Alana regularly drafts appellate briefs and petitions, and has argued numerous times in the California Court of Appeal and Ninth Circuit. But she also views her role as an appellate lawyer more broadly: She gets involved at the trial court level, advising lawyers on how to preserve issues and assisting with dispositive motions. These early interventions are often the key to a successful appeal.
Alana has a wide-ranging practice. She has won victories for employers facing wage-and-hour class actions, for companies involved in business disputes, for a trust seeking to undo damage caused by a former trustee, for police officers alleged to have violated an arrestee’s civil rights, and for immigration petitioners in removal proceedings. She has also filed several successful writ petitions, leading appellate courts to reinstate a complaint dismissed on procedural grounds and to order summary judgment for a landowner on a premises liability claim.
Alana is a Certified Specialist in Appellate Law, State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. She currently co-chairs the Beverly Hills Bar Association’s Amicus Briefs Committee and is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s State Appellate Judicial Evaluation Committee and Appellate Courts Section.
Alana holds degrees from U.C. Berkeley and Yale Law School. Before entering private practice, she clerked for the Honorable Kermit V. Lipez of the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
Outside of work, Alana enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter, traveling, reading, and solving crossword puzzles.
University of California, Berkeley (Political Science and Mass Communications), with highest distinction, B.A. (2000)
Yale Law School, Yale Law Journal (Editor and Member of Admissions Committee), Yale Law and Policy Review (Notes Editor), J.D. (2004)
Law Practice:
Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland LLP (2007-present)
Irell & Manella LLP (2005-2007)
Certified Specialist, Appellate Law, State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization
Judicial Clerkship:
Law Clerk to the Honorable Kermit V. Lipez, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (2004-2005)
What Trial Lawyers Need To Know About Appeals, Beverly Hills Bar Association (June 2012)
What Trial Lawyers Need To Know About Appeals, Federal Bar Association, Northern District of California chapter (May 2012)
Volunteer Instructor, Constitutional Rights Foundation (Appellate Court Experience) (2011)
LACBA State Appellate Judicial Evaluation Committee (2012-present)
Beverly Hills Bar Association: Amicus Committee Co-Chair (2011-present)
Los Angeles County Bar Association: Appellate Courts Section member (2008-present)