Education:
B.A., California State University, Long Beach, summa cum laude;
M.A., J.D., University of California, Los Angeles.

Profile:
Lecturer, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry; Secretary, Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section of Children and the Law; Board of Directors, Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers (LADL); Deputy State Public Defender; Lecturer, UCLA School of Law; Assistant Dean and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs; Founding Director, Center for Children’s Rights and Legal Policy Clinic.

Subjects:
Juvenile Justice; Juvenile Law Advocacy; Lawyering Skills; Legal Policy Clinic; Torts; Trial Advocacy.


Author:

Books:
LEGAL ETHICS IN CHILD CUSTODY AND DEPENDENCY CASES: A GUIDE FOR JUDGES AND LAWYERS (Cambridge University Press, 2006);
JUVENILE LAW AND ITS PROCESSES: CASES AND MATERIALS, 3RD Ed.(Lexis 2003) with Francis Barry McCarthy and Judge James G. Caar

Book Chapters:
Chapter 5: The Rights of Siblings in Foster Care and Adoption: A Legal Perspective, in SIBLINGS IN ADOPTION AND FOSTER CARE: TRAUMATIC SEPARATIONS AND HONORED CONNECTIONS (Praeger, 2009);
(1) The History of Child Protective Services; (2) Contemporary Child Protective Services; (3) The History of the Juvenile Justice System; (4) The Contemporary Juvenile Justice System, in MacMILLAN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EDUCATION, 2ND Ed. (2002).

Articles:
Viewing Child Witnesses Through A Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Lens: How Attorneys’ Ethical Duties Exacerbate Children’s Psychopathologies [forthcoming in Widener Law Review Winter 2009);

When The Empirical Base Crumbles: The Myth That Open Dependency Proceedings Do Not Psychologically Damage Abused Children, 33 Univ. of Alabama L. & Psych. Rev. 29 (Summer 2009];

To Err Is Human, To Forgive, Often Unjust: Harmless Error Analysis In Child Dependency Proceeding, 100 U. C. Davis J. of Juv. L. & Policy 99 (2008);

Rethinking The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination In Child Abuse Dependency Proceedings: Might Parents Be Their Own Worst Witnesses?, 11U.C. Davis J. of Juv. L. & Policy 101 (2007);

The Whittier Law School Legal Policy Clinic’s Amicus Curiae Advocacy On Behalf Of Siblings, 5 Journal of Child and Family Advocacy 449 (2006);

The Connecticut Open-Court Movement: Reflection and Remonstration, Connecticut Public Interest L. J., Fall 2005;

The Reality of Concurrent Planning: Juggling Multiple Family Plans Expeditiously Without Sufficient Resources, 9 U.C. Davis J. of Juv. L. & Policy 171 (2005);

An Empirical Rebuttal To The Open Juvenile Dependency Court Reform Movement, 38 Suffolk Univ. L. Rev. 303 (2005);

The Interrelationship Between Sibling Custody and Visitation and Conflicts Of Interest in the Representation Of Multiple Siblings in Dependency Proceedings, 3 Children’s Legal Rights Journal 18 (2003);

Juveniles in the Criminal Justice System: A Prescription for the Defense, 1 Criminal Defense Weekly Issue 20 (2002);

Creating an Externship Consortium: The Glace Experience, 4 J. of Prac. & Clinical L. 233 (2001);

The Status of Siblings’ Rights: A View Into The New Millennium, 51 De Paul L. Rev. 201 (2001);

Pandora’s Box: Opening Child Protection Cases To The Press and Public, 27 W.S.L. Rev. 181 (2000);

Mommy’s Gone, Daddy’s In Prison, Now What About Me? Family Reunification For Children Of Single Custodial Fathers In Prison - Will The Sins Of Incarcerated Fathers Be Inherited By Their Children?, 75 North Dakota L. Rev. 179 (1999);

Biblical, Legal, and Miltonic Influences in Melville’s REDBURN, 23 Oklahoma City Univ. L. Rev. 911 (1999);

The California Child Abuse Hearsay Exception: Is Truth Competency Still Required?, 3 U.C. Davis J. of Juv. L. & Policy 68 (1999);

Searching for the Proper Role of Children’s Counsel in California Dependency Cases: The Answer of the Dependency Sphinx, 1 J. Of The Center For Children, Families And The Courts 21 (1999);

In re Car [a child protection case], published in NEGOTIATION SIMULATION EXERCISES, 1999 (Willamette University College of Law Center For Dispute Resolution, 1999);

Legislative Regulation of Dependency Court Attorneys: Public Relations and Separation of Powers, 24 Notre Dame J. of Legislation 1 (1998);

Who Speaks For The Child in Abuse Cases: Autonomy or Best Interests?, 40 Orange County Lawyer 40 (1998);

S.B. 1516, California's New Hybrid: Children's Counsel As Advocates And Guardians Ad Litem, 2 U.C. Davis J. of Juv. L. and Policy 16 (1997);

Children Are Invisible, Children Are Real: An Introduction To The Child Law Symposium, 18 Whittier L. Rev. 759 (1997);

Externship Site Inspections: Fitting Well-Rounded Programs Into The Four Corners Of The ABA Guidelines, 3 N.Y.U. Clinical L. Rev. 471 (1997);

Standards Of Appellate Review For Denial Of Counsel And Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel In Child Dependency And Parental Severance Cases, 27 Loyola Univ. Chicago L. J. 195 (1996);

An Opening Gambit In Teaching Juvenile Law: Creating Icons of Normative Family Structures, 20 Univ. of Alabama Law & Psychology Review 1 (1996);

Publication, Depublication And Review Of State Bar Court Opinions: Bringing The Public Into The Process, 17 Whittier L. Rev. 409 (1996);

Severing Hansel from Gretel: An Analysis of Siblings' Association Rights, 48 Univ. Miami L. Rev. 745 (1994);

Law Schools' Duty to Train Children's Advocates: Blueprint for an Inexpensive Experientially Based Juvenile Justice Course, 45 Juv.& Family Ct. J. 3 (1994);

Child Abuse: The Irreconcilable Differences Between Criminal Prosecution and Informal Dependency Court Mediation, 31 Univ. of Louisville J. of Family Law 37(1992-1993);

Evolution In Child Abuse Litigation: The Theoretical Void Where Evidentiary And Procedural Worlds Collide, 25 Loyola of Los Angeles L. Rev. 1009 (1992);

It Matters Not What Is But What Might Have Been: The Standard of Appellate Review For Denial Of Counsel In Child Dependency And Parental Severance Trials, 12 Whittier L. Rev. 537 (1991);

Opening Students' Eyes: Visual Learning Theory In The Socratic Classroom, 15 Univ. of Alabama Law and Psychology Review 1 (1991);

The World Where Parallel Lines Converge: The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination In Concurrent Civil and Criminal Child Abuse Proceedings, 24 Georgia L. Rev. 473 (1990);

Forever Torn Asunder: Charting Evidentiary Parameters, The Right To Competent Counsel And The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination In California Child Dependency And Parental Severance Cases, 27 Santa Clara L. Rev. 299 (1987);

How Shepard's Citations Lost Its Flock: Or, Can The Police Smell Probable Cause, 80 Law Library Journal 131 (1988);

CALIFORNIA LAW SUMMARIES, PART IV. (BRC, Inc., 1984).

Amicus Curiae Briefs:
In re Kristen B., 163 Cal. App. 4th 1535;
In re Charlisse C., Supreme Court No. S152822;
In re Andrew L., 122 Cal. App. 4th 178;
In re Josiah Z., Supreme Court No. S125822;
In re S. B., Supreme Court No. S112260;
In re Zeth S., Supreme Court No. S099557;
In re Celine R., Supreme Court No. S111138;
Butler v. Harris, Supreme Court No. D036144;
In re Paul C., 72 Cal. Rptr. 2d 369.