Jocelyn Sperling handles a wide range of civil appeals.

For more than a decade, she has represented clients in civil appeals and writ petitions in the California Courts of Appeal and Ninth Circuit. Her diverse practice includes employment, tort, contract, real property, and attorney fee matters. Before joining CALG, she was an appellate lawyer at Bien & Summers and at her own firm, and litigated cases at a boutique employment firm earlier in her career.

 

She was a law clerk and staff attorney at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Jocelyn worked at the Ninth Circuit for five years, serving as a law clerk to Judge Richard A. Paez and later as a staff attorney for the Court. She was also a research attorney at the Alameda County Superior Court and an extern in the federal district court. In these positions, she gained insight into effective advocacy and the judicial decision-making process, along with practical knowledge of how the trial and appellate courts work.

 

Jocelyn is active in the legal community, and writes and speaks on appellate law.

Jocelyn serves as an Appellate Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit, one of a small group of attorneys selected by the judges to help improve appellate practice and administration of the Court. Jocelyn is a past chair of the Committee on Appellate Courts of the California Lawyers Association’s Litigation Section, where she led key access-to-justice projects. She is the co-founder and a past chair of the Alameda County Bar Association’s Appellate Law Section, and a past chair of the ACBA’s Judicial Appointments Evaluation Committee. Jocelyn also co-authors a chapter on appealability in CEB’s California Civil Appellate Practice and frequently speaks on appellate issues. In addition to her retained work, she routinely handles pro bono appeals and amicus briefs for nonprofit organizations.

 

Jocelyn graduated Order of the Coif from UCLA School of Law.

She was in the first class of UCLA Law’s Program in Public Interest and Policy and served as as an editor of the Law Review. She earned her undergraduate degree from Duke University, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Clerkship

Judge Richard A. Paez

  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Law School

UCLA School of Law

  • Order of the Coif
  • Editor, UCLA Law Review
  • Program in Public Interest and Policy

Awards

Distinguished Service Award Alameda County Bar Association

Super Lawyer Super Lawyers Magazine

Bar Admissions

California

U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit

U.S. Supreme Court

Certifications

Appellate Law Certified Specialist, State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization

Some of Jocelyn's cases

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Chalian v. CVS Pharmacy

Obtained reversal of orders denying intervention and overruling objections to a settlement under California’s Private Attorneys General Act.

California Court of Appeal

HR E&I, Inc. v. Ahn

Won affirmance of order denying $3 million in contractual attorney fees.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

The Ohio House, LLC v. City of Costa Mesa

Along with a CALG team, successfully defended regulations of sober living homes against claims that the regulations discriminated against individuals recovering from addiction.

California Court of Appeal

King v. Baker Perlite LLC

Successfully defended ruling that an arbitration agreement was permeated with unconscionability and thus unenforceable.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Crownholm v. Moore

Represented land surveyor nonprofit corporations in amici curiae brief defending California’s act regulating land surveyors and arguing that unlicensed land surveying harms the public.

California Court of Appeal

City of Modesto v. Dow Chemical Co.

Obtained reversal of summary adjudication and key trial rulings on behalf of a city in a groundwater contamination action.

California Court of Appeal

Richardson v. Franc

Won affirmance of decision granting plaintiffs an irrevocable parol license to maintain landscaping and other improvements on their neighbors’ property.

Publications & media appearances

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