Writ Practice Boot Camp Conference (5th Annual): Court Attorneys Teach the Do's and Don'ts

Moderators:

Eric Grant heads the Sacramento office of Hicks Thomas LLP, a Houston-based firm with a national practice in energy, environmental and toxic torts, antitrust, intellectual property, product liability, and appellate matters.  Mr. Grant himself litigates principally constitutional and complex statutory matters in the California and federal appellate courts.  He received his law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law in 1990.  Following his graduation, he served as a law clerk to Judge Edith H. Jones of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  During the U.S. Supreme Court's October 1994 Term, he served as a law clerk to Retired Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and to Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.  Among Mr. Grant's significant cases are Osborn v. Haley, 549 U.S. 225 (2007), and Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency v. Verjil, 39 Cal. 4th 205 (2006).  Mr. Grant was the lead lawyer in Recall Gray Davis Committee v. Shelley, in which the Third District Court of Appeal issued an alternative writ of mandate that effectively compelled the Secretary of State to expeditiously count and certify the petitions submitted in support of the recall of Governor Gray Davis in 2003.

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.

Faculty:

Tim Schooley has been a writ attorney at the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, since 1991. Since 2003, he has been the court’s Supervising Attorney, responsible for supervising the court’s writ staff. Mr. Schooley is also a lecturer at the U.C. Davis School of Law, where he has taught Appellate Advocacy and supervised the law school’s appellate advocacy program since 2002. Mr. Schooley is a frequent lecturer and panelist on appellate law and procedure. Mr. Schooley received a B.A. degree from U.C. Santa Barbara in 1982 and a J.D. degree from U.C. Berkeley (Boalt Hall, School of Law) in 1986. After graduating from law school, he practiced labor law with a private law firm.

Patricia Nelson has been a Senior Judicial Attorney for the Third District Court of Appeal since January, 2002, and is admitted to practice in California and Massachusetts. She is currently assigned as a full time writ attorney. Before coming to the court, Ms. Nelson served as a deputy state public defender, county public defender and alternate public defender, was a partner in a firm concentrating in writ, appellate, and criminal trial practice, worked in family and civil litigation for a legal services office, and was a senior attorney for the California Appellate Project for 12 years. She has lectured widely for a variety of MCLE programs for appellate practitioners. She received a B.A. degree cum laude from University of California, Irvine in 1970, an M.A.T. degree from Wesleyan University in 1972, and a J.D. degree from UCLA School of law in 1976.

Randee Barak has been a Senior Appellate Attorney at the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District since 1999.  Prior to coming to the Court of Appeal, Ms. Barak specialized in business and health care litigation for Sidley Austin, working in both its Litigation and Appellate Practice groups.  Ms. Barak graduated with honors from UCLA School of Law in 1992 and, following graduation, served as law clerk to the Honorable Judge Arthur Alarcon on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  A member of the Los Angeles County Bar Appellate Courts Committee, she is the co-chair of the “Appellate Court Experience program (ACE),” a program developed in conjunction with the Constitutional Rights Foundation to educate Los Angeles County area high school students about the appellate court system.  In 2008 the Constitutional Rights Foundation honored Ms. Barak as “Lawyer of the Year for the Public Sector.”  She is the author of several articles on litigation and appellate practice. 

Since 1983, Pablo Drobny has been Senior Judicial Attorney for the California Court of Appeal, Second Judicial District, specializing in writs. Mr. Drobny has authored several legal articles, is a frequent lecturer and panelist on appellate law and procedure, and is a member and past Chair of the California Appellate Judicial Attorneys Education Committee.  Mr. Drobny received a B.A. degree with highest honors from Johns Hopkins University in 1967, and a J.D. degree Cum Laude from Harvard Law School in 1970.  After graduation from law school he engaged in academic work (with an international foundation in Amsterdam, Holland and at Boalt Law School), and in private practice with a law firm and as corporate counsel.

Mr. Potter joined the Second District Court of Appeal in 1980.  He has served as a deputy clerk to four Presiding Justices of the Second District, including former Supreme Court Associate Justice Otto M. Kaus and Presiding Justice Mildred L. Lillie, who was the longest sitting Jurist in California history.  Mr. Potter was appointed to the position of Chief Deputy Clerk for the Second District in 1992 and became an Assistant Clerk/Administrator in 1997.  Prior to joining the Court of Appeal, Mr. Potter served as a deputy clerk of the Los Angeles County Municipal Court from 1976 to 1979.  Mr. Potter is a member of the California Appellate Court Clerks Association and the National Conference of Appellate Court Clerks.  He served as the 2001 NCACC Convention Co-Host and Chaired the 2002 Appellate Staff Continuing Studies Program.  Currently Mr. Potter serves as Chair of the Change Control Board for the Appellate Court’s Case Management Committee.