Professional Experience

Mr. Weiss is a litigator with over 45 years' experience in complex business and commercial litigation. He has actively represented securities houses, money center banks and developers in major litigation, including a defense verdict in a lender liability case several years ago that the National Law Journal labeled one of the "top 10" civil defense verdicts of the year.  He is also an expert in California utility regulatory matters and California water law.  He has represented major water companies and a number of smaller water, telephone and transportation utilities before the California Public Utilities Commission and in the courts.  In recent years he has been actively engaged by his utility clients in the accelerating number of mergers and acquisitions taking place in the utility industry in California.

Mr. Weiss actively serves as a mediator for the San Francisco Superior Court Early Settlement Program.  He has served as a faculty member on trial practice programs and panels for the Rutter Group, the California Continuing Education of the Bar, the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, and the Hastings Trial Practice Clinic. Prior to joining Manatt, Mr. Weiss was a founding partner of a San Francisco-based law firm.

Education

University of California, Boalt Hall School of Law, LL.B., 1962.

University of Colorado, B.A., 1959.

He also served as a law clerk to Associate Justice Raymond E. Peters of the California Supreme Court.

Representative Matters

• Successfully argued and won a case before the United States Supreme Court, Behrens v. Pelletier, 116 S. Ct. 834, which involved the qualified immunity of an FHLBB supervisor.

Memberships & Activities

Board Member and Past President, Legal Aid Society of San Francisco.

Member, American Bar Association.

Member, State Bar of California.

Member, San Francisco Bar Association.

Member, Association of Business Trial Lawyers.

Past President & Trustee, Edward J. McFetridge American Inns of Court.

Co-chair, the Annual Meeting of the American Inns of Court.

Past Chairman & Board of Trustees, College Preparatory School in Oakland.

Former Trustee, American Inns of Court Foundation.