Adjunct

Amir V. Adibi is a patent attorney with Adibi IP Group, PC, an intellectual property law firm based in San Francisco. Amir specializes in patent, trademark, and copyright prosecution, litigation, counseling, and portfolio development. Amir has expertise in drafting and prosecuting patent applications in the areas of semiconductor, power electronics, electric vehicle, control systems, computer hardware, software, and telecommunications technology. Prior to practicing law, Amir held technical...

Assistant Professor Gary Alexander received his A.B. degree in Biology from Harvard University in 1988. He received his J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1993 and is an active member of the California Bar. From 1993 through 2006, he practiced privately in San Francisco as a trial lawyer, including with his own firm of Meis & Alexander for nearly a decade. In 2006, he was appointed to the post of deputy attorney general with the California Department of Justice....

Drew Amoroso is the founder of DueCourse, a platform that connects lawyers and law firms with personal, professional, and business development coaches. Drew started his career as a senior associate at Reed Smith LLP and was the founder of Move Legal, a law firm dedicated to counseling startups in the fitness and health and wellness industries. He graduated from UC Davis School of Law where he was the editor-in-chief of the law review. Drew is the host of The Workday Mindset Podcast and an...

Eric Anderson leads the San Francisco Bay Area state and local tax practice of Andersen Tax. He focuses on income tax planning and compliance, sales and use tax transaction planning, mergers and acquisitions, franchise tax matters, and administrative tax controversies. Eric has extensive experience with unitary tax planning, business and nonbusiness issues, and entity structuring to manage multistate tax liabilities. Eric also serves as a national resource negotiating credits and incentives on...

Peter Arian is a graduate of U.C. Hastings College of the Law, was admitted to the California Bar in 2005, and was named a State Bar Certified Specialist in the field of criminal law in 2013. Now in private practice, Mr. Arian previously worked as a deputy public defender for the County of Marin (2005-2012), and as a deputy federal public defender in both the trial and capital habeas units of the Federal Defender for the Central District of California (2012-2015). He has represented a wide...

Adjunct Professor Robert S. Arns has practiced trial and appellate law in San Francisco since 1975, specializing in serious injury or death arising out of product failure cases, Federal Employers Liability Act actions, Jones Act actions, construction site incidents, mass torts, medical negligence and other tortuous conduct, as well as class action suits. He founded The Arns Law Firm with offices in San Francisco and Reno in 1996. He was named Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2004 by San Francisco...

Brandon M. Banks started Brandon Banks Law APC focusing on employment law in order to fight for workers in the workplace. Brandon is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at UC Hastings School of Law where he teaches Legal Research and Writing. After graduating law school, Brandon became a dedicated Attorney working as a Deputy Public Defender in San Francisco, which allowed Brandon to work on dozens of misdemeanor and felony cases with great success, fighting to take dozens of cases to preliminary...

Laurence A. Blau is a certified specialist in estate planning, trust and probate law, certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. He has published various articles, including co-authoring an article in the California Tax Lawyer on the effect of tax changes on subchapter S corporations. He has published a textbook entitled Fundamentals of California Estate Planning and Estate Administration. He is a regular panelist for numerous organizations conducting seminars...

Thomas J. Brandi has tried cases to verdict in 18 jurisdictions and has obtained numerous jury verdicts ranging from $1 million to $1 billion. A lawyer for more than 35 years, in 1993 Brandi started his own firm, The Brandi Law Firm, representing plaintiffs in serious injury and mass tort cases. He was Consumer Attorneys of California Trial Lawyer of the year in 2004 (also nominated in 2002 and 2012), a five–time nominee for Trial Lawyer of the Year for the San Francisco Trial Lawyers...

Carol Brown has litigation experience in both the private and public sector and recently retired as an administrative law judge (ALJ) with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). As an ALJ, she was primarily assigned to energy procurement proceedings for the California gas and electric utilities, with the responsibility for cases authorizing the electric utilities to acquire electricity following the failed deregulation experiment. Ms. Brown was also appointed to matters that drove...

Daniel Bryant is a senior attorney with the Office of Chief Counsel for the IRS. As an attorney with the Office of Chief Counsel, he represents the IRS in cases before the United States Tax Court, serving as lead attorney for more than 10 trials. In addition, Daniel provides IRS employees with advice on a variety of corporate, partnership, and individual tax issues. Daniel also worked as a tax and estate planning associate at a large international law firm. Daniel graduated with honors from UC...

Professor Carroll is president of the Law Offices of Carroll & Scully, Inc., San Francisco, representing unions and workers for some 55 years. The firm also represents trustees of Taft-Hartley trusts for pension, health, apprenticeship, and other types of plans providing employee benefits. 

Doris Cheng is a shareholder at Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger and co-director of USF School of Law's Intensive Advocacy Program. As the current president of the Bar Association of San Francisco, she is focused on bringing more women into trial law. Cheng has been ranked as one of the top 50 women lawyers in Northern California. She is listed among the Best Lawyers of America, Super Lawyers, and San Francisco Best Lawyers. Specializing in complex injuries caused by third-party...

Angela Chuang has been an Assistant Federal Public Defender (Trial) with the Federal Public Defender's Office in the Northern District of California since 2019. Prior to that, she was a trial attorney with New York County Defender Services, a public defender's office in New York City, for 5 1/2 years. She has also previously worked with an access-to-justice NGO in Sierra Leone, migrant workers in China, and Burmese refugees in Thailand. 

Jerry Coleman retired July 1, 2014, after 35 years as an assistant district attorney in the City and County of San Francisco. His most recent position was as chief of the Brady, Appellate, and Training Division, which he held since 2011. In that post he supervised all SFDA’s appellate litigation, trained the entire office, and developed advocacy programs for all trial lawyers and new hires, and managed the Trial Integrity Unit, which handled all prosecution discovery and defense notice...

Sasha M. Cummings is a Circuit Mediator at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit specializing in federal appellate mediation. Prior to her appointment as a Circuit Mediator, Ms. Cummings was a partner at a national law firm, where her trial practice focused on complex litigated matters, including catastrophic injury, products liability, and premises liability. Ms. Cummings has volunteered extensively as a Judge Pro Tem, Settlement Conference Officer, and Mandatory Settlement Conference...

Since 1993, Mr. Dergosits has taught patent law as an adjunct professor of patent law at the University of San Francisco School of Law. In 2005, he was honored as the Distinguished Adjunct Professor of the Year. He frequently speaks and authors publications on intellectual property topics. Mr. Dergosits possesses more than 25 years of legal experience and focuses on handling trials, trial preparation, and counseling (including litigation avoidance) regarding patent matters. He founded Dergosits...

Shounak Dharap is a plaintiffs’ attorney at The Arns Law Firm. Shounak represents working families, consumers, and other injured people through complex litigation in federal and state court, as well as in arbitration. His practice areas include labor and employment, consumer privacy and fraud, and financial elder abuse. He also represents families in wrongful death actions, as well as wildfire cases against PG&E. His passion is in the area of labor and employment, where he has litigated gig...

Adjunct Professor Adrian Driscoll is a senior counsel in the San Francisco office of Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney. In his over 30 years of practice, he has litigated a variety of civil cases and appeals in state and federal courts. Driscoll is a past member of the USF Law Society's Board of Governors and the State Bar's Committee on the Administration of Justice (Litigation Section) and Committee on the History of Law in California, as well as a past president of the St. Thomas More...

Roy Eisenhardt graduated from Berkeley Law after serving in the Marine Corps, and practiced law in San Francisco until joining Berkeley as a visiting professor in 1978. In 1980 he became president of the Oakland Athletics, and in 1989 he accepted the role of executive director of the California Academy of Sciences. The interim president of the San Francisco Art Institute in 2010, Eisenhardt has served as a lecturer in sports law at Berkeley Law since 2011.

Julie is a founding partner of Erickson Kramer Osborne. Julie’s practice focuses on all phases of complex class action litigation. She exclusively represents plaintiffs in a diverse set of state and national class actions involving consumer fraud, employment/wage and hour violations, and elder abuse disputes in both federal and state courts. Her areas of expertise include employment misclassification, false advertising, and the issue of forced arbitration.

Professor Eric R. Fleming is a San Francisco Superior Court judge and was the chief trial attorney of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. He also managed the homicide and gang units during his tenure with the District Attorney's office. Professor Fleming earned a JD from the University of San Francisco School of Law and a BS in engineering from Tulane University. After law school, Professor Fleming worked as an associate at Cooley Godward from 1995 to 1999. He was an extern for the...

Peter Harvey has practiced intellectual property law, with a focus on trademark and copyright law, in San Francisco for over 30 years. He has served on the board of the International Trademark Association (INTA), a 140-year old organization representing trademark owners worldwide, and as INTA’s counsel. He has taught Entertainment & Media Law as an adjunct professor at USF School of Law since 2001. He received USF’s Adjunct Professor of the Year Award in 2013. Annually since 2016, he has...

Adjunct Professor Jerome A. Hawkins is a trial lawyer and civil litigator at Hawkins Injury Law based in Solano County, California. His firm works with the seriously injured and those who have had their civil rights violated to help them successfully obtain justice for the harms they have endured. Prior to law school, Jerome spent a number of years studying and working as a professional theater and film actor. During this phase of his life, he learned the power and importance of storytelling,...

Juan Carlos Ibarra is a Lecturer and member of the full-time faculty at UC Hastings College of the Law. Professor Ibarra helps students develop advanced critical thinking skills with a student-centered approach to studying the law. He teaches students how to analyze legal issues in a range of subjects, including Wills and Trusts and Community Property. Professor Ibarra is also a Senior Affiliated Scholar at UC Hastings’ Center for Racial and Economic Justice (CREJ). In this role, Professor...

Justice Teri L. Jackson was first appointed to the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Three, in November 2019 by Governor Gavin Newsom. The Commission on Judicial Appointments confirmed her appointment in January 2020. In August 2021, Justice Jackson was elevated to Presiding Justice of the First Appellate District, Division Five. Before joining the First Appellate District, Justice Jackson served as a Judge of the San Francisco Superior Court. She is the first...

Alexander Johnson is an associate attorney at Kugelman Law, PC where he practices tax controversy, business law, trusts, and estates with a focus on the legal issues individuals and businesses face when selling, transferring, or minting digital assets — to include cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens ("NFTs"). He has authored articles for Tax Notes and USF's Law Review regarding the tax treatment and utility of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. With a background in military...

Melissa R. Karlsten is a shareholder of Aaron, Riechert, Carpol & Riffle, and has been practicing in the area of Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law since 2002. The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization has certified Ms. Karlsten as a specialist in Estate Planning, Trust, and Probate Law. She has also trained as a mediator. Ms. Karlsten is a native of the Bay Area. She attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco. After high school, she earned a B.A. in...

Professor Kinyon is the director of the Office of Academic & Bar Success at the Santa Clara University School of Law, where he teaches Legal Analysis, Advanced Legal Writing: The Bar Exam, Property, and Community Property.

Judge Victoria Kolakowski became the first openly transgender trial court judge of general jurisdiction when she was elected in Alameda County, California in 2010. She is passionate about ensuring access to justice and is the California Council of Churches' appointee to the California Access to Justice Commission. She is a former president of the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges (2015-2017), and she has spoken widely internationally on LGBT issues, especially transgender legal issues.

Cliff Kuehn teaches trademark law and supervises students in the Internet & Intellectual Property Justice Clinic, and is Senior Counsel at the San Francisco office of Pirkey Barber, a full-service trademark firm. He assists startups through multinational companies with implementing global trademark prosecution and enforcement strategies, and works across several industries including high tech companies, food and beverage brands, fashion labels, and entertainment. His extensive intellectual...

Carol M. Langford is a lawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area. She specializes in giving advice on legal ethics and discipline to attorneys, judges, law firms, and corporations, and in representing lawyers and law students before the California State Bar in disciplinary and admissions matters. She serves as a national expert witness in the ethics area. She was formerly a partner in the Walnut Creek office of the international law firm of Carroll, Burdick & McDonough, where she was ethics...

Elinor Leary is the team leader of the Leary Trial Team at The Veen Firm. She and her team represent plaintiffs in civil cases--people who have been seriously injured due to unsafe worksite conditions, defective products, dangerous property conditions, negligent security, and vehicle collisions. Elinor has tried many cases to verdict. Several of her other cases have been listed in The Recorder's "Top Settlements" publications. Since 2011, Elinor has been listed continuously on various Super...

Jay Lee serves as a program director at OneJustice, where he leads the organization’s Healthy Nonprofits Program. Jay is responsible for developing nonprofit management trainings for the OneJustice Executive Fellowship Program, and oversees the organization’s technical assistance and consulting work, which provides training, coaching, and other resources for California's Qualified Legal Services Projects (QLSPs) as well as OneJustice’s national network of nonprofit legal organizations on a...

Ellen V. Leonida is the forensic staff attorney for the Northern District of California Federal Public Defender’s Office. She received her BA from the University of California at Santa Cruz and her JD from the University of California at Berkeley. Ms. Leonida worked for the Contra Costa County Public Defender’s office for nine years before going into private practice in San Francisco. She has been an assistant federal public defender in the Northern District of California since 2010.  Ms....

Adjunct Professor Frank R. Lindh is the retired general counsel of the California Public Utilities Commission and currently a solo practitioner. Mr. Lindh has been a practicing lawyer in the field of energy law for 33 years, initially in Washington, D.C., and since 1991 in San Francisco. Lindh is former president of the Western Chapter of the Energy Bar Association, and is a past member of the Energy Bar Association's national board of directors. He also has been a member of the board of...

In addition to teaching at USF, Brian Love is an associate professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law, where he also serves as co-director of the school’s High Tech Law Institute. His research focuses on patent law and policy, and he teaches courses in patent law, intellectual property law, and remedies. Prior to joining Santa Clara, Brian was a lecturer and teaching fellow at Stanford Law School, where he ran the LLM program in Law, Science, & Technology. He also practiced...

Jesse Mainardi is the founder of Mainardi Law, a firm specializing in election and governmental ethics law. His clients include candidates for public office, elected officials, lobbyists, nonprofits, and political committees. Before starting his firm, Jesse was the Deputy Director of the San Francisco Ethics Commission, a partner at a political law firm in the Bay Area, and enforcement counsel at California’s Fair Political Practices Commission. He was also a business litigation associate for a...

Kevin Milne has over 20 years of experience in the area of health law, and for the last 10 years has held several senior leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He currently serves as the Associate Deputy General Counsel for HHS. Before coming to HHS, Kevin was a Deputy Assistant General Counsel for the U.S. Government Accountability Office in Washington, D.C., where he provided legal support to congressional investigators and Members of Congress with...

Everett Monroe is an attorney at ZwillGen where he advises a wide range of clients on state, federal, and international data privacy laws and regulations. He received his BS in electrical engineering at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 2005, and his JD from the University of San Francisco in 2014. In addition to teaching information privacy law, Everett is also actively involved with USF’s Moot Court Program, coaching its trademark competition teams and working with...

Stephen Murphy is the associate director of the Alameda County Family Justice Center in Oakland. The center provides wrap-around services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, elder abuse, and child abuse. Prior to his work with the Family Justice Center, Stephen was the founder and managing partner of Murphy, Vu, Thongsamouth and Chatterjee, LLP. Murphy, Vu, Thongsamouth & Chatterjee is a community-based boutique law firm offering high quality legal representation...

Erin O'Donnell has been a private criminal defense attorney since graduating from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 2000. She started her career at Pier 5 Law Offices working with the notable J. Tony Serra. After honing her skills at Pier 5, she opened her own office and continued her work as a criminal defense warrior. She has almost two decades of criminal defense work in state and federal courts. Erin works with Professor Lara Bazelon in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Law...

Adjunct Professor Thomas A. Onda has served as chief counsel, global intellectual property, brands and marketing at Levi Strauss & Co for more than 15 years. A former student of Professor J. Thomas McCarthy, Onda has taught intellectual property and trademark law at USF and was awarded the Hon. Ira Brown Distinguished Adjunct Professor Award in 2010. He also serves on the Law School Board of Governors and the USF Intellectual Property Alumni Advisory Board. Before joining Levi Strauss, he...

Adjunct Professor Joseph A. Piasta II has had his own private practice, the Law Offices of Joseph A. Piasta II, since August 2014. He has been a trial lawyer since 1977, practicing in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps (both active and reserve components, attaining the rank of Colonel), and several Santa Rosa civil litigation firms. He specializes in civil litigation and trial practice, and has been lead counsel in several lengthy trials exceeding 50 days in length. He has tried cases on...

Peter C. Rock is an Assistant Director in the Advance Pricing and Mutual Agreement Program within the Large Business and International Division of the IRS. He is responsible for transfer pricing and allocation cases arising within the U. S. Competent Authority program. Mr. Rock has extensive and broad experience within the IRS and its Office of Chief Counsel. Prior to his current position, he was a Branch Chief with the Advance Pricing Program of the Office of Associate Chief Counsel (...

Adjunct Professor Richard Roos-Collins is the principal in the Water and Power Law Group PC, based in Berkeley. Since 1991, he has represented conservation and fishing groups, public agencies, and property owners in cases to restore aquatic ecosystems in a manner that contributes to sustainability of our power supplies and economy. He emphasizes settlements and other collaborative solutions. He was a lead drafter and negotiator of the Klamath Agreements (February 2010), and he represents...

Javier has over 16 years of distinguished international tax experience. He serves global clients in a wide range of industries, including technology, e-commerce, fintech and digital assets, financial services, life sciences, and traditional manufacturing and distribution. His curriculum has a technical focus on the substantive rules and application of U.S. international tax statutes and regulations. He enjoys travel, food, and wine, and when time allows, cooking.

Lois Schwartz is senior lecturer in law and a member of the full-time faculty at UC Hastings College of the Law. In addition to teaching, she completed a judicial clerkship in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 2001-2002 and has served as a staff attorney and deputy public defender in Contra Costa County.

Mani Sheik is the principal at Sheik Law in San Francisco. His primary practice is in labor and employment, commercial litigation, and appellate litigation. Mani’s labor and employment practice includes wage and hour litigation, class action litigation, wrongful termination, harassment, and discrimination, as well as advice and counsel to employers and conducting internal investigations. In law school, he chaired the Moot Court Board and was on the California Law Review, and served as a...

Jennifer (Jenny) Sheridan is the founder and principal of JLSheridan Law, a Silicon Valley boutique law firm focused on technology transactions, IP counseling and data privacy compliance. She has earned the CIPP/US privacy certification from the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). She is also the founder of StartUp Law Bootcamp, a training platform for technology attorneys as well as StartUp Law Forum, a knowledge and networking community for technology attorneys. Her in-...

Karren Shorofsky is an attorney and art historian who has spent most of her career focused on legal issues related to the arts, emerging technology, and museums and other nonprofit institutions. After working with the general counsel of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Karren practiced at major San Francisco law firms for more than a decade. Karren teaches a variety of courses, including Art Law, Copyright, and Museums and the Law, as well as the graduate internship course in museum...

Christiana State has advised multi-national corporations and emerging companies for over 18 years in the areas of intellectual property, technology transactions, privacy, product counseling and global litigation management. She holds electrical engineering (cum laude) and law degrees from Santa Clara University. Ms. State is a certified CIPP privacy professional (US and EU), a trained mediator and registered to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office. Ms. State is a frequent speaker...

Mr. Tomita is a founder of the intellectual property law firm, Staniford Tomita LLP. Mr Tomita's practice includes patent preparation, prosecution, infringement and invalidity, trademarks, and copyrights. He has extensive experience in a wide range of technologies including electrical, mechanical, medical devices, optical equipment, semiconductor fabrication, computer networks, encryption, cloud storage, and green energy systems. Mr. Tomita also an advisor, lecturer, and mentor for various...

Jon Vaught is a partner in the firm of Vaught & Boutris, LLP in Oakland, California. His practice is focused on counseling and litigation in the areas of tax, estate planning, probate and trust administration, and asset protection. Mr. Vaught received a B.A. degree with honors from the University of California, Berkeley in 1981, a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Davis, School of Law in 1984 and an L.L.M. degree in tax law from Golden Gate University, School of Law in...

Nate Wadlinger is a Lecturer at the University of Central Florida where he teaches accounting and tax courses in the Bachelors and Masters of Accountancy programs. He also works part-time in the tax services group of Thomas Howell Ferguson P.A. CPAs. Further, he teaches as an adjunct at Boston University School of Law and Florida State University College of Law. He also is the Lead Instructor for the EA Exam at Gleim Exam Prep. He received his Bachelors of Science in Accounting, Masters of...

Adjunct Professor Deborah Wald is the founder of the Wald Law Group, a boutique family law firm whose practice areas include adoption, guardianship, assisted reproduction, parentage and custody. She speaks regularly on contemporary family issues and participates in numerous professional organizations, including the National Family Law Advisory Council for the National Center for Lesbian Rights; the Association of Family & Conciliation Courts (AFCC); the Family Law Section of the American...

Steven L. Walker focuses on tax controversy and litigation and has experience both in private practice and government service. His practice focuses on representing clients in sensitive tax controversies with the Internal Revenue Service and state and local taxing agencies including the California Franchise Tax Board, the State Board of Equalization, the Employment Development Department, and county assessment appeals boards. His clients include individuals, corporations, investors, partnerships...

Adjunct Professor Matt White is a partner of Monty White LLP, a civil litigation law firm in San Rafael, California. He lectures and writes extensively for lawyers and law students on mediation, trial practice, ethics, and settlement skills. For each of the past 12 years, he has been recognized as a Northern California “Super Lawyer.” As a panelist with Resolution Remedies, he is frequently appointed by the courts and by lawyers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area to serve as a mediator,...

Professor Wiese is a tax consultant in the San Francisco Office of Deloitte Tax where he focuses on administrative tax controversies and income tax compliance. Prior to law school, he served as an officer on frigates and destroyers in the United States Navy.

For the past 15 years, Jacque has worked with or mentored USF law students in the Criminal and Racial Justice Clinics. A senior trial lawyer at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, he serves as the growth and development training director, working with new attorneys, running the intern program, coordinating office training, and handling post-conviction cases. As a trial attorney, Jacque helped reform California’s felony murder rule though the passage of SB 1437. SB 1437 significantly...

Tyson Winarski is a registered patent attorney (BSME, MSEE) specializing in patent licensing, patent portfolio strategic development, and patent prosecution based in Mountain View, California. Tyson is also the inventor of 37 patents in the fields of blockchain, artificial intelligence, renewable energy, graphene-based optic fibers, nano-composite storage mediums, and social networking devices. Tyson has testified as an expert witness on licensing in Federal District Court and is widely...

Adjunct Professor Hon. Beverly Wood is a Superior Court judge in Marin County. In her capacity as a bench officer over the last 13 years, she has served in the criminal, family, and juvenile departments. She is also founder of the Marin Superior Court’s Community Court program. Judge Wood regularly offers presentations, classes, or seminars in the areas of family law, mediation, and specialty courts. She has been involved in creating and cultivating innovative settlement programs in Marin...

Davis G. Yee is a Special Trial Attorney with the Office of Chief Counsel for the IRS. As such, he represents the Commissioner of Internal Revenue in significant cases before the United States Tax Court. Before joining USF, Davis was an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University School of Law, teaching in the LLM in Taxation program there for over eight years. As a law student, Davis was a member of a moot court team that won awards in both the legal writing and oral argument categories of the...

Dana Zartner is an Associate Professor in the International Studies Department at the University of San Francisco and is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Law. She received her BA in International Relations from Hamline University, her JD, with a concentration in international law from Boston University, and her Ph.D. in Political Science from UC Davis. Professor Zartner specializes in international and comparative law, with a focus on the intersection of environmental justice and human...