Kirstin Ault has 25 years of experience as a litigator specializing in cases involving complex financial issues in trial and appellate court.
Her appellate practice focuses on complex civil and criminal fraud cases in federal court and high-value family law cases in California state court. In her trial consulting practice, Kirstin brings an appellate lawyer’s approach to assisting trial counsel — often confidentially — with all aspects of pretrial, trial, and post-trial litigation practice, including drafting and responding to pretrial motions, conceiving and writing motions in limine, assisting with pretrial filings, consulting on trial strategy, preparing witnesses, and helping to draft post-trial motions and sentencing memos, all with an eye towards strengthening a potential appeal.
Prior to joining CALG, she spent 15 years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of California.
Kirstin served in the criminal, appellate, and civil divisions where she drafted over 50 appellate briefs, oversaw appeals drafted by other attorneys, and acted as special counsel on appellate and trial practice matters. She served in the office’s economic crimes unit where she acted as Health Care Fraud Coordinator and as lead counsel in numerous complex financial criminal jury trials.
Kirstin is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of California College of the Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings).
She is also a guest instructor at Stanford Law School, and she teaches continuing education classes on a variety of substantive and procedural topics related to appellate practice.
She graduated from Stanford Law School and clerked for Judge Joel Flaum on the Seventh Circuit.
After clerking, Kirstin began her career at Munger, Tolles & Olsen LLP, where she drafted appellate briefs in civil and criminal cases, assisted in corporate internal investigations, and second-chaired two trials.
Clerkship
Judge Joel Flaum
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Law School
Stanford Law School
Awards
Super Lawyer Super Lawyers Magazine
Top 100 Lawyers in California (2014) Daily Journal
Director’s Award (2016) Executive Office of United States Attorneys
Bar Admissions
California
U.S. Court of Appeals Seventh and Ninth Circuits
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Case name confidential
Helped the victim of a cryptocurrency theft to obtain relief from the Ninth Circuit after a government mistake deprived him of millions of dollars in restitution.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Case name confidential
Assisted trial counsel to obtain an acquittal in the federal criminal trial of a small business owner who had been charged with pension plan fraud in the Northern District of California.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
Case name confidential
Assisted trial counsel to obtain a favorable sentencing result for a doctor who had been convicted of health care fraud and unlawful kickbacks at trial.
California Court of Appeal
In re Marriage of Donahue
Successfully represented wife in divorce proceeding to obtain reversal of the dismissal of her separation petition on jurisdictional grounds.
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