Legal Malpractice Expert Witness

Expert Witness No.366

California

Education

1980 Juris Doctor Southwestern University School of Law Los Angeles, CA
1981 Naval Justice School NETC Newport Rhode Island
1977 Bachelor of Arts – Magna Cum Laude California State University at Northridge
1976 Associate of Arts Los Angeles Pierce College

Teaching

1989 – present, Adjunct Professor – University of San Diego
Instructing five courses per year in Family Law for Legal Assistant Graduate Program.

1979 – present, Substitute Teacher – Lemon Grove Schools
Substitute teacher for grades K-8 at the elementary and middle school level.

1991 – 1995  Adjunct Professor – Western State University School of Law
Instructing two courses (fall and summer) per year in community Property.

Legal Experience

1992 – 1995  Senior Partner – Law Offices Wesley & Buck
Emphasis on Family Law issues, dissolution, child custody and visitation disputes, paternity suits and adoptions during my private practice, I also successfully tried two matters in the California State Court of Appeals, both opinions are published

1987 – 1992  Private Law Office
My private Practice emphasized matters relating to issues of the home and family, including adoptions, dissolution, child custody/visitation disputes and juvenile law.

1986 – 1987  Associate, Law Offices of Rebecca L. Prater
Handled contested dissolution matters, including child custody issues.  Appeared before Juvenile Court on numerous occasions as Ms. Prater’s associate on matters relating to guardianship reunification.

1985 – 1986  Director of Legal Assistance, United States Navy
Served as the director of legal assistance at Naval Station San Diego.  The office responsibility is to provide legal service for military personnel and their dependents in the San Diego area.  During this time, I converted the office to a full word processing system, placing in the computer such documents as marital settlement agreements, wills, trusts, bankruptcy pleadings and numerous other often used documents.  As Director, I increased not only the number of personnel served but in addition broadened the areas for which we provided service.

1983 – 1985  Assistant Staff Judge Advocate
Performed as Assistant Staff Judge Advocate for the largest functional Air Wing in the U.s. Navy.  As such my duties were divided between two areas.  Initially, I established an effective Legal Assistance office.  Wherein I was the sole attorney for over 6000 military and dependent personnel.  The office provided service in the area of family law, wills and trusts, landlord/tenant, civil litigation and other areas as needed.  My second area of responsibility included conducting judge advocate general investigations on aircraft mishaps as well as drafting criminal charges and referring cases to Courts-Martial.

1983 Prosecutor – United States Navy
I prosecuted on behalf of the U.S. Government well over fifty Courts-Martial.  These cases ranged from attempted murder and aggravated assault to drug sales and use.  Many of these cases were contested jury trials.

1982 – 1983  Defense Counsel United States Navy
Defended clients in over 200 Courts-Martial.  These cases included a wide variety of criminal charges.  A large number of these cases were contested jury trials.  I also represented a number of clients in Administrative hearings.