• California (1972)

• Hastings College of the Law, University of California (J.D., 1972), member of the Thurston Society (top 5%)
• University of California at Los Angeles (B.A., 1969.)

My first job out of law school was for the San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance Foundation, where we provided legal services to people who could not otherwise afford them. Then, with two friends, I opened a law office in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco, mainly serving Latino clients.

In 1981 I was asked to help try an asbestos case in Long Beach, and I moved down to Los Angeles to represent a number of injured shipyard workers. However, I missed the Bay Area and moved back to join Steven Kazan's practice. I have tried a number of asbestos cases and in 1989 I obtained what was then the highest verdict in California for a single plaintiff in an asbestos case. (My record, however, lasted only a few years, as my partners subsequently broke it.)

In 1996 I was president of the Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association, and have been a member of the Board of Governors since 1987. I am also a member of the American Association for Justice, the Asbestos Litigation Group, the National Lawyers Guild, Consumer Attorneys of California, the Alameda County Bar Association, and the California State Bar Association. I am president of the Foundation.

Apart from these professional commitments I have been president of the Parents' Association of Bentley School in Oakland, and president of its Diversity Committee. I coach Oakland Little League baseball, Rockridge Youth Soccer League, and basketball in the local Japanese League. I am also an enthusiastic back packer, river rafter and hiker.