Best Lawyers in California, United States for Appellate Practice
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Thomas “Tom” H. Bienert, Jr. is a trial attorney with decades of experience handling complex litigation, investigations, and appeals in state and federal courts. Based in San Clemente, California, Tom represents businesses, executives, professionals, and individuals in matters involving Commercial Litigation, Bet-the-Company Litigation, Appellate Practice , and Criminal Defense: White-Collar . He is a founding partner of Bienert Katzman Littrell Williams LLP (BKLW), a litigation-f...
Peter Stris is one of the most prominent business litigators of his generation. He serves as a lead strategist and presenter in must-win trials, landmark appeals, and rapid media-response campaigns. Peter represents a wide range of clients including companies, governmental entities, non-profits, investors, entrepreneurs, and executives. He is also regularly hired by other attorneys to play a leading role in their most important and difficult cases. Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Peter r...
Susan Horst is a specialist in writs of mandamus and prohibition in the California appellate courts. For more than 31 years, Susan served as the writ attorney for the California Court of Appeal for the First District, Division One, in San Francisco. Susan is one of the only practicing attorneys in California to have devoted virtually her entire career to appellate writs. As writ attorney in the First District, Susan evaluated thousands of pre- and post- trial writ petitions in all types of ci...
Jessica Weisel has more than 20 years of experience handling must-win civil appeals, writs, and trial court motions for businesses and individuals. She has litigated in nearly every federal circuit Court of Appeals and has extensive experience in the California Supreme Court and California Court of Appeal. Jessica’s substantive appellate experience covers a vast range of subjects. She recently obtained reversals of a $19 million wrongful termination judgment in an employment suit, a $27...
Rex Heinke is widely recognized as one of the most accomplished and experienced appellate practitioners in California, and among the best in the nation. He has argued more than 150 appeals in federal and state courts across the country. Between 2001 and 2020, Rex was co-head of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s nationally renowned Supreme Court and Appellate practice. He is regularly called on to defend major corporations and high-profile individuals in some of their most hotly conte...
Education : Occidental College (B.A., Psychology/Theater, cum laude, 1979); University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law (J.D. 1983). Admitted to : California and New York State Bars; U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; U.S. District Courts in California. Professional Experience : Benedon & Serlin, LLP (2015-present); Senior Counsel head of Law and Motion & Appellate Department, Collins Collins Muir & Stewart (2012-2015); Associate, Lit...
Judy is a partner of the Firm and one of California’s most effective appellate practitioners. First certified as a specialist in appellate law more than 25 years ago, and with B&S since 2015, Judy has focused her career solely on appellate practice for three decades, both in private practice at major law firms and in the appellate courts. Having served as a law clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and spent more than 11 years as a senior judicial attorney at the ...
The Daily Journal describes Anna-Rose Mathieson as “one of the West Coast’s leading appellate litigators.” She’s been named one of the Top Women Attorneys in California three times, is certified as an appellate specialist by the Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California, and taught appellate writing at Stanford Law School. She served as a law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court. Anna-Rose draws from her broad experience to ...
Sharon Baumgold is an expert in the arcane science of California appellate writs. She spent nearly four decades as a writs attorney on the California Court of Appeal’s Second District. There, she reviewed, analyzed, and advised appellate justices on more than 10,000 appellate writ petitions in all areas of state law, including arbitration, business and commercial litigation, employment, entertainment, government, insurance, real estate, and probate law. Frequent topics included jurisdic...
Melanie Gold spent more than three decades as a research attorney for California appellate courts. She primarily worked with the justices of the Fourth District Court of Appeal in San Diego, but also with those of the Sixth District Court of Appeal in San Jose as well as the California Supreme Court in San Francisco. During that time, Melanie analyzed thousands of briefs, motions, and petitions, advised justices on hundreds of appeals, and developed a deep understanding of how appellate court...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.