U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is one of the most significant Courts in the country – it ranks below the U.S. Supreme Court and the D.C. District Court, and is close in significance to the California Supreme Court. David Hubbard has prevailed in two of those four courts – the Ninth Circuit and the California Supreme Court.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is a federal court handling federal appeals from the west coast. Hearings can be heard as close by as the Los Angeles area. A few years ago, David Hubbard was retained by experienced a Los Angeles law firm to represent a client whose case was in federal court, before the Ninth Circuit. Mr. Hubbard was retained by the LA-area counsel because she was familiar with his courtroom advocacy as a Riverside County Eminent Domain lawyer and wanted Mr. Hubbard to present oral argument before the Ninth Circuit. That representation saved the client a substantial sum, compared to the lower court ruling.

Mr. Hubbard’s courtroom advocacy as a Riverside County Eminent Domain Lawyer has earned him widespread praise from judges. After winning an eminent domain trial in a Riverside County courtroom, one judge pressed Mr. Hubbard to consider being a judge. It was perhaps a year later when a retiring judge made a more extensive effort to persuade David to become a judge. After Mr. Hubbard responded that he does not care about things like “prestige,” “legacy” and “position of power in the community,” the retiring judge said “it is because you don’t care about those things that the local judges think you would make a great judge.”

After trial in another case, Mr. Hubbard was invited by the Presiding Judge of Riverside County to help start the “Bench Bar Committee,” a group that initially included about a half-dozen lawyers and a half-dozen judges in Riverside County. Mr. Hubbard did join that committee as the County representative for small firms. The purpose of the committee has been to make courtroom rules and procedures more jury-friendly and make the courtroom experience better for judges, juries and attorneys. The meetings of the Bench Bar Committee has helped trial attorneys and local judges understand the pressures each is under and alleviated most of the conflict that arises from time to time between lawyers and judges.

Though Mr. Hubbard has just that one recent experience in the Ninth Circuit, his success there and the fact that experienced counsel sought him out for his courtroom advocacy should be noteworthy to prospective eminent domain clients. Any experienced trial lawyer will acknowledge that nobody knows at the start of the case where it might end up. An eminent domain case in Riverside County could well end up being resolved in the Ninth Circuit.