CA Superior Court Boot Camp (4th Annual): Motions and Trial Practice Conference (2009)

Faculty:

Judge Murphy has been a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge assigned to the Civil Courts since 1995.  Prior to that, Judge Murphy served  in a direct calendar felony court from 1993 to 1995.  Judge Murphy was an Associate Editor for the Rutter Group’s Civil Procedure Before Trial from 1997 through 2003 and has served as an editor for the Rutter Group’s Civil Procedure Before Trial, Basic Training for Litigators.  She is a member of the statewide Civil and Small Claims AOC Advisory Committee and subcommittees and working groups including the Subcommittee on Case Management, on Uniform Rules, the Pretrial Rules Working Group and the Telephone Appearances Working Group. 

Judge Murphy has been actively involved in educating judges and lawyers. She speaks frequently to bar associations and for MCLE providers. Judge Murphy leads the Best Practices discussions for Los Angeles Superior Court Judges assigned to Central Civil departments.  She is a member of the Los Angeles Superior Court Rules Committee and was elected by her peers to serve four terms on the Court’s Executive Committee. Judge Murphy is a Board Member of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, former President of the Irish American Bar Association, and a member of the California Judges Association and the Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Association.

Prior to her appointment, Judge Murphy’s litigation experience included nationwide, multidistrict litigation with the United States Department of Justice, Civil Division, nationwide products liability litigation and local commercial litigation with Haight, Brown and Bonesteel, and employment and other civil litigation with the United States Attorneys’ Office, Civil Division, in Los Angeles. Judge Murphy served as an instructor with the Attorney General’s Advocacy Institute and a lecturer in Assistant U. S. Attorneys’ training seminars.

Judge Sinanian was appointed to the Los Angeles Superior Court in June 2002.  Since his appointment, he has served in a variety of assignments including, criminal law, family law, probate, long cause criminal trials, and is presently assigned to a civil department in the Stanley Mosk Courthouse.  In 2007, he served as the supervising judge of the Burbank Courthouse.  He is a member of the California Judicial Council Access and Fairness Advisory Committee and was recently appointed to the California Judges Association Executive Board and the Los Angeles County Bar Association, Litigation Section Executive Board.  He is currently a member of the Los Angeles Superior Court Civil & Small Claims Committee, Bench & Bar Committee and the Community Outreach Committee.   He has served on the Los Angeles Superior Court Executive Committee, ADR Committee, and the Access and Fairness Committee.  Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Sinanian was employed as a Deputy Attorney General in the criminal and civil divisions of the Attorney General’s Office, California Department of Justice.   He litigated cases in state and federal courts including, the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, the California Supreme Court, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

John Nadolenco is an experienced civil litigator who has appeared before many federal and state courts, as well as before numerous arbitrators. John’s practice is focused on class-action defense, including defending securities and derivative cases, consumer class actions, and employment class actions.

John also has represented clients in antitrust, environmental, real estate and general commercial and business cases litigation (e.g., breach of contract, fraud, unfair competition). He has represented clients in a wide variety of industries, including retailers, biotechnology companies, telecommunications companies, financial institutions, automobile companies, railroads, and entertainment companies.

Mark Salzberg has worked as a Research Attorney for the Los Angeles Superior Court since 2000. As a research attorney, Mark’s responsibilities include review and analysis of all law and motion briefs and a submitted summary and recommendation on motions to his two judges. Knowing that law and motion is only one aspect in the litigation big picture, Mark also takes a role in case management.

Mark Salzberg received a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from Cornell University in 1984 and a Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego in 1990. While in law school, Mark interned at the Bronx District Attorney's Office and externed with the San Diego Superior Court.

From 1990 through 1997, Mark worked at Harrington, Foxx, Dubrow and
Canter, specializing in Product Liability defense and is the only attorney to work in all four offices of that firm. Representative clients include Kraft, Navistar International Transportation Corp, Sears, The Raymond Corporation and Clark Equipment Company.

Leaving litigation to experience other aspects of life, Mark participated in 5 long-distance, multi-day, fund raising bicycling events in the summer of 1997 and then went to work for the company that produced those events. Hardly a career attorney, Mark uses the flexibility afforded him to travel extensively, read fanatically and compete in triathlons.

Ann Schwab is a career Supervising Research Attorney for the Los Angeles Superior Court. As Supervising Research Attorney, Ms. Schwab prepares bench briefs and special research projects, and trains new attorneys at the courthouse. Ann’s responsibilities also include supervising judicial law clerks and research attorneys at the Stanley Mosk civil courthouse, as well as all attorneys at Edelman Children’s Court.

Ms. Schwab received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a special emphasis in Organizational Behavior from Stanford University in 1988 and a Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School in 2002. While in law school, Ann ranked in the top 15% of her class and was the Chief Articles Editor of the Entertainment Law Review.

Mila Faraon has been a Research Attorney for the Los Angeles Superior Court for the past six years where she prepares bench memoranda and court rulings for two judicial officers assigned to civil, unlimited jurisdiction matters. Prior to that, she worked in private practice for six years as a litigation associate in Los Angeles and Orange County.

Mila has also served as a writer and editor of Verdicts and Settlements, a publication of the Los Angeles Daily Journal. She last participated on a panel on Summary Judgments for the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Frank Scollan is partner in the Los Angeles office of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis, LLP. His practice centers on real estate litigation, business disputes, CEQA litigation, construction defect cases and land subsidence matters. Frank has represented numerous developers, from individuals to national corporations, in disputes involving CEQA, government approvals, partnership and business disputes, construction matters, environmental issues and related real estate issues including purchase and sales disputes. He has brought and defended a wide variety of writ of mandate proceedings, including CEQA actions. Frank has represented homeowners and developers in cases involving land subsidence, and published an article on recovering landslide damages under homeowners’ policies. Frank has also represented federal equity receivers appointed in SEC actions to recover assets for defrauded investors. Frank has extensive trial experience, including a five week trial for a national developer to recover government fees.
Mr. Scollan obtained his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and his law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California.

Germain Labat advises and represents substantial business entities and executives in complex civil litigation in state and federal courts, as well as in arbitration and alternative dispute resolution forums.  Germain’s litigation practice focuses on all manner of complex business disputes, including securities litigation, commercial litigation, corporate governance and shareholder litigation, commercial real estate litigation, and class action defense.  His wide-ranging list of clients includes both public and privately held companies in the financial services, technology, energy, retail and commercial real estate sectors.

Germain is a forceful advocate in the courtroom with significant trial experience in jury and bench trials of complex and lengthy matters, as well as in proceedings before arbitration panels and alternate dispute resolution bodies, including mediation, arbitration and private judging (for example, under California Code of Civil Procedure Sections 638 & 639, and before the American Arbitration Association and JAMS/ Endispute).  Germain is also experienced in conducting internal investigations and counseling clients and their boards of directors on pre-litigation strategy and planning. 

Hon. James L. Warren (Ret.) has been involved in many of San Francisco Superior Court’s most high profile cases.  Judge Warren was on the San Francisco County Superior Court bench from 1994 through 2006 and was in the Law and Motion department from 2003 to 2006.  Prior to his appointment to the bench, he was Senior Counsel for Pacific Bell in San Francisco where he was primarily responsible for large and complex commercial litigation. Previously, Judge Warren practiced for nearly twenty years with Pillsbury Winthrop (formerly Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro) where he specialized in anti-trust and large commercial cases and was founding Chair of the firm’s Intellectual Property Specialty Group. He is known for his insightful analysis, creative problem-solving, and warm but firm manner with all parties.

While on the bench, Judge Warren presided over cases involving a wide range of legal issues, including high-stakes insurance, complex employment and environmental suits. His vast civil law experience includes deciding cases involving intellectual property, professional malpractice, construction, real estate, employment, and complex business litigation.  His high-profile cases include: In re 101 California Street, a gun manufacturer liability suit where Judge Warren’s grant of summary judgment was recently affirmed by the California Supreme Court; injunction proceedings in the 2004 same-sex marriage cases; the constitutionality of San Francisco’s Minority and Women Business Enterprise statute; the City of San Francisco’s proposed Gun Control ordinance (Proposition H); and the infamous Dog Mauling case.

Judge Warren is a frequent lecturer on litigation skills throughout California and around the country and has been a faculty member for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy since 1984.  Judge Warren is a Recipient of the Champion of Justice Award, Bar Association of San Francisco, 2006, The Barristers Choice Award (Judge of the Year), The Barristers Club of the Bar Association of San Francisco, 2006 and a Recipient of the Award For Outstanding Service to the Legal Community, Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, 2005.

Judge Warren is a member of numerous legal/bar related organizations, including: the San Francisco Superior Court's Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, the California Judicial Council Task Force on Complex Civil Litigation; the California Judicial Counsel Continuing Education Committee; and the California Judges Association.  He is a Faculty Member of the Judges College and New Judge Orientation Program.  He is a Judicial Fellow with the Prestigious Association of Trial Lawyers of America and a Lifetime Member of the Fellows of the American Bar Foundation.  Judge Warren is also a Member and Officer of the Edward J. McFetridge American Inn of Court.

Judge Warren is admitted to practice in the following courts:  Admitted to practice: U.S. Supreme Court; Court(s) of Appeals for Second, Fifth, Ninth, and Federal Circuits; all District Courts for California and New York; Northern District of Texas; all State Courts in California and New York.

Judge Ernest H. Goldsmith has been a judge on the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco for more than 13 years.  Jduge Goldsmith is in the Civil Division.  Prior to joining the bench, Judge Goldsmith was a civil litigator.  He has served as the Asbestos General Orders Judge and has a wide variety of civil trial experience.  Judge Goldsmith graduated from UC Berkely undergrad and Stanford Law School.

Karen P. Kimmey is a partner in the firm's Business Litigation and Intellectual Property and Technology Groups.  She represents both large and small businesses, as well as individuals, in a wide range of commercial disputes, with a particular emphasis on class actions, unfair competition claims (including claims under Section 17200), shareholder litigation, and copyright, trademark and patent disputes.

Ms. Kimmey is a seasoned trial lawyer who has successfully handled numerous bench and jury trials. 

Ms. Kimmey is a two-time national champion in speech and debate and was chosen as the top oral advocate at the Traynor moot court competition.

Charles Crompton is a partner in Latham & Watkins' San Francisco office and a member of the firm's Litigation Department, Intellectual Property and Technology Practice Group and Global Antitrust & Competition Practice Group. Mr. Crompton has nationwide experience litigating intellectual property, antitrust, breach of contract and unfair competition law cases. He has handled numerous jury trials, bench trials, arbitrations, and appeals nationwide.

Mr. Crompton is listed as one of California's Leading Competition Practitioners in Who's Who Legal: California 2007.

Mr. Crompton has handled a number of significant patent cases in the biotech and high technology fields. One example is Affymetrix, Inc. v. Hyseq, Inc., 132 F.Supp. 2d 1212 (N.D.Cal. 2001), an infringement suit between two leading competitors in the market for DNA chip technology. In Aptix Corporation v. Quickurn Design Systems, Inc., 269 F.3d 1369 (Fed. Cir. 2001), a case between manufacturers of field-programmable circuit boards, the Federal Circuit addressed the limitations of the unclean hands doctrine.

In addition, Mr. Crompton frequently represents companies in trade secret disputes arising from the breakdown of joint venture, collaboration agreements, employment contracts, and other contractual arrangements. Often these disputes involve pretrial motions for injunctive relief. Mr. Crompton has extensive experience handling these motions. For example, Woolley v. Embassy Suites, Inc, 227 Cal.App. 3d 1520 (1991), is an important case limiting the availability of injunctive relief to compel the continued performance of management contracts under California law.

Another example is Triad Systems Corp. v. Southeastern Exp. Co., 64 F.3d 1330 (1995), which upheld a preliminary injunction obtained on behalf of a computer manufacturer against a copyright-infringing service provider. Like many of Mr. Crompton's most challenging cases, Triad involved the intersection of the antitrust and intellectual property laws.

Mr. Crompton served as one of the trial counsel for Oracle in the successful defense the Department of Justice's antitrust challenge to Oracle's acquisition of PeopleSoft [United States v. Oracle Corp., 331 F.Supp.2d 108 (N.D. Cal. 2004)]. The case was named "Top Defense Win of 2004" by The National Law Journal. In addition, Mr. Crompton represented Oracle in related litigation between Oracle and PeopleSoft. Oracle's victories in these matters paved the way for its successful acquisition of PeopleSoft in early 2005.

Mr. Crompton is an editor of Crompton, Dunwoody & Tigar, California Contract Litigation (Matthew Bender 2005), a two-volume treatise covering potential claims, defenses and other issues that may arise in cases involving California contract law. In addition, Mr. Crompton has written numerous articles for publications including The Daily Journal, Antitrust Magazine and The Computer Lawyer. From 1999-2000, Mr. Crompton was the Chair of the Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law Section of the California State Bar. Mr. Crompton has lectured on intellectual property law for the Practicing Law Institute, Stanford Law School, and UC-Berkeley's Boalt Hall.

Mr. Crompton served as Judicial Clerk to the Honorable Jane R. Roth, United States District Court for the District of Delaware, during 1988-1989. Judge Roth now sits on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Prior to joining Latham, Mr. Crompton was a partner at McCutchen Doyle Brown & Enersen, where he served as the Chair of the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Group. He was Chair of McCutchen's Pro Bono Committee, he serves on Latham's Pro Bono Committee now, and he has won State and local awards for his pro bono work on behalf of indigent individuals and non-profit institutions.

Alfred C. Pfeiffer, Jr. is a partner in Latham & Watkins' San Francisco office and a member of the firm's Litigation Department and Global Antitrust & Competition Practice Group. He has extensive experience in civil antitrust cases, civil and criminal government antitrust investigations and other competition-related commercial cases.

Mr. Pfeiffer has a wide range of practical experience, having won numerous trials, arbitrations, summary judgments and appeals in communications, antitrust, contract and business tort cases, as well as temporary restraining orders and injunctions in unfair competition and contract disputes and communications hearings before the California Public Utilities Commission. He has also successfully represented clients involved in investigations conducted by the US Department of Justice and the California Attorney General's office. He has advised companies regarding potential strategic acquisitions and successfully handled ADR proceedings, including mediations and arbitrations, for a variety of clients.

Mr. Pfeiffer practices across numerous industries and has been particularly active in the information technology and telecommunication arenas. He also advises companies regarding the antitrust aspects of acquisitions, joint ventures and distribution agreements.

Mr. Pfeiffer has been active for many years in the leadership of the ABA's Section on Antitrust. He is currently Co-Chair of Committee Operations, is a past Chair of the Communications Industry Committee, was editor of its newsletter The Party Line and co-authored the ABA Antitrust Section's Telecom Antitrust Handbook (2005).

Mr. Pfeiffer was cited as a leading attorney in Antitrust in the Chambers USA legal guide (2006-2010) and in the Legal 500 US guide to US attorneys (2007-2008), and was named a Lawyer of the Year by California Lawyer magazine (2000). He was also listed in the 2009 Best Lawyers in America survey in the Antitrust law category.

Mr. Pfeiffer is admitted to practice in California and is a graduate of Yale Law School, 1985.

Steven Ragland joined Keker and Van Nest in 2004, after working with Michael E. Tigar, as Of Counsel to the Tigar Law Firm in Washington, D.C. and Annapolis, Maryland.  

Steven handles a broad range of criminal and civil litigation and has particular experience and expertise in criminal defense, securities litigation, shareholder derivative lawsuits, and complex business and partnership disputes.  Steven’s clients have included individuals and corporations facing criminal allegations ranging from securities, mail, and wire fraud to drug and terrorism offenses.  He was part of the trial team for one of the first “stock option backdating” prosecutions and recently concluded a week-long evidentiary hearing on behalf of a client on California’s death row.  In the civil realm, Steven’s clients have included the CEO of a Los Cabos, Mexico resort development in a dispute with former business partners, international law firms facing allegations of attorney malpractice, and a major credit card company defending against allegations of antitrust violations.

Steven has published and lectured on a variety of criminal law issues, including the reach of the obstruction of justice statutes, defending individuals accused of terrorism offenses, and serving as an effective and committed criminal defense lawyer.  He has also written and lectured on civil law issues such as pursuing civil rights cases, using civil RICO as a tool in police misconduct lawsuits, and persuasive brief writing and motions practice.  

Steven is a summa cum laude graduate of American University’s Washington College of Law, where he was a Mussey-Gillette Fellow and served as Senior Articles Editor of the American University Law Review.  While in law school, Steven helped found the Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic, which sought redress for harms including torture, forcible relocation, wrongful death, and genocide.  He received his undergraduate degree, with high honors, in Government from Lehigh University and held a variety of non-profit and not-much-profit-at-all jobs between college and law school.  

Steven’s varied experience before law school included working as an undercover investigator, serving as a media spokesperson for various advocacy organizations, producing a short documentary video narrated by Henry Heimlich, M.D., and editing two nonfiction comic books that are currently used in prison literacy programs and are distributed by a worldwide non-profit advocacy organization.  During those pre-legal days, Steven made appearances on media outlets such as CNN and numerous network affiliates, but his favorite was a segment picked up by The Daily Show.

Steven is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association, the Edward J. McFetridge American Inn of Court, and various other bar organizations.  He lives in San Francisco with his wife and two young children.

Mr. Lowe has successfully litigated individual and class action employment disputes through trial and appeal and was lead trial counsel in Chau v. Starbucks Corp., which resulted in a verdict of over $105 million for the plaintiff class members. In 2009, Mr. Lowe was named an "Attorney of the Year" by California Lawyer magazine for his "extraordinary achievement" in employment law. In addition, Law & Politics magazine has recognized him as a "Northern California Super Lawyer" in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, and he has received LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell's highest "AV" Peer Review Rating for preeminent attorneys.

Mr. Lowe specializes in international employment cases, complex litigation, and executive severance negotiations, as well as litigation and negotiation of individual employment law claims, including claims for wrongful termination, harassment, discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, unpaid commissions and bonuses, breach of contract and violation of the WARN Act, military leave, family/medical leave and wage and hour laws.

Mr. Lowe is Co-Chair of the American Bar Association's International Employment Law Subcommittee (Labor and Employment Section EEO Committee). He is also Co-Chair of the California Employment Lawyers Association Legislative Committee and Vice Chair of the International Bar Association's Discrimination Committee.

In addition, Mr. Lowe is a member of the Executive Committee of the Labor and Employment Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco, the Labor and Employment Section of the State Bar of California, and the National Employment Lawyers Association and has served on the Board of Directors of the Berkeley Law Foundation (Chair, 1996-2000) and the Pride Law Fund (Secretary, 2001-2006). He is also a member of the Bay Area Leadership Council of the Center for Justice and Accountability and the Lawyers Council of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Mr. Lowe regularly has been published extensively and regularly speaks on employment law issues for the international Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the State Bar Labor and Employment Section, the Rutter Group, the Practicing Law Institute, Continuing Education of the Bar and other organizations.

Educational History: J.D., University of California at Berkeley (Boalt Hall) (1995); B.A., Emory University (1992), Phi Beta Kappa.