Sugarman, Scott A.

Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Year Joined Organization: 1989

Lawyer Overview

Scott Sugarman has unusually broad experience as a criminal defense attorney over his 33 years as an attorney. He is respected and very well regarded not only by the California and federal judges before whom he has appeared, but has the well-earned respect from the prosecutors who have been his opponents in the courtroom.

Scott Sugarman graduated from the University of Rochester in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts with Highest Distinction in political science and history, and received his law degree from Stanford Law School in 1975. He is currently a member of the bar of the State of California, District of Columbia, and various federal courts, including United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California.

After he graduated from Stanford Law School, he worked as an associate in litigation for a large law firm in Washington, D.C. From 1977 to 1980, Scott served as the Supervising Research Attorney for the Chief Justice of California, Rose Elizabeth Bird. In that position, he was responsible for researching and drafting opinions for the Chief Justice, and supervising the preparation of opinions and memoranda for the Chief Justice by other law clerks.

He then served for seven years as an Assistant Public Defender in Alameda County. During that period, he represented defendants charged with all types of crime, from petty theft and driving under the influence of alcohol, to robbery and residential burglary and rape, to capital murder. With another attorney, he conducted a five-month capital murder trial for a client accused of capital murder in the killing of a police officer. In addition to the many clients that he personally represented, he supervised and trained younger attorneys working as public defenders, and developed, researched and wrote impact or test case litigation intended to benefit large number of criminal defenders, including the preparation of writs and appeals to the California appellate courts.

In 1989, he created Sugarman & Cannon with his law partner Christopher Cannon. In the more than 20 years since Sugarman & Cannon was created, Scott has represented clients charged with nearly every type of crime, including complex white collar crimes, murder, sexual assault and child molestation, tax fraud and evasion and domestic violence.

Scott's representation of clients in the trial court includes:

• acquittal after four and one-month federal trial of client accused of many counts of fraud and conspiracy
• securing a sentence of probation for client charged in the largest heroin seizure in United States history
• securing a life sentence for a defendant convicted in a capital case of the murder of a police officer
• acquittal of client accused of attempted robbery and other crimes during a street encounter with the complaining witness.

For more than 20 years, Scott has been actively involved in representing clients in appeals, pre-trial writs, habeas corpus proceedings and other post-conviction proceedings. His work on behalf of these clients includes:

• the successful reversal on appeal of five defendants charged with conspiracy to commit murder and murder arising from the attempted robbery of a business
• the successful reversal on appeal of a client convicted of two murders based on a violation of the client's Miranda rights
• the successful appeal in a federal habeas corpus proceeding resulting in the reversal of his client's murder conviction based on a violation of the client's constitutional right of confrontation and cross-examination
• successful appeal in a federal habeas corpus of the district court's refusal order the prosecution to retry his client where the prosecution failed to comply with Scott's previous successful appeal to secure a reversal of client's murder conviction
• the successful appeal of client's felony conviction and state prison for shooting at police officers based on the trial court's failure to give adequate jury instructions.

In addition to his law practice, Scott has been very active in organizations involved with criminal defense and as a seminar speaker on various topics of criminal law and procedure to other attorneys.

Beginning in 1989, he has been a member of the Board of Governors of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ), the largest organization of criminal defense attorneys in California. He was invited by the California Supreme Court to deliver an address to that Court on the occasion of the Court's Memorial to Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird. He was selected by the Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in 2001 to serve a three-year term as a Lawyer Representative from the District Court to the United States Court of Appeals to the Ninth Circuit. From 2003 to 2010, the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California selected Scott to serve on the Court's Criminal Justice Working Group. He is currently a member of the Steering Committee of the Lawyer's Council of the ACLU of Northern California.

He has been actively involved in analyzing and reviewing legislation on criminal law topics pending or proposed in the California Legislature throughout his tenure on the Board of CACJ, and prior to that, for the California Public Defender's Association and the Alameda County Public Defender Association. He has testified before various legislative committees and submitted analysis and criticism of pending bills to legislators, Senate and Assembly committees and their staffs.

For the past 25 years, Scott Sugarman has been asked by numerous bar associations and attorney organizations to speak to attorneys on diverse topics in criminal law and criminal procedure. Scott has spoken at seminars sponsored by organizations including California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, the California Public Defender Association, the San Francisco Bar Association, the Alameda County Bar Association and the Ventura County Bar Association.

West Practice Categories

Criminal Law, Litigation & Appeals

Bar Admissions

• California
• District of Columbia
• U.S. District Court Northern District of California
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of California
• U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit

Professional Associations and Memberships

• United States District Court, Northern District of California, 2003 - Present (Member, Criminal Justice Working Group)
• United States District Court, Northern District of California to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2001 - 2004 (Lawyer Representative)
• California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, 2005 - Present (Board of Governors)
• California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, 1996 - 2002 (Board of Governors)
• California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, 1989 - 1994 (Board of Governors)
• California Supreme Court Memorial to Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird, 2000 (Invited Speaker)
• Stanford Law School Trial Advocacy Skills Workshop, 1997 (Instructor)
• National Institute for Trial Advocacy, 1989 - 1990 (Instructor)
• California Public Defender Association (Legislative Chair)
• Alameda County Public Defender Association (Legislative Chair)

Classes and Seminars

• Lecturer, Topics in Criminal Law and Procedure, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, California Public Defenders Association, Bar Association of San Francisco, Alameda County Bar Association, Ventura County Bar Association, 1984 - Present
• Guest Lecturer, Labor Studies, Laney College, 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2005

Past Employment Positions

• Alameda County, Assistant Public Defender, 1981 - 1988
• Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird, California Supreme Court, Supervising Research Attorney, 1977 - 1980
• Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Kampelman, Washington, D.C., Associate, 1975 - 1977

Education

• Stanford Law School, Stanford, California, 1975
  J.D.
  Honors: Moot Court Board, Executive Committee
  Honors: Moot Court competition, Finalist
  Honors: Instructor, Seminar Entitled "Criminal Punishment"
  Honors: Teaching Assistant, "Criminal Law and the Criminal System"
  Honors: Recipient, Hilmer Oehlmann Jr. Memorial Prize
• University of Rochester
  B.A.
  Honors: With Highest Distinction
  Honors: Phi Beta Kappa
  Honors: Junior Year Abroad - University of Sussex, England
  Honors: Scott Paper Company Foundation Leadership Award
  Major: History and Political Science

Published Works

• "Basics and Latest in Pitchess Discovery", Criminal Defense Seminar: What You Need to Know, 2004
• "Pitchess Motions: Getting the Goods on the Cops,, 2003
• Police Misconduct: Pitchess, the Second Inning," Police Misconduct, 2001
• Editorial Consultant, California Drunk Driving Law, 2004

Address

180 Montgomery Street
Suite 2350
San Francisco, CA 94104

Phones

(415) 362-6252

Faxes

(415) 362-6431

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.sugarmanandcannon.com