Legal Education and Association Memberships

Herb Fox received his JD from Golden Gate University School of Law in 1986, graduating with honors. He received his basic training in appellate law and procedure during the following three years, when he served as a senior research attorney (law clerk) for a Justice of the California Court of Appeal. Herb’s talent as a writer – he’d been a published writer and journalist since the age of 18 – makes him a natural appellate law practitioner.

Herb is member of a number of professional associations and divisions of those associations that are devoted to the practice of appellate law:

  • The American Bar Association, of which Herb is a member of the Appellate Lawyers Division

  • The Los Angeles County Bar Association, of which Herb is a member of the Appellate Courts Committee

  • The Santa Barbara County Bar Association, of which Herb is the Appellate Court Editor of its monthly magazine, Santa Barbara Lawyer.

  • The Ventura County Bar Association
  • The Orange County Bar Association 
  • On October 15, 2007, Herb was admitted to the bar of the United States Supreme Court

In order to keep his knowledge current and skills sharp, Herb frequently takes seminars and classes given by other appellate law specialists and well known legal writers from around the country. These include:

  • Technology for Everyday Appellate Practice, Monterey
    (October 2006)

  • The Psychology and Strategy of Effective Appellate Advocacy
    (October 2006)

  • How to Practice Before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Los Angeles (November 2005)

  • ABA’s Council of Appellate Lawyers’ Seminar, San Francisco
    (September 2005)

  • Mastering Appellate Advocacy Practice, Los Angeles
    (May 2004)

  • Smith on Persuasive Legal Writing, Los Angeles
    (February 2003)

  • College of Appellate Advocacy, Costa Mesa (November 2002)

  • Appellate Practice Institute of the ABA’s Judicial Division, Reno (October 2002)

  • Nuts and Bolts of Civil Writs, Ventura
    (March 2000)

  • Appellate Practice Institute of the ABA’s Judicial Division, New Orleans (June 2000)

  • Advanced Legal Writing and Editing, Bryan Garner, Los Angeles (1998)

  • The Winning Brief, Bryan Garner, Los Angeles
    (June 1998)

Herb also frequently provides continuing legal education seminars and classes to other attorneys. These include:

  • Staging the Case for the Appellate Arena: Tips, Traps, and Pitfalls (2008)
  • Dissolution of Error – What Family Law Practitioners Need to Know About Writs and Appeals (2007

  • Protecting Your Client (and Making Appellate Counsel Happy): Preserving and Preparing the Record for Appeal (2007).

  • Demystifying Appeals (2006)

  • Statements of Decision: Don’t Leave Court Without One! (2004)

  • What Your Clients Need to Know About Civil Appeals (And When They Need to Know It!)  (2004)

  • Where’s My Check? Staying Civil Judgments (2003)

  • Inside (and Outside) the Court of Appeal (2001)

  • Practicing Appellate Aforethought (2000)

  • Sanctions, Malpractice (and worse) at the Courts of Appeal (1999)

  • Where Records Rule: Practicing Appellate Aforethought (1999)

  • Writs and Appeals for the Family Law Practitioner (1995)