Kelly Woodruff has more than 30 years of experience handling significant appeals and writs in state and federal appellate courts.
Her practice spans nearly all subject areas, including commercial disputes, intellectual property, real estate, antitrust, and trust and estate litigation, but she has developed a particular expertise in handling family law appeals and writs.
Kelly is certified by the California State Bar as an appellate law specialist.
In addition to appeals and writs, she is often retained to write amicus briefs to ensure her clients’ voices are heard in cases where they are not otherwise participating.
She often works with trial counsel to prepare more effective motions, preserve issues for appeal, and strategize on appellate impacts for clients.
Kelly also has experience assisting trial counsel in securing writs to obtain interlocutory review of orders before final judgment or to stay a damaging order pending full appeal.
Kelly was named one of the Top Women Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal.
She has been repeatedly named a Northern California Super Lawyer for appellate law as well, and listed in Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Appellate Practice and Commercial Litigation.
She is committed to giving back to the community.
Kelly was named by California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye to the Appellate Caseflow Workgroup led by First District Presiding Justice Jim Humes to study and recommend solutions to systemic delays impacting the speedy resolution of appeals in some of California’s appellate courts. She is also currently serving as the Chair of the California Lawyers Association Litigation Section’s Committee on Appellate Courts. She was Co-Chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Appellate Section from 2017-2020 and continues to serve on the Executive Committee of the Section. She is also on the UC Law San Francisco (formerly Hastings) Board of Governors and is Co-Chair of the San Francisco alumni chapter. In addition, Kelly acts as a panel attorney representing indigent criminal defendants in their appeals, and she has succeeded in overturning death sentences in two capital cases.
Kelly graduated magna cum laude from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings College of the Law), and clerked on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
She received numerous awards for her law school academic achievements and served as Senior Executive Editor for the Hastings Law Journal. After graduating, she clerked for James R. Browning of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and David A. Ezra of the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii.
Clerkships
Judge James R. Browning
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Judge David A. Ezra
- U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii
Law School
U.C. Hastings College of the Law
Awards
California Litigation Star Benchmark Litigation
Best Lawyer Best Lawyers Magazine
Super Lawyer Super Lawyers Magazine
Bar Admissions
California
U.S. Court of Appeals Sixth, Ninth, and Federal Circuits
U.S. Supreme Court
Certifications
Appellate Law
Some of Kelly's cases
California Court of Appeal
Hadar v. Luria
Prevailed on appeal of order granting summary judgment in partition of real property arising from statutory right to end co-tenancy through partition by sale.
California Court of Appeal
In re Marriage of Kelpe
Defended a trial court’s ruling that the benefits from a retirement plan in which husband became eligible to participate only after separation when he became a partner in his firm were entirely his separate property.
California Court of Appeal
Geear v. Pulliam
Defended a trial court’s ruling in a probate case that a marital trust had been revoked upon the decedent’s divorce from his ex-wife, and decedent died intestate requiring his mother’s petition for letters of administration to be granted.
California Court of Appeal
Venuti v. Venuti
Obtained reversal of an order denying an accounting by the trustee and denying petitioners leave to amend their petition for an accounting in a probate case.
California Court of Appeal
Raynor v. Lipton
Obtained a writ of supersedeas staying a trial court’s order denying petitioners a preliminary injunction barring petitioners’ neighbors from continuing construction on their property that was causing damage to petitioners’ property, and reversing the denial of the injunction.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Degamo v. Bank of America
Obtained a Ninth Circuit decision vacating the district court’s dismissal of a putative class action brought by Hawaii homeowners to challenge Bank of America’s foreclosure practices during the 2007 mortgage crisis. The ruling gives the homeowners a new opportunity to show the bank discouraged competition at foreclosure sales so it could buy homes at depressed prices and resell them for a larger profit.
California Court of Appeal
In re Marriage of Ciprari
Spousal support reversed as not comporting with marital standard of living. Child support reversed. Denial of attorney fees reversed because financial disparity between parties made fee award mandatory. New standard created for tracing commingled property.
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