Matthew Bender Practice Guide: Federal Pretrial Civil Procedure in California

Richard B. Kendall is a partner with Kendall Brill & Kelly LLP. His practice focuses on complex litigation, and his experience spans more than four decades, several continents, and leading judicial and arbitration forums worldwide.

A former federal prosecutor, Mr. Kendall has prevailed in every one of the dozens of civil trials and arbitrations in which he has served as lead counsel representing both the defense and plaintiff sides. Over time, he has become the go-to litigator and trial counsel for his clients, some of whom, like Paramount and MTV, that he has represented for more than 25 years.

Mr. Kendall has argued and successfully resolved sophisticated, contentious, and unprecedented challenges to the First Amendment and the rights of privacy and publicity. He has argued on preemption of state consumer laws and environmental claims against the military before the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition, Mr. Kendall also litigated asset confiscation and recovery claims that were connected to the fall of Saigon and the overthrow of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.

His courtroom background includes serving as lead trial counsel in dozens of trials and appeals in the federal and state courts, including two arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Hollywood Reporter has recognized him as a Power Lawyer multiple years, and the other leading Hollywood publication, Variety, has named him one of the industry’s leading lawyers for the last three years. In addition, the prestigious Chambers & Partners legal ranking organization has repeatedly ranked him among the top media and entertainment litigators since 2004. It also has quoted clients as saying that Mr. Kendall is “very analytical and experienced,” as well as one of the West Coast’s “strongest litigators.”

As a commercial litigator and an advisor on transactional matters, Mr. Kendall represents major entertainment studios, leading media companies, securities, banking and financial institutions, and foreign governments in complex, sensitive, and high-stakes disputes and negotiations. Current significant areas of his counsel include distribution rights battles, copyright, financing, and profit-participation disputes.

Mary Jo Shartsis (1942–2021) was a founding partner of Shartsis Friese LLP, where she specialized in general business litigation, including, business torts, commercial transactions, securities, real estate, officer and director liability and corporate and partnership derivative litigation. Ms. Shartsis served as a lawyer representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference from 1994 to 1997. She was a co-author of California Federal Civil Rules: With Local Practice Commentary, a guide to local federal practice published by LexisNexis. Ms. Shartsis was past chair of the Litigation Section of the Bar Association of San Francisco. Ms. Shartsis was admitted to practice in the state and federal courts of California as well as the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court. Her state court practice was also extensive in San Francisco, Marin, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Contra Costa County Superior Courts. She served as a member of various sections of the American Bar Association and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. As a member of the Board of Directors and participant in programs sponsored by the Institute for the Study and Development of Legal Systems, Ms. Shartsis lectured on various alternative dispute resolution techniques to lawyers and judges in Egypt, India, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. Ms. Shartsis served on several boards, including the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco. Ms. Shartsis received an A.B. degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1969 and a J.D. degree from the University’s Boalt Hall School of Law in 1972, where she was a member of the California Law Review.

Fern M. Smith was appointed to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. Judge Smith served as the Director of the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, D.C. from July 1999 to July 2003. The Federal Judicial Center is the primary research and continuing education agency for the federal courts. At the completion of her 4-year assignment at the FJC, she returned to the U.S. District Court in San Francisco where she retired from office as of June 30, 2005. Judge Smith was educated at Stanford University, where she graduated with Distinction (Phi Beta Kappa) in 1972. She graduated from Stanford Law School in 1975. Judge Smith practiced with Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon in San Francisco from 1975–1986, and was a member of the firm’s management committee from 1985–1986. Judge Smith served as Judge of the Superior Court of California in and for the City and County of San Francisco from 1986–1988. Judge Smith was Chair of the U.S. Judicial Conference Committee on International Judicial Relations from 2003 to 2005. She was a member of the Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence from 1993 through 1996 and served as its Chair from 1996 through 1999. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference from 1994 to 1996. She was a member of the California State-Federal Judicial Council from 1990 through 1993. In addition, she was a member of the California Judicial Council from 1987 through 1988, and a member of that Council’s Advisory Task Force on Gender Bias from 1988 through 1990.