Attorney Bios

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=100 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="08478783.jpg"> <div> LAW OFFICES OF MICHAEL S. SORGEN<FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#660000" FACE="Korinna BT" >   </FONT>   </div> <div> 240 Stockton Street, 9th Floor, San Francisco, CA  94108</div> <div> Tel: (415) 956-1360    Fax: (415) 956-6342   </div> <bR> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=20% BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="08478783.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="_"><U>Home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index_practice_areas.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="_"><U>Practice Areas</U></A></div> <div> Attorneys</div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Representative Cases"><U>Representative</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Representative Cases"><U>Cases</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Prospective Client Questionnaire"><U>Prospective Client</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Prospective Client Questionnaire"><U>Questionnnaire</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Employment"><U>Employment</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us "><U>Contact Us</U></A>   </div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=380 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="08982823.jpg"> <div> Attorneys <A NAME="attorneys_top"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#michael_s__sorgen_1" TITLE="Attorney Bios"><U>Michael S. Sorgen</U></A> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Charter BT" >| </FONT><A HREF="#joyce_s__kawahata_" TITLE="Attorney Bios"><U>Joyce S. Kawahata</U></A> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Charter BT" >| </FONT><A HREF="#andrea_adam_brott" TITLE="Attorney Bios"><U>Andrea Adam Brott</U></A> |</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0ae73970.jpg" border=0 width="115" height="151" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><B> <A NAME="michael_s__sorgen_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>   </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#660000" FACE="Charter BT" ><B>Michael S. Sorgen</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#660000" FACE="Charter BT" > </FONT>is a 1967 <I>cum laude</I> graduate of Harvard Law School and has a B.A. (<I>magna cum laude</I>) from Brown University. He is admitted to the bars of California, District of Columbia, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Sorgen began his legal career at San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Aid Foundation where he engaged in poverty law reform.  He was lead counsel in numerous precedent setting cases involving the rights of children. These include <I>Wells v. One2One Learning Foundation,</I> (2006) 39 Cal 4th 1164, where the California Supreme Court authorized proceedings as private attorneys general to curb sham practices by charter schools engaged in "distant learning" for home-educated children throughout the state; <I>Scott v. Mayer</I>, (N.D. Cal. 1969) where the federal court implemented the right to counsel for juveniles in San Francisco Juvenile Court and established a full-time Public Defender office there; <I>Charles S. v. Board of Education,</I> 20 Cal.App.3d 83 (1971) and <I>Wong v. Hayakawa</I>, 464 F.2d 1282 (9th Cir. 1972) which established due process for students in school disciplinary proceedings; <I>T.N.G. v. Superior Court</I>, 4 Cal.3d 767 (1970), where the California Supreme Court vindicated the rights of minors to have their juvenile court records sealed; and <I>In Re William M.</I>, 3 Cal.3d 16 (1970) granting a right to pretrial release in lieu of bail. </div> <bR> <div>      From 1971 to 1976, he was a full-time adjunct professor of law at Hastings College of the Law, where he was responsible for the Civil Litigation Clinic from 1971 through 1976.  He was the originating attorney in <I>Larry P. v. Riles</I>, 502 F.2d 963 (9th Cir. 1974), affirming an  injunction against the use of I.Q. tests for placing African-American children in classes for the mentally retarded and awarding attorneys’ fees.</div> <bR> <div>      He served as General Counsel to the Oakland Unified School District from 1976 through 1980 and taught education law clinics at Boalt Hall (UC Berkeley) and Golden Gate University. He directly represented the School District in significant litigation, including a defense of its set-aside for minority contractors, <I>Schmidt & Pollard v. Oakland Unified School District</I>, 662 F.2d 550 (9th Circuit, cert. denied 1981). He also defended the School District successfully in numerous employment cases, including those in which disability, gender and race discrimination were alleged, and as to numerous issues involving intergovernmental financing and authority. </div> <div>      Mr. Sorgen was a visiting professor of law at Whittier Law School, 1982-1983; Fulbright Professor of Law, Université de Nice, France, 1980-81, and Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia, 1985-1986.  </div> <div>      Since beginning his private practice in 1986, notable successes include <I>Wells v. One2One Learning Foundation,</I> (2006) 39 Cal 4th 1164, where the California Supreme Court authorized proceedings as private attorneys general to curb sham practices by charter schools engaged in "distant learning" for home-educated children throughout the state; the <I>Children's Hospital </I>cases reforming California's system of Medicaid reimbursement, see representative cases <I>infra.; </I><I>Singer v. Regents</I>, where the California Court of Appeal reinstated a jury verdict assuring inventors of the MRI a fair royalty. The total recovery exceeded $4 million.  In a similar case in federal court, the parties resolved a dispute as to proprietorship and value of a patent; <I>Newton v. County of Napa</I>, 217 Cal.App.3d 1551 (1990), protecting the rights of children and their parents from abusive practices by the County’s Child Protective Service; and <I>Allen v. Scribner</I>, 812 F.2d 426 (9th Cir. 1987), a leading Ninth Circuit decision on the rights of whistle blowers.</div> <bR> <div> Author: <U>State, School & Family</U>, <U>CEB</U>, <U>California Civil Writ Practice</U></div> <div> Languages: French, Spanish</div> <bR> <div> Member: National Employment Lawyers Association, Human Rights Advocates, National Lawyers Guild, Employment and Constitutional Law Committees of the Bar Association of San Francisco, Litigation and Employment sections of State Bar of California.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Charter BT" ><B> <IMG SRC="0ad73930.jpg" border=0 width="115" height="147" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></FONT> <A NAME="joyce_s__kawahata_"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A>   <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#660000" FACE="Charter BT" ><B>Joyce S. Kawahata</B></FONT> is a 1983 graduate of University of California at Davis Law School.  She holds a Bachelor of Art’s degree with honors from the University of California at Los Angeles in Asian Languages and spent three years as a Mombusho Scholar in Japan researching Japanese literature.  She was a research attorney for Contra Costa County Superior Court law and motion department from 1985-1987.  She has been associated with Mr. Sorgen's practice since 1987, primarily in the area of plaintiff's employment law.  She currently serves as the firm's technical and personnel administrator, while simultaneously doing legal work on pending cases.</div> <bR> <div> Author: <U>California Civil Writ Practice</U> supplements.</div> <div> Languages: Japanese, Spanish</div> <div> Member: San Francisco Women Lawyer's Alliance, Plaintiff's Employment Lawyers Association, and founding board member of King Hall Legal Foundation Alumni Association.  Former board member of Berkeley Community Media and Japanese American Citizen’s League. </div> <bR> <div> <B>     </B></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Charter BT" ><B> <IMG SRC="0af73840.jpg" border=0 width="115" height="132" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></FONT><B> <A NAME="andrea_adam_brott"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Charter BT" ><B> </B><B>  </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#660000" FACE="Charter BT" ><B>Andrea Adam Brott</B></FONT> is a 1985 graduate of the New York University School of Law, where she was an editor of the <U>Annual Survey of American Law</U> and published an article on developments in evidence law. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (<I>magna cum laude</I>) from Harvard University. Prior to joining Mr. Sorgen’s practice in 1994, she was an associate in the litigation department of Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, where she did extensive work in the area of civil liberties, her primary interest. </div> <bR> <div>      After seven years of litigation, Ms. Brott reached a settlement of an excessive force case against the City and County of San Francisco that establishes a full-time ombudsperson to assure better treatment of children detained at the Youth Guidance Center in San Francisco, <I>Jackson v. City and County of San Francisco</I> (N.D. Cal.).  Ms. Brott obtained substantial monetary settlements including attorneys’ fees and the client’s promotion to a high level management position in two recent discrimination cases.  Ms. Brott and Mr. Sorgen also served as lead counsel in a class action, <I>Laurie Q. v. Contra Costa County</I> to vindicate the civil rights of disabled children in the foster care dependency system.  Ms. Brott does complex business and civil rights litigation and has litigated numerous cutting-edge issues relating to liability and governmental immunities, constitutional protections and civil procedures. </div> <bR> <div> Languages: Hebrew</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="#attorneys_top" TITLE="Attorney Bios"><U>Back to Top</U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>