We possess expertise in the field of appellate briefing and advocacy, having assisted state and federal appellate and supreme courts in identifying new legal issues and developing favorable new case law. We also file amicus briefs on issues relevant to our clients and on behalf of industry-wide groups of clients and trade associations.

Our lawyers' pretrial work in the landmark Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals case (113 S.Ct. 2786 (1993) served as the basis for our successful clarification of the law with regard to the admissibility of scientific evidence in federal courts as decided by the United States Supreme Court. For instance, Charles Messer conducted the depositions of the plaintiffs' experts in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., 727 F.Supp. 570 (S.D. Cal. 1989), 951 F.2d 1128 (9th Cir. 1991), 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993) ("Daubert-I"), 43 F.3d 1311 (9th Cir. 1995) ("Daubert-II"), cert. den. 516 U.S. 869, 116 S.Ct. 189, 133 L.Ed.2d 126 (1995). Daubert made the standards for the admissiblity of expert opinion testimony more objective, more rigorous, and more scientific, and led to the year-2000 amendments of Federal Rules of Evidence 702 and 703. Daubert is one of the most important cases regarding evidence in the history of American jurisprudence.

Jeffery Carlson has represented several clients in appellate matters. For instance, in Cosgrove v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals (Idaho 1990) 117 Idaho 470, 788 P.2d 1293, the Idaho Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's unanimous jury verdict in favor of defendant, our client, in a birth defect case in which plaintiff was born missing her left forearm and hand. In addition to upholding several evidentiary issues in our favor, the Supreme Court upheld an award of attorney's fees against plaintiff. In another case, the California Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's granting of a motion for judgment on the pleadings on behalf of a pharmacy. Murphy v. E.R. Squibb & Sons, Inc. (1985) 40 Cal.3d 672. In this matter of first impression, the California Supreme Court held that although a pharmacist is engaged in a hybrid enterprise, combining the performance of services and the sale of prescription drugs, his conduct in filling a prescription is to be deemed a service, and a pharmacy is immune from strict liability for alleged defects in the product.

Charles Messer was one of the trial lawyers in Havner v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., 907 S.W.2d 535 (Tex.App. 1994), and 953 S.W.2d 706 (Tex. 1997). The Texas Supreme Court's ruling in Havner established the Daubert rule in Texas state courts, making it one of the most important cases regarding evidence in the history of Texas jurisprudence.

Mr. Carlson and Mr. Messer handled Lust v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., 89 F.3d 594 (9th Cir. 1996), which established the Ninth Circuit's rule that the abuse of discretion standard of appellate review applies to an F.R.E. 702 ruling, even though the ruling is dispositive of a motion for summary judgment.

And, we have handled at least ten appeals involving school districts and community colleges, four of which resulted in published decisions enunciating law favorable to our clients. We have handled matters before the California Supreme Court, California appellate courts, other state courts including the Idaho Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court.

Joseph Zamora, a California State Bar Certified Appellate Specialist, and former Adjunct Professor of Law in Appellate Advocacy, has many years of appellate experience, including cases involving original issues of tort and insurance law in writ proceedings and appeals before the California Court of Appeals, California Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. His appellate experience has involved the handling of more than 200 civil appeals and writs, 15 of which have resulted in published decisions.