Sharon Baumgold

Sharon Baumgold, who spent nearly four decades as a lead writ attorney in the Second District of the California Court of Appeal in Los Angeles, is an expert in the arcane science of writ practice. She literally “wrote the book” on California writs, having authored the Action Guide: Handling Civil Writs in the Courts of Appeal for California’s CEB, Continuing Education of the Bar, every year of publication since 1992. In her decades as a Second District writ attorney, Sharon reviewed, analyzed, and advised appellate justices on more than 10,000 appellate writ petitions in all areas of state law, including arbitration, business and commercial litigation, employment, entertainment, government, insurance, real estate, and probate law. Frequent topics included jurisdiction, service of process, pleading, class certification, discovery (including e-records), expert witnesses, summary adjudication and summary judgment, attorney fees and costs, enforcement of judgment, and others. Sharon has written and lectured widely on writ practice in California. She chaired the Appellate Courts Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association for two years. She has made presentations on writ practice to the Los Angeles County Bar Association, California Center for Judicial Education and Research, Women Lawyers’ Association of Los Angeles, the Administrative Office of the Courts, and the Beverly Hills Bar Association, and other groups. In addition to her work for CEB, Sharon has published articles on writs for the Association of Business Trial Lawyers and in Los Angeles Lawyer. Sharon earned her law degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. She also received her undergraduate English literature degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude.