Bill Bilderback is the Senior Assistant Attorney General and Statewide Capital Case Coordinator for the California Department of Justice, where he has worked since 1992.  Bill oversees post-conviction litigation for the 600+ inmates on California’s Death Row.  Bill has also been the principal attorney on hundreds of felony appeals and habeas corpus cases.  Representing the State of California on appeal, Bill has argued before the California Court of Appeal dozens of times and has argued multiple capital and non-capital cases before the California Supreme Court.  In his federal habeas practice, Bill has conducted numerous federal evidentiary hearings, and argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals over a dozen times.  Bill has twice prepared amicus curiae briefing on federal habeas matters in the Supreme Court of the United States, and he briefed and argued the landmark Supreme Court capital federal habeas case Cullen v. Pinholster. 

Bill’s work has been recognized by the Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation with their William J. Schafer Award for Excellence in Capital Litigation and their Board of Directors’ Award for Outstanding Advocacy in Capital Cases, the Attorney General’s Award for Prosecution (awarded by AG Kamala Harris), the Attorney General’s Award for Sustained Superior Accomplishment (awarded by AG Jerry Brown), and the Attorney General’s Team Award (awarded by AG Bill Lockyer).  During the October 2010 term, Bill served as a Supreme Court Fellow with the National Association of Attorneys General. 

Bill has taught numerous classes in trial, appellate, and habeas practice for the Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation, the National Attorneys General Training & Research Institute, the National District Attorneys Association, the California District Attorneys Association, the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the Judicial Council of California’s Center for Judicial Education and Research, federal circuit and district courts, and state departments of justice across the country.  Bill received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a cum laude graduate of the University of San Francisco School of Law.