I’m a writer and lawyer. My short fiction and columns have appeared in The Recorder, Los Angeles Daily Journal, The Pensive Quill, The Daily Transcript, and Sheepshead Review. ABOVE THE GROUND: A True Story of The Troubles in Northern Ireland is my first work of narrative nonfiction.
I was born in Los Angeles and raised in Fullerton, California, along with my three younger brothers. I earned my undergraduate degree at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, and my law degree at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., where I worked as a research assistant to the late Barry Carter. Afterward, I served one year as a law clerk to Ninth Circuit Judge Thomas Tang in Phoenix, Arizona. After moving to San Diego, I practiced law full-time, starting at a large law firm before opening my private practice in 1995. There I trained several young lawyers, all of whom had been my law students at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where I have taught appellate advocacy on and off since 2001.
In 2018, I put my law practice on hold to take a sixteen-month sabbatical, which I devoted to researching and writing “Above The Ground.” In late 2019, I joined the San Diego office of Klinedinst PC. I practice there today in the firm’s appellate practice and commercial litigation groups.
When not writing, practicing law, or teaching, I enjoy ocean swimming, exploring the open spaces of San Diego and California, and following the fortunes of the Los Angeles Angels baseball club.
Learn more at abovethegroundbook.com.
June 4, 2023 By Dan Lawton (via wildbluepress.com)