About Kirk Jenkins

I help clients by protecting the positive results they achieve in court or – when a trial has gone against the client – vindicating the client’s rights and getting them a second chance. High stakes litigation is like chess played in three dimensions. While the trial team works to win the case at trial, I focus on what will happen afterwards. Beginning even before the jury is chosen, I work to ensure that the clients’ themes and points are presented in the best way to persuade an appellate court, and that the client’s objections to any adverse decisions have been preserved, sometimes briefing and arguing key motions before the trial court myself. But just as importantly, I manage the client’s appellate strategy. I help the trial team craft the client’s arguments with an eye towards not just what the law is, but what the law may soon become because of not-yet-decided cases pending in the appellate courts. I’ve briefed and argued many post-trial motions in the trial courts, reducing adverse judgments and improving the record for appeal before the appeal ever begins. I have appeared before higher courts as amicus in cases presenting related issues, and helped move the law in a more beneficial direction before the client’s case was decided. In twenty years as a full-time appellate lawyer, I have litigated a broad range of issues, including Federal preemption; electrocution injuries; failure to warn and design defect; the admissibility of economic testimony; groundwater contamination; primary and exclusive administrative jurisdiction; alleged asbestos exposure; the extraterritorial application of Federal and state law, and the certification and decertification of consumer class actions.

• Extensive experience in antitrust and trade regulation (price fixing, monopolization, essential facilities, tying (both civil and criminal experience)), employment law issues, (including sex discrimination, worker safety & wage and hour issues), personal injury, insurance coverage, consumer protection, privacy, intellectual property (both patent and copyright), whistleblowers litigation, business and contract litigation, regulatory matters and constitutional law.
• Arbitration and Dispute Resolution
• Litigation Team Management
• Experienced manager of expert witnesses, including economists
• Risk Management
• Drafting Motions and Disclosures
• Strong Verbal and Written Communication Skills

• Elected Fellow, American Academy of Appellate Lawyers
• Selected by peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America in Appellate Law, 2010-2023
• Elected Fellow, California Academy of Appellate Lawyers – President 2020-2021 (previously served as First Vice President, Second Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer)
• Elected Member, American Law Institute Members’ Consultative Groups: Restatement of the Law, Constitutional Torts Restatement of the Law Liability Insurance; Restatement Third, Torts: Liability for Economic Loss Restatement Third, Torts: Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm Restatement Third, Torts: Intentional Torts to Persons
• Frequent speaker on appellate law, analytics and emerging legal issues; prolific writer on judicial analytics, emerging legal issues and the appellate courts; frequent interview subject and commentator on legal issues (addendum of citations available on request)