Brad Brian is a partner in the Los Angeles firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, and is listed in S. Naifeh & G. Smith, The Best Lawyers in America, in five different categories, including “Business Litigation,” “Legal Malpractice,” “Criminal Defense” and “Bet The Company” cases. Mr. Brian has been recognized by California Law Business for the past eleven consecutive years as one of the 100 most influential attorneys in the State of California, was recently identified by Chambers USA (America’s Leading Lawyers for Business) as one of the top five commercial litigators in the State of California, and was identified in February 2009 by Super Lawyers as one of the Top Ten lawyers in all of Southern California. Mr. Brian is regularly retained to represent clients in their most challenging, high-profile lawsuits and investigations, has advised many Boards of Directors of Fortune 500 companies, and has represented countless large law firms in their most significant cases (including in three successful trials).
Mr. Brian served as Chair of the ABA Litigation Section in 2005-06, and currently chairs the RAND Institute for Civil Justice. Mr. Brian is the co-editor of the book entitled “Internal Corporate Investigations” (ABA 3d ed. 2007). Mr. Brian has taught trial advocacy at the University of Southern California Law Center, Harvard Law School’s trial advocacy program, and the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. Mr. Brian graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1977 from the Harvard Law School, where he served as the Managing Editor of the Harvard Law Review, and later served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles.
Bruce A. Broillet is a partner at Greene Broillet & Wheeler, LLP in Santa Monica, California. He has obtained numerous seven and eight figure verdicts and settlements. He served as President of Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles in 1994 and has received its Trial Lawyer of the Year Award. He served as President of Consumer Attorneys of California in 2001 and has received its Cartwright Award, Pollock Award, and Lewis Award. He also received the “Litigator of the Year” Award from the Century City Bar Association. He is a Fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, American College of Trial Lawyers, International Society of Barristers, and ABOTA.
Mr. Broillet has been listed repeatedly as one of the Top Ten Superlawyers in Southern California and has been named on multiple occasions to the Daily Journal's Top 100 Lawyers in California. California Lawyer magazine named Mr. Broillet one of the most respected plaintiff's lawyers in California and he is named in Best Lawyers in America in three categories. He has been inducted into the Consumer Attorneys of California Hall of Fame. Mr. Broillet received his B.A. from Notre Dame and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.
James J. Brosnahan is a senior partner with Morrison & Foerster. Mr. Brosnahan received his B.S.B.A. degree in 1956 from Boston College and went on to attend Harvard Law School, earning his LL.B. degree in 1959. In 1961, his post-law school career led to five years as an Assistant United States Attorney prosecuting federal cases in Phoenix, Arizona and San Francisco, California. Mr. Brosnahan has particular expertise in civil and criminal trial work. He was inducted into The State Bar of California’s “Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame” in April 1996; was awarded the “Samuel E. Gates Award” by the American College of Trial Lawyers in October 2000; was named the “Trial Lawyer of the Year” by the American Board of Trial Advocates in October 2001; was named “Legend of the Law” by the Lawyer’s Club of San Francisco, November 2002; was awarded the William J. Brennan Jr. Award from the University of Virginia Trial Advocacy Program in January 2003; was awarded the Champion of Justice award from the Civil Justice Program at the Loyola Law School in September 2005. In addition, Mr. Brosnahan has been named to the United States Lawyer Rankings 2006 List of the Nation's Top 10 Criminal Defense Lawyers. He is the recipient of the 2007 American Inns of Court Lewis F. Powell Award for Professionalism and Ethics. He was honored by the Anti-Defamation League with their 2008 Distinguished Jurisprudence Award.
Mr. Brosnahan has served as special counsel to the California Legislature’s Joint Subcommittee on Crude Oil Pricing, he was the lawyers’ representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference and Chairman of the Delegation, and president of the Bar Association of San Francisco. He is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Board of Trial Advocates, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, the American Law Institute, and the American Board of Criminal Lawyers Association. Mr. Brosnahan also serves as Master Advocate on the faculty and member of the Board of Trustees of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy. Mr. Brosnahan served as co-chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Subcommittee on Minority Hiring.
Edward S. Cheng is a partner at the law firm of Sherin and Lodgen LLP in Boston. He is a member of the Litigation Department and co-chair of the Professional Liability Group. He specializes in complex commercial disputes, professional malpractice cases, insurance coverage disputes, and real estate litigation. His clients include attorneys and their law firms, corporations, title insurance companies, and professional liability insurance companies. Mr. Cheng has also litigated employment, construction disputes, trade secret, and non-competition agreement disputes, and has represented attorneys in disciplinary proceedings before the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers.
Joseph W. Cotchett is the senior partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP. He has a legendary reputation for his courtroom accomplishments and is considered one of the country’s foremost trial lawyers by both plaintiff and defense attorneys. The National Law Journal has called him one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America. Mr. Cotchett has dedicated much of his legal career to public justice with a prolific history of pro bono work. He has tried over 100 jury trials, including some of the largest antitrust cases. He represented the NFL and various teams in antitrust cases around the country and has tried antitrust cases in both Federal and State Courts.
With an Engineering degree from California Polytech, Joe earned his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, an Advocate in the American Board of Trial Advocates, and a former Master of the American Inns of Court. He has authored several books on law and serves on numerous boards and State Commissions. He was a former Colonel in the Army in both JAG and Airborne Special Forces Reserves.
Joan D'Ambrosio is a partner at Clyde & Co US LLP in San Francisco, California. She practices in the area of professional liability, representing professionals and their insurers and reinsurers with respect to all issues ranging from coverage evaluations and disputes, to litigation management and creative approaches to dispute resolution and litigation alternatives. For twenty years, she has represented insurers in claims brought against lawyers, design professionals, technology and media companies, real estate professionals, entertainment industry professionals and health care professionals. Ms. D’Ambrosio's representation of technology and cyber liability insurers includes coverage evaluation and litigation management for intellectual property and privacy claims, including data breaches and related litigation. Her experience in representing professional liability insurers and reinsurers in a variety of business classes extends from individual risks to comprehensive insurance programs in California and nationally.
William R. Friedrich is a member of the San Francisco-based firm Farella Braun + Martel LLP. He is an experienced general litigator whose practice, for more than 25 years, has emphasized insurance coverage and bad faith litigation.
Mr. Friedrich has extensive experience in handling both first party claims (e.g., property damage, business interruption, health and disability) and third party liability claims (e.g., construction, directors and officers, professional errors and omissions, and general liability). Representative clients range from individuals in need of medical benefits to major corporate and governmental entities such as Albertsons, Applied Materials, Pacific Telesis, the Port of Oakland and Raychem. The majority of Mr. Friedrich’s professional time is devoted to resolving insurance-related issues and disputes arising in connection with multi-party, complex civil litigation. He has mediated a number of insurance disputes, and also has served as an arbitrator, including international arbitrations.
Mr. Friedrich has published a variety of articles and spoken on numerous panels concerning insurance coverage and bad faith issues, and is listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Insurance Law.
Thomas Girardi, a partner in Girardi|Keese, has been practicing law since 1965. Mr. Girardi specializes in commercial litigation, product liability law, toxic torts, and bad faith cases. He is an associate professor for Loyola Law School, and was the youngest member to ever be admitted to the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, an organization limited to 500 lawyers in the world. He was president of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers 2005 to 2006. Among Mr. Girardi's other associations and honors, he is a member of the Inner Circle of Advocates, an organization limited to 100 lawyers in the country who have obtained the largest verdicts in the United States. He is currently a trustee of the National Judicial College, serves on the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board, 2010 National Advisory Board Member of the Association of the Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America and currently President of the Italian American Lawyers’ Association.
Susan J. Harriman is a partner at Keker & Van Nest LLP in San Francisco, California. Since joining the firm in 1985, Susan has handled a wide range of complex business litigation. She has tried state and federal cases involving legal malpractice defense, commercial disputes, real estate, and wrongful termination. She has also arbitrated cases before the American Arbitration Association and the National Association of Securities Dealers. Susan is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. She has been named a Leading Trial Lawyer by The Legal 500, has received top rankings in bet-the-company litigation and legal malpractice law by Best Lawyers in America, and has been included in The Daily Journal’s list of Top 75 Women Litigators for the past seven years. In 2000, she was named to her high school’s Wall of Fame “in recognition of scholarship, leadership, and community service.”
Prior to joining Keker & Van Nest, Susan was a fellow at Stanford University Law School and a law clerk for the Honorable Robert F. Peckham, Chief Judge, District Court for the Northern District of California. She received her JD magna cum laude from UC Hastings College of Law in 1983 and her undergraduate degree from Brown University in 1976.
Reiko Hasuike, Ph.D. is a Founding Partner of R& D Strategic Solutions LLC, Manhattan Beach, California. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Princeton University, and has been in the field of litigation and consulting for more than 26 years. Her expertise includes jury research, jury selection, witness preparation, arbitration/mediation strategy, persuasive communication, and international business disputes. She has spoken at various events, including the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference, American Bar Association meetings, DRI and numerous State Bar Association meetings. In addition, she has published articles on topics such as jurors’ perceptions, persuasive communication strategy, and videotape depositions.
She has worked on all types of cases over the years in numerous federal and state venues. During the last five years, she has worked on a significant number of cases in the areas of securities litigation, pharmaceutical litigation, intellectual property litigation, and white collar criminal cases.
Jim Haug is Of Counsel to Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC in its Burlington, VT office. Mr. Haug has worked with clients in the captive insurance industry for more than 20 years. He focuses his practice in the area of claims administration, advising captive clients with regard to reserves, monitoring claims activity, evaluating coverage and supervising the clients’ defense counsel. Jim serves as claims counsel to MPC Insurance, Ltd., a Vermont licensed carrier owned by nine large national and international law firms. Mr. Haug has been involved in the defense and resolution of over 2500 matters in his 19 years in this role. Mr. Haug interacts on a daily basis with defense counsel across the country, providing advice on the defense of malpractice claims.
Don Howarth is a partner in the Los Angeles firm of Howarth & Smith, and previously was a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Mr. Howarth tries serious legal malpractice cases primarily for plaintiffs. He is an elected Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.
Mr. Howarth is a graduate of Harvard College, the Harvard Law School, and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. Along with his partner, Suzelle Smith, he is a Visiting Fellow and lecturer at Oxford University in England, and is the author of various articles and a book on litigation.
Rebecca M. Lamberth is a partner in the Atlanta office of Duane Morris. She practices in the area of securities and complex commercial litigation. Ms. Lamberth represents public and private companies, including REITs, with extensive experience in complex business and securities litigation, securities disclosure and corporate governance. She has defended companies and corporate officers and directors, lawyers, accountants and other professionals. Her clients include real estate investment trusts, global financial services companies, distributors, law firms, and major insurers and insurance brokers.
Ms. Lamberth also advises public company clients on securities disclosure, corporate governance and D&O insurance issues and represents corporate clients before the SEC. A significant portion of her practice is dedicated to advising and representing lawyers facing potential liability.
Atlanta Magazine named Ms. Lamberth a Georgia Super Lawyer in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. She also was listed in the Super Lawyers Corporate Counsel Edition in 2010. She is a Master of the Joseph Henry Lumpkin American Inn of Court.
Ms. Lamberth is a 1985 graduate of the University of Virginia Law School and a summa cum laude graduate of Vanderbilt University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Robert E. Lutz is Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, where he teaches courses on International Business Law, International Trade Law, International Litigation and Arbitration, Public International Law, and others on international legal topics. He is the author of articles in leading law and business journals, op-ed pieces, topic-focused books and several textbooks; he is an international arbitrator and frequent consultant to law firms on international legal matters and disputes.
Prof. Lutz is currently a participant in the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20; he previously chaired the ABA’s Task Force on International Trade in Legal Services (ITILS) (and continues as a member), was the Chair of SIL’s Transnational Legal Practice Committee (5 years) and the California Bar’s International Ethics Committee. He participated on SIL’s Outsourcing Committee and 20/20’s Technology Committee which developed the proposed ABA approach to “outsourcing” and cloud-computing issues.
Prof. Lutz is a member of the California Bar and is a former Chair (2001-2) of the 24,000-member Section of International Law (SIL) of the American Bar Association (ABA), the Los Angeles County Bar’s International Law Section, and the Association of American Law Schools’ (AALS) International Law Section. Prof. Lutz continues to lead the U.S. legal profession’s efforts to address the issues of transnational legal practice. He has organized and chaired a number of “Summits” of legal services leaders focused on Asia, Europe and Latin America and, recently, India, Korea, and the “global” practice of leading firms.
Edith R. Matthai is a principal of Robie & Matthai in Los Angeles. Ms. Matthai’s practice centers on professional malpractice defense. She also defends judges in disciplinary matters. In 2010 she was appointed to the Judicial Council of California, the policy making body of the California courts. From 2007 to 2010, she served as Chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability. Ms. Matthai has been named by California Lawyer as one of the prominent California attorneys who defend legal malpractice actions and she has been repeatedly named by the Los Angeles Daily Journal/San Francisco Recorder as one of the top 100 attorneys in California. In 2008, she received the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame award from the Litigation Section of the State Bar of California. In 2006, she received the “Champion of Justice” award from Loyola Law School. In 2010, she received the Ernestine Stahlhut Award from WLALA. She is a past president of LACBA and the ASCDC. She is past president of the Los Angeles Chapter of ABOTA.
Joe McMonigle is a partner in the San Francisco firm of Long & Levit LLP, is an Associate in the American Board of Trial Advocates, a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, and has tried dozens of legal malpractice actions to verdict and judgment throughout California. Joe’s practice focuses on the defense of lawyers in professional liability cases and attorney fee disputes, partnership and state bar matters, and on complex commercial and business disputes. He also has an active practice representing judges in proceedings before the Commission on Judicial Performance and retired judges in civil matters.
Joe currently serves on the California State Bar Judicial Nominees Commission and on the California Judicial Counsel Advisory Committee on Civil Jury Instructions. He previously served as chair and a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability; as chair of the Legal Malpractice Committee of the San Francisco Bar Association; and on the State Bar Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct.
Lincoln Mead is the IT Director of the Utah State Bar and an obsessive fan of Cubs baseball. As the Bar’s IT Director he assists Utah attorneys with evaluations of practice technology and manages the technology vendor relationships on the Utah State Bar group benefits program. Mr. Mead is a past Chair of the IT section for the National Association of Bar Executives and is a member of the Law Practice Management Section of the ABA, where he currently serves on the TechShow planning board. He is a frequent guest lecturer for other Bars and law related organizations around the country where he speaks on technology policy, planning, implementation, and use. He is currently assisting the Utah state courts with educating attorneys on the court's new efiling system.
Carey L. Menasco is a shareholder with the law firm of Liskow & Lewis (New Orleans) and is a member of the firm’s professional liability litigation and bankruptcy groups. Her practice focuses on commercial and professional liability litigation, including director and officer liability, legal malpractice defense, contractual litigation, and other complex matters including the representation of creditors and creditor committees in complex business reorganizations. She has been practicing with Liskow & Lewis since 2002. Ms. Menasco currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Membership Subcommittee of the ABA Section of Litigation’s Professional Liability Committee.
Christopher Piety is the Vice President of Lawyers and Accountants Claims for Aspen Specialty Insurance Solutions, LLC in their San Francisco office. Mr. Piety has over 20 years experience in professional liability claims, both within the insurance industry and as outside counsel defending professionals in malpractice litigation. Prior to joining Aspen, Mr. Piety served as Vice President of Claims at CAMICO Mutual Insurance Company, a national accountants professional liability carrier based in California, and was a partner in the Los Angeles area law firm of Garrett & Tully.
Dan Pinnington is Director, practicePRO at the Lawyers’ Professional Indemnity Company (LAWPRO) in Toronto. practicePRO is an innovative claims prevention initiative that provides lawyers with tools and resources to assist them in avoiding malpractice claims and succeeding in the practice of law. Mr. Pinnington has a LLB/JD from the Universities of Windsor and Detroit and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1993. Prior to joining LAWPRO, Mr. Pinnington practiced for eight years in the Litigation Department of a Niagara area law firm.
Mr. Pinnington is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and is a prolific writer, speaker and blogger on risk management, technology and law practice management issues. He is a veteran of hundreds of presentations at law firms, CPD programs and conferences all over North America. Mr. Pinnington is currently Editor-in-Chief of American Bar Association’s Law Practice Magazine. He co-authored the Busy Lawyer’s Guide to Success: Essential Tips to Power Your Practice, and has contributed chapters to several other books published by the ABA LPM Section. He was Chair of ABA TECHSHOW 2007.
Catherine Sanders Reach is the Director at the American Bar Association's Legal Technology Resource Center. She has provided practice technology assistance for lawyers for over ten years with the LTRC. Prior to her work at the ABA she worked in library and information science environments for a number of years. She received a master's degree in Library and Information Studies from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa in 1997.
Ms. Reach's professional activities include articles published in Law Practice magazine, Law Technology News and GPSolo Magazine. She has given presentations on the use of technology in law firms for national bar conferences, state and local bar associations and organizations such as the Association of Legal Administrators and the Association of American Law Schools. She served on the ABA TECHSHOW Board from 2007-2009 and is on the editorial advisory board for Law Technology News. In 2011 she was selected to be one of the inaugural Fastcase 50, celebrating 50 innovators, techies, visionaries, and leaders.
Judy H. Rothschild, Ph.D. has been a valuable addition to trial teams in civil litigation since 1984. Dr. Rothschild has consulted on hundreds of cases, in state and federal courts, helping attorneys achieve landmark victories in many cases. A senior consultant for nearly 20 years with National Jury Project she began her own firm JHRothschild Consulting in 2001. She specializes in civil litigation, including business and commercial litigation (professional liability, contracts, construction, intellectual property, etc.) as well as personal injury and employment litigation. She consults on: case analysis and case presentation; mock juror research; witness preparation; graphics; voir dire preparation and in-court assistance with jury selection; and post-trial juror interviews. She has consulted for the courts, judicial and bar associations. She is frequently invited to speak for organizations such as the California State Bar, ABOTA, ABTL, Inns of Court and many local and regional bar associations. She has taught Sociology, Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution, and Criminology at several universities. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Berkeley.
Daniel J. Siegel is the principal of the Law Offices of Daniel J. Siegel, LLC, a regional general practice law firm based in Havertown, Pennsylvania, who focuses his practice on ethics, professional responsibility, appellate writing and workers’ compensation matters. He is the author of Changing Law Firms: Ethical Guidance for Pennsylvania Law Firms and Attorneys, published by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and The Lawyer’s Guide to CaseMap, published by the American Bar Association Law Practice Management Section.
Hon. Jon S. Tigar is a Judge of the Alameda County Superior Court. He currently presides over a civil trial department, where he handles primarily toxic tort matters, and is the Presiding Judge of the court’s Appellate Division. Judge Tigar is also an Adviser to the American Law Institute for the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Liability for Economic Harm; a contributing editor to the Matthew Bender treatise, California Contract Litigation; and a member of the California Judicial Council’s Advisory Committee on Civil Jury Instructions. In 2009, he was named Trial Judge of the Year by the Alameda/Contra Costa Trial Lawyers’ Association.
Before taking the bench, Judge Tigar practiced complex commercial litigation as a partner at Keker & Van Nest in San Francisco; as a trial lawyer in the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office; and as a litigation associate at Morrison & Foerster. He clerked for Robert Vance of the United Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Birmingham, Alabama.
Judge Tigar graduated from Boalt Hall School of Law (now Berkeley Law School), where he was a member of the Order of the Coif and an Articles Editor on the California Law Review, and a Research Assistant to Professor Melvin Eisenberg. In 2006, he received Berkeley Law’s Young Alumnus Award. He has a degree in Economics and English from Williams College.
Gavin Villareal is a partner at Baker Botts L.L.P. in Austin, Texas. He represents clients in a wide variety of complex business-related disputes in state and federal court, with an emphasis on professional liability litigation. He regularly advises some of the largest accounting and law firms in cases involving allegations of professional negligence. Mr. Villareal is a co-chair of the Professional Liability Litigation Committee of the ABA's Section of Litigation.
Hon. Daniel Weinstein (Ret.) is a neutral at JAMS based in San Francisco, CA. A former Superior Court Judge of San Francisco, he is one of the nation's preeminent mediators of complex civil disputes. Recipient of the Learned Hand Award, he is a pioneer in the development of mediation and teaches and lectures to fellow mediators and lawyers throughout the United States. Judge Weinstein designs the process for resolution of complex, multi-party, and high stakes cases, and mediates cases with aggregate values of up to billions of dollars annually (since 1997). His areas of expertise include securities class actions, mass torts, intellectual property, antitrust, entertainment law, insurance allocation, environmental, toxic tort, professional malpractice, and venture capital partnership disputes. He is recognized for numerous activities and awards, including the Best Mediator in the Bay Area. A former U.S. special representative to Bosnia, Judge Weinstein founded the Weinstein Fellowship program which promotes ADR worldwide. He is also the Co-Founder and President of 7 Tepees Youth Program for disadvantaged youth in San Francisco.