(May 22, 2006, San Francisco, CA) – Paul Fogel, a partner an appellate specialist in top 25 international law firm Reed Smith LLP, was elected the 2006-2007 President of the prestigious California Academy of Appellate Lawyers (CAAL), at the Academy’s annual meeting last weekend in Carmel.
“It is an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to lead this august body, especially given the impressive list of appellate practitioners who have preceded me as President” said Fogel. “The Academy plays an important role in advocating for the highest standards of excellence in appellate advocacy and appellate decision-making in California. I look forward to the opportunity of advancing that goal in this highly specialized area of law.”
Mr. Fogel has been a member of the invitation-only organization since 1990. He served in number of other leadership positions within CAAL before assuming the presidency last weekend. Members of CAAL must have a minimum of ten years of practice experience and must have served as lead counsel in no fewer than 25 appeals and argued at least 15 appeals or writs. The organization’s mission is to provide continuing education in the specialty of appellate practice in California. It also works with appellate justices from the California Courts of Appeal, the California Supreme Court, and the Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals and their staff to analyze and deal with problems of mutual concern as a means of improving the quality of appellate practice. The Academy often appears as amicus curaie in cases that affect appellate practice, and its members served on committees devoted to improving appellate practice and decision-making in appellate courts in California.
A 1976 graduate of the UCLA Law School, Fogel has a substantial practice focused on appeals, writs, post-trial motions, and law and motion matters in a broad range of civil law areas, including unfair competition, health care, trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation, defamation, products liability, taxation, contracts, public entity law, premises liability, employment, professional negligence, higher education and constitutional law. He has handled more than 350 appellate matters that have produced more than 50 published opinions, including matters in the California Supreme Court, the District of Columbia and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals and every Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal.
A frequent speaker on appellate law and other substantive law topics at MCLE and bar association programs, Fogel has also lectured in both French and English on American and comparative law subjects under the auspices of the United States Information Service in several African and Middle Eastern countries and at universities in France and Belgium.
Mr. Fogel is a California State Bar-Certified Specialist in Appellate Law and also a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. In 2004, Chief Justice Ronald George appointed him to the Judicial Council’s Appellate Advisory Committee, which makes recommendations to the Council on appellate policy and procedural matters. For six years before that he was a member of the Judicial Council's Appellate Rules Task Force, which rewrote California's appellate rules--the first such major overhaul since the 1940s. In 2005, he was named one of Northern California's "Top 100 Attorneys" by No. Cal. Super Lawyer Magazine (2005) and has been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America (2006).
Other Reed Smith attorneys active in the Academy include partners James Martin, who led the organization as President in 2003, Kathy Banke, and of counsel Peter W. Davis, who also served as President of the Academy.
* * *
Reed Smith LLP is a top-25 international law firm with 1,000 lawyers located in 18 cities worldwide (14 in the U.S. and four in Europe). The firm represents clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to mid-market and emerging companies. Clients include financial services firms, life sciences companies, health care providers, technology companies and entrepreneurs, power generators and suppliers, manufacturers, real estate companies, universities, and non-profit organizations throughout the world. For more information, visit www.reedsmith.com.