(I look older now, of course.)
Call Me Gary
I graduated from what is now known as UC Law SF and have been an attorney in California since 1972. My first nearly three years I was an associate with the late Justice Frances Newell Carr’s law firm (until a few months before she was appointed to the superior court bench and the firm broke up). While the partners represented the big buck cases, any with sidecar criminal case matters (friends, relatives, selves) were passed over to me to handle, along with smaller civil matters.
In 1975, I joined a county public defender department (as deputy, supervising deputy, chief assistant, and two roughly half-year stints as Acting Public Defender and Interim Public Defender).
In 1986, I was hired by the Office of the State Public Defender, and for a short time was the acting head of its Sacramento office.
In 1988 I was offered a job with one of the appellate projects (see rule 8.300(e)), where I worked for more than 37 years, retiring in 2026 after nearly 29 years as Assistant Director.
I have been certified since 1981 by the California State Bar’s Board of Legal Specialization as a specialist in criminal law.
Since 1993, I have written more than six dozen articles for my In Custodia Legis column published in CACJ’s (California Attorneys for Criminal Justice) Forum magazine.