joby Dupuis is currently a lead research attorney at the Fifth District Court of Appeal in the chambers of Justice Rebecca A. Wiseman.  She has been at the court of appeal since 1989, previously working in the chambers of now retired Justices Nickolas Dibiaso and James Thaxter.  Prior to coming to the court, she practiced labor and employment law with the Fresno law firm of Bennett, Sharpe and Dupuis.  As a labor lawyer, a significant part of her practice was appellate work.  She is admitted in the State of California, the Eastern District of California, and the Federal Courts of Appeal for the Ninth and Sixth Circuits.  Joby has an extensive background in providing legal education at a variety of levels, including teaching moot court and alternative dispute resolution at San Joaquin College of Law, teaching legal research and analysis and alternative dispute resolution at Fresno Pacific University, and a variety of courses for the local and state bar associations, the California Judicial Council and the California Administrative Office of the Courts.  She lectures frequently to non lawyer professionals on how to communicate with the courts as experts.  Joby graduated from San Joaquin College of the Law in 1985 with High Honors.