Fed Court Boot Camp Conference (6th Annual CA): How to Practice in Federal Court (2010)

Moderators:

Michele Gustafson served twice as a law clerk for the Honorable Ronald M. Whyte, United States District Court for the Northern District of California.  After completing her first clerkship, Ms. Gustafson worked as an associate at Skadden Arps focusing on both intellectual property litigation and transactional projects.  After completing her second clerkship, Ms. Gustafson joined the Palo Alto office of Baker Botts L.L.P., where her practice focuses on patent and other commercial litigation.  Ms. Gustafson received her Bachelor's degree from the College of William and Mary, and her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall) School of Law, where she was Senior Articles Editor of the Berkeley Technology Law Journal and a national finalist in the Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition.  Prior to attending law school, Ms. Gustafson worked for over 10 years in the high-tech industry as a technical writer, project manager, and website developer at several Silicon Valley companies

Faculty:

J. Daniel Sharp is a partner in Crowell & Moring's San Francisco office, and a member of the firm's Litigation Group. Mr. Sharp practices in trial and appellate courts and arbitration in several specialized fields, including real estate and mortgage banking, professional liability, corporate control disputes, insurance coverage, and the representation of individual investors, corporate officers, and directors.

Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, Mr. Sharp was a partner with the San Francisco firm of Folger Levin & Kahn LLP. He joined that firm after clerkships with Judge John T. Noonan, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Judge Charles A. Legge, of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Representative Matters

• Representing a private investment manager in commercial arbitration proceedings resulting in recovery of a $24 million award for breach of contract, conversion, and breach of fiduciary duty, including substantial punitive damages. Case reported at Bosack et al. v. Soward, 573 F.3d 891 (9th Cir. 2009).
• Representing a life insurance company on appeal. Obtained reversal of $6 million jury verdict for negligence, bad faith, and breach of contract.
• Representing a multi-billion dollar private company in a breach of contract and valuation dispute over $400 million in stock. Obtained summary judgment and affirmance on appeal for client.
• Representing a prominent Silicon Valley law firm in a legal malpractice action involving a merger transaction. Obtained summary judgment in favor of the law firm, and affirmance of the judgment in the California Court of Appeal.
• Representing technology law firm in avoid disclosure of privileged communications. Case reported at Venture Law Group v. Superior Court (Singhania) 118 Cal. App. 4th 96 (2004)
• Representing a financial institution in contract and tort litigation with developers over 13 residential real estate projects. Obtained a $64 million judgment in favor of the client after a combined jury/bench trial, and affirmance of the judgment on appeal.
• Representing various public and privately held real estate developers in connection with financing and contract disputes.
• Representing a private equity fund in contract litigation concerning the sale of a radio station.
• Representing various attorneys and law firms in connection with professional responsibility issues, including law firm transitions and claims of legal malpractice.
• Representing a guarantor in judicial foreclosure proceedings brought by a commercial finance company. Obtained a judgment of nonsuit at a bench trial, and negotiated a favorable settlement on appeal.
• Representing a private real estate investor in a contract and partnership dispute involving a portfolio of office buildings. Obtained summary judgment in federal district court, and affirmance of the judgment in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Representing the California Judicial Council in appellate proceedings.

Education
University of Virginia, B.A., 1981 - English Literature, with high distinction
University of California, Hastings College of the Law, J.D., 1987 - Order of the Coif; Editor-in-Chief, The Hastings Law Journal

Affiliations
Admitted to practice: California

Memberships
Member, American Bar Association, Center for Professional Responsibility
Member, Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL)
Volunteer member, Mediation Panel, United States District Court, Northern District of California

Publications
"Goldstein v. Lees Revisited: The Current State of the Law in California Regarding Claims for Disgorgement of Attorneys’ Fees," (2007). Author: J. Daniel Sharp.

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.

Jahan C. Sagafi is a partner with Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, a sixty-plus attorney law firm that has represented plaintiffs nationwide since 1972. The firm has offices in San Francisco, New York and Nashville, representing plaintiffs in class and group actions and in individual lawsuits in cases involving substantial losses. For the last seven years, The National Law Journal has selected Lieff Cabraser as one of the top plaintiffs' law firms in the nation.

Jahan's awards and honors include "Rising Star for Northern California," Law & Politics, 2009; and "Community Justice Award," Centro Legal de la Raza, 2008.  He is a member of the American Constitution Society (Vice Chair of Bay Area Lawyer Chapter); ACLU of Northern California (Executive Committee, Board Member); National Employment Lawyers’ Association; Consumer Attorneys of California; American Bar Association; Bar Association of San Francisco.

Prior to joining Lieff Cabraser, Jahan was Law Clerk to Judge William W Schwarzer, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, from 2001 to 2002.

Jahan received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2001.

A very experienced law clerk, Linn Van Meter has spent more than two decades working for various judges in the Federal Court system in the Eastern District of California.  In 2009, Ms. Van Meter moved to the Federal District Court in Reno, Nevada to serve as a career Law Clerk. Previously, Ms. Van Meter served as the senior law clerk for a magistrate judge in Yosemite and before that she clerked for six years for the Honorable Anthony W. Ishii, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California.  Before that Ms. Van Meter served Honorable Dennis Beck, Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of California.  Ms. Van Meter was also a staff attorney for the Supreme Court of Nevada staff for five years. Ms. Van Meter is a graduate of Hastings College of Law and worked as an extern with the Central Legal Staff of the California Supreme Court.  She is admitted to practice in California and Nevada.

Laurie Smith is a career law clerk for the Honorable John F. Walter, U.S. District Court Judge for the Central District of California. Prior to that, Ms. Smith litigated at several law firms in Northern and Southern California. Ms. Smith served as Managing Editor for the Virginia Tax Review Law Journal and is a 1996 graduate of the University of Virginia School Of Law.

Browning Marean is a senior counsel in DLA Piper's San Diego office. He is a member of the litigation group and is co-chair of the Electronic Discovery Readiness and Response Group. Mr. Marean concentrates his practice in the areas of electronic discovery, professional responsibility and knowledge management. He is admitted to practice in California and Texas.

Mr. Marean joined DLA Piper (then Gray Cary Ames & Frye) in 1969. He serves on DLA Piper's Technology Committee and is an emeritus member of the California State Bar Law Practice Management Committee and the San Diego County Bar Association's Legal Ethics Committee. He is on the ABA Tech Show Planning Board and a member of the Sedona Conference.

Mr. Marean is an internationally known teacher and frequent lecturer on various topics including electronic discovery, international discovery, records retention, knowledge management and computer technology. He is co-author of the 2010 edition of Electronic Discovery and Records Management Guide, Rules, Checklists and Forms, published by Thomson West, and Conducting Discovery in an Electronic World: Electronic Data and Discovery, published by California Civil Discovery Practice. He has been named a San Diego Super Lawyer.

Mr. Marean received his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law and his undergraduate degree from Stanford University

Prior to joining Luce Forward, Mr. Swan was associated with Adams, Duque & Hazeltine, 1979-1980; associated with Sullivan & Jones, 1980-1982; and was an Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of California, 1982-1990, where he served as the Chief of the Narcotics Unit and was the Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.  He has also taught at the University of San Diego School of Law.

Mr. Swan’s practice focuses on complex civil litigation and white-collar criminal defense, and he regularly appears in federal and state courts throughout California and the United States.  He is a past President of the San Diego Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, a past Vice President and Director of the San Diego County Bar Association, and has held numerous positions with other professional organizations.

Mr. Swan graduated summa cum laude, 1976, A.B., Princeton University, and earned his J.D. from Duke University School of Law in 1979, with honors.

Kathleen J. Balderrama is a counsel in Crowell & Moring's Litigation Group in the Los Angeles office. She has experience with all phases of litigation from obtaining preliminary injunctions at the inception of a case through trial and post-judgment motions. Kathleen has taken and defended numerous fact witness and expert depositions, successfully argued and defended against dispositive motions, and prepared, presented, and defended witnesses at trial. She has experience defending complex civil matters and class actions.

Kathleen has experience in securities, antitrust, telecommunications, and intellectual property litigation. She has litigated before California state courts, federal and bankruptcy courts, and the California Public Utilities Commission.

Southern California Super Lawyers magazine has twice named Kathleen to its "Rising Stars" list.

Kathleen served as a law clerk to the Honorable William J. Rea, of the United States District Court for the Central District of California in 2003-2004. She graduated as valedictorian from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles in 2002, and she obtained a B.A. in music from Loyola Marymount University in 1998.