Attorney Profiles

John L. Dodd, Esq.
JDodd@Appellate-Law.com

John Dodd has been handling appeals throughout the State of California, on behalf of both appellants and respondents, as well as writ petitions since 1989.  Mr. Dodd is a California Certified Appellate Specialist and is experienced in civil, criminal, juvenile, family, parental rights and adoption cases.  He has filed briefs in every District of the California Court of Appeal, both in Northern and Southern California.  He also has expertise in preparing Petitions for Review for the California Supreme Court on behalf of individuals and businesses and has filed briefs in the Ninth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.

John L. Dodd attended the University of California at Davis and obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree and law degree from Western State University in Fullerton, California. He also studied International Law and Legal History at Downing College, Cambridge University, in Cambridge, England. While in law school he won the “Best Oralist” award in moot court and participated in the Jessup International Law moot court team. He was an editorial board member and staff writer for the Law Review and was awarded the American Jurisprudence Awards in Property Law and Criminal Procedure.

Mr. Dodd was a staff attorney at the Court of Appeal, Fifth Appellate District, and worked in tort defense and appellate law firms before opening his own practice in 1989. Originally a combined civil litigation and appellate practice, Mr. Dodd’s practice has been devoted exclusively to appellate matters and legal research for over ten years.

Mr. Dodd was admitted to the California Bar in 1986 and the United States Supreme Court in 1990. He also is admitted to practice before United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh and Ninth Circuits.

He also has been active in bar association and community affairs for many years. He has served as a member of the California Advisory Commission to the United States Commission on Civil rights since 2007. In 2004 John served as the Chairman of the Committee of Bar Examiners, State Bar of California, after completing three years as a Committee Member. He served from 1998 to 2001 on the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE), State Bar of California. Prior to that, he served for a year on the State Bar’s Committee on Appellate courts and has assisted in drafting questions for the Appellate Specialization Exam.

More locally, Mr. Dodd, was a member of the Board of Directors of the Orange County Bar Association for six years, from 1996 to 2002 and served on many committees, including the Conference of Delegates, the Ethics and Professionalism Task Force, the Judiciary Committee Task Force, and the Investment Policy Committee. He was the President of the Orange County Barristers in 1996 and served for many years on that board. Mr. Dodd was the chair of the Orange County Bar Association’s Appellate Section in 1994 and the Program Chair in 1993.

Mr. Dodd participates in community affairs at the local, state and national level. He has been active in the Federalist Society, currently serving on the Executive Committee of the Civil Rights Practice Group. He was President of the Orange County Lawyer’s Chapter from 2004 through 2008 and has been a board member of that chapter continuously since 1996.

He also has served several terms as President of the Orange County Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, as well as “Chancellor” or chief legal officer, of the California Society, and currently is Vice-President of the state society for Southern California.                   

Articles and CLE presentations

Benefits of OCBA Section Membership, Orange County Lawyer, November 1994

Parental Rights Primer, Orange County Lawyer, May 1994

Book Review: Takings, Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain

(1987) 14 Western State University Law Review 639

Note: People v. Ruggles: The Ruggles, Robbins, Ross Roundabout, (1986)13 Western State University Law Review 641.

Co-Author, Federalist Society White Paper, The Case for Judicial Appointments, (1993)

http://www.fed-soc.org/Publications/White%20Papers/judicialappointments.htm

Continuing Legal Education Speaker on appellate practice and related issues for:

Orange County Barristers

Orange County Bar Association, College of Appellate Advocacy

Orange County Bar Association, Appellate Section

California Academy of Adoption Lawyers

American Association of Adoption Attorneys

California Association of Appellate Defense Counsel

Chapman University School of Law

Simon Greenleaf (now Trinity) School of Law

Western Orange County Bar Association

Newport Harbor Bar Association

Notable Cases

Mr. Dodd has handled in excess of 1,000 appellate matters in the Courts of Appeal and Supreme Court. John has appeared on Donahue, American Journal, CNN and numerous news broadcasts in connection with his work.  He has over 50 published cases, including Johnson v. Calvert (1993) 5 Cal.4th 84;  In re Zacharia D. (1993) 6 Cal.4th 435;  In re Marriage of Moschetta (1994) 25 Cal.App.4th 1218; In re Bridget R. (1996) 41 Cal.App.4th 1483, and In re Santos Y. (2001) 92 Cal.App.4th 1274.