Seiser & Kumli on California Juvenile Courts Practice and Procedure

Gary C. Seiser is one of California’s leading authorities on juvenile dependency law and practice. He was certified in 2006 as a Child Welfare Law Specialist (CWLS) in the first group of California attorneys certified as CWLS by the National Association of Counsel for Children, which is accredited by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization. In 2010 he received the L. Michael Clark Civility and Professionalism Award from the County Counsels’ Association of California, Child Welfare Study Section: “For exemplifying the highest standards of professionalism and civility in advocating for social workers, social services agencies, children, and families at the trial, appellate, and legislative levels.” An experienced trial and appellate attorney, he has more than sixty-five published appellate decisions. Mr. Seiser’s writing in this treatise has been cited by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the California Supreme Court, and numerous California appellate courts. His published work also includes articles for the American Bar Association Child Law Practice and a chapter in The Handbook of Juvenile Forensic Psychology (Jossey-Bass, 2002). A former Commissioner of the Riverside County Superior Court assigned to the Juvenile Court and a former prosecutor, Mr. Seiser also served as a member of the SB 1195 Task Force, which rewrote much of California’s dependency law through Senate Bill 243 [Stats. 1987, ch. 1485]. Mr. Seiser has served as a consultant on the Judicial Benchguides for dependency hearings published by the California Center for Judicial Education and Research (CJER). He has also served as faculty for CJER, the California Judges Association, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the ABA Center on Children and the Law, and the National Association of Counsel for Children. After working for 28 years in the dependency system, in 2012 he retired as a supervising deputy with the Juvenile Dependency Division of the San Diego County Office of County Counsel.

Kurt Kumli was a California Superior Court Judge for the County of Santa Clara until his passing in 2014, the county's Presiding Judge of the Appellate Division of the Superior Court, a former Commissioner on the State Commission on Juvenile Justice, and an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law. He was a juvenile law curriculum advisor for the California Center for Judicial Education and Research (CJER) and served as one of CJER's primary faculty members for all matters relating to juvenile law and policy. He was instrumental in creating specialized delinquency courts for drug offenders, family violence and restorative justice, was the co-creator of the country's first juvenile mental health court, and implemented Santa Clara's juvenile deferred entry of judgment (DEJ) process, which now accounts for nearly 30% of all first-time court referrals in that county. A nationally recognized expert on juvenile law and policy, Judge Kumli taught delinquency law and policy classes throughout the United States. The National Institute of Justice chose Judge Kumli as a recipient of a John B. Pickett Fellowship at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government for Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program. Judge Kumli had been a member of the California Judicial Council's Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee, an advisory board member for the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice, the Juvenile Law Chair for the Task Force for Criminal Justice Collaboration on Mental Health Issues, and a faculty member and technical advisor for the California District Attorney's Association where he chaired its Juvenile Justice Committee. He published numerous articles on gang prosecution, juvenile justice reform, juvenile mental health court and California's adult court certification (Fitness) process.

John P. Passalacqua is certified as a Child Welfare Law Specialist by the National Association of Counsel for Children, which is accredited by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization. He is the Executive Director of Dependency Legal Services (DLS), a California non-profit public benefit corporation, which represents children and parents in dependency proceedings in Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Placer, Solano, Stanislaus, Sonoma, and Yolo Counties. Mr. Passalacqua has been representing children, parents, and de facto parents in dependency cases for over 28 years and was responsible for the formation and management of a Sacramento agency that represented parents in dependency cases. He has also served on numerous committees that developed policy and procedures in dependency matters for the Counties he has served in. Mr. Passalacqua is a former First 5 Mendocino Commissioner and a frequent presenter on juvenile dependency law throughout the state including serving as faculty at the Beyond the Bench conference and for the Dependency Representation, Administration, Funding & Training (DRAFT) program. He is a contributing author and editor for the Dependency Quick Guide, which is published by the California Administrative Office of the Courts, Center for Children, Families, and the Courts, as a reference manual for attorneys representing parents and children in dependency proceedings. Mr. Passalacqua is a graduate of McGeorge School of Law and the State University of New York, College at Buffalo. Mr. Passalacqua would like to thank Emily Bartholomew for her contributions to the updating of the 2022 Edition.

Jennifer Kaye Williams currently serves as an administrative law judge for the San Francisco Human Services Agency. From 1999 to 2012, she was a Deputy City Attorney for the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. She initially served as trial counsel for the San Francisco Human Services Agency, and then became General Counsel to the Agency and served in that capacity for over 10 years. She also handled all appeals and writs generated from the City Attorney’s juvenile dependency unit. As General Counsel Ms. Williams provided legal advice regarding the administration of the dependency division, all public assistance programs, including General Assistance, CalWORKS, and Food Stamps, and the San Francisco Adult Protective Services division. She also worked with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on legislation impacting the populations served under these programs. Ms. Williams began her career in 1994 when she started handling dependency cases in the Riverside County Counsel’s office at both the trial and appellate levels. She then worked for the Administrative Office of the Courts under a federal grant to improve statewide compliance with Title IV-E of the Social Security Act. There, she spent time in multiple California counties, working with social services agencies, probation departments, and juvenile courts, improving compliance with federal requirements in juvenile matters. She has argued before the California Supreme Court and on numerous occasions before California Courts of Appeal, and has provided training statewide for agency attorneys handling juvenile dependency matters. She continues to consult on dependency writs and appeals. In 2016, she was elected to a four-year term serving as a Trustee on the Alameda Unified School District Board of Education, and in 2020, she was re-elected to another four-year term.

Ron E. Rayes, contributing author to Chapters 1 and 3, has been serving as the Managing Attorney of the Juvenile Office for the San Mateo County Bar Association, Private Defender Program since July 2019. Mr. Rayes administers Juvenile Justice cases, Dependency cases and Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) and Probate conservatorships cases. Prior to serving as Managing Attorney, Mr. Rayes was a trial defense attorney for 16 years representing indigent clients in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. Mr. Rayes’ practice was focused on representing clients facing homicides and gang charges in the criminal and juvenile courts as well as transfer cases. Mr. Rayes serves on the Pacific Juvenile Defender Center’s Executive Board. Mr. Rayes is a frequent presenter on juvenile justice law and is an active advocate for juvenile justice reform before the California Legislature. Mr. Rayes was instrumental in the passage of three juvenile justice reform bills. Mr. Rayes received his undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University in Political Science and earned his J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law.

Hon. Rubén A. Villalobos, contributing author to Chapters 1 and 3, is a judge on the Superior Court of Stanislaus County. He was appointed to the bench by Governor Jerry Brown in 2014. Prior to his appointment, he was a member of Modesto City Schools Board of Education. He received his undergraduate degree in Ethnic Studies with Honors from the University of California, Berkeley and his J.D. from the University of California, Davis Martin Luther King School of Law. Judge Villalobos has previously held positions as a Deputy Public Defender in Stanislaus County and as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the District of Nevada. From 2002 until his appointment, he was a Partner in the Law Office of Villalobos, Meyer and Borthwick, and in the Villalobos2 Legal Group. Since 2017, he has been an instructor of statewide judges in the areas of juvenile justice, ethics, sovereign citizens, implicit bias, mental health, and trauma. He serves on the Judicial Council’s Family and Juvenile Law Advisory Committee, and also served on the working group that developed the Secure Youth Treatment Facilities classification matrix.