• Professional recognition

    • Best Lawyers in America (First Amendment Law) 1995 – present
    • Northern California Super Lawyers (Media & First Amendment) 2005 – present
    • Chambers USA Leading Business Lawyers (Media & Entertainment) 2003 – 2011
    • James Madison Freedom of Information Award for Legal Counsel, Northern California Chapter, Society of Professional Journalists 2013
      ​(for 26 years of leadership as an attorney, educator and organizational leader in defense of reporters and news organizations fighting FOI and defamation cases)


  • Professional experience and teaching

    PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

    • 1997–present: Sole practitioner, Capitola and Soquel, CA
    • 1996–1997: Founding Partner, Genesis Law Group, San Jose, CA
    • 1984–1996: Associate and Senior Counsel, Pillsbury Madison & Sutro
    • (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman), San Jose, CA

    TEACHING

    • 1997–1998: Lecturer, San Jose State University Journalism School
    • (Course: Media Law and Ethics).
    • 1990–1994: Adjunct Professor, Santa Clara University Law School
    • (Course: Media Law).
    • 1985–1986: Visiting Asst. Professor of Law, Santa Clara University Law School (Courses: Constitutional Law, Real Property, Legal Research & Writing).

  • Education

    • Santa Clara University Law School, J.D., 1984, summa cum laude, class rank 1/223.
    • Lone Mountain College, Master of Fine Arts, 1978.
    • Western Oregon State University, B.S., 1976.