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Kelly Woodruff is a seasoned appellate advocate, having represented clients and amici curiae in dozens of significant writs and appeals in the state and federal appellate courts.

Recently, Kelly defeated an appeal by the State of California of the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus in a capital case.  She also recently obtained a writ of supersedeas staying a trial court’s injunction pending appeal, preserved a multi-million-dollar inheritance verdict, obtained a writ of mandate against a state government agency that misreported information on its website, and submitted a successful Ninth Circuit amicus brief related to internet law for large public interest groups.  Kelly regularly consults with trial counsel on preparation for trial and successful post-trial motions and in strategizing for clients who are thinking ahead to the eventual appeal.

Kelly is Co-Chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Appellate Section, and is an appointed member of the California Lawyers Association, Litigation Section’s Committee on Appellate Courts. She is a Northern California Super Lawyer for appellate law, listed in Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Appellate Practice and Commercial Litigation, and recognized as a California Litigation Star in Benchmark Litigation.

Previously, Kelly was the head of Appellate Litigation for Farella Braun + Martel LLP and clerked for James R. Browning of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and David A. Ezra of the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii. Kelly graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where she served as Senior Executive Editor for the Hastings Law Journal. She is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in California, as well as the Ninth, Federal and Sixth Circuit Courts of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

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, including the latest 2019 edition.

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.