Author Biographies: California Objections

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California Objections

About the Authors

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Gregory H. Ward has served as a Judge of the Santa Clara County Superior Court since 1990. He has presided over hundreds of jury and nonjury trials in civil, criminal, juvenile delinquency and juvenile dependency cases.

Prior to his appointment to the Superior Court, Judge Ward was in private practice in Palo Alto, California. He also served as a trial attorney for the United States Department of Justice, Organized Crime & Racketeering Division, in Chicago and San Juan, Puerto Rico and as an Assistant United States Attorney in San Jose, California.

Judge Ward graduated from Harvard Law School and the University of California, Santa Cruz. He lives in San Jose with his wife, Jo Anne, and their son, Nathan.

J. Michael Byrne is a private mediator and arbitrator for ADR Services. From 1989 to 2003, Judge Byrne served as a superior court judge in Los Angeles County. His many judicial assignments have included civil fast-track court, civil and criminal trial court, and civil law and motion. While presiding in Pasadena and Downtown Los Angeles Civil fast-track courts, Judge Byrne tried an average of fifteen to twenty civil jury trials a year. From 1982 to 1988, he was a municipal court judge.

Before his judicial appointment, Judge Byrne was a trial attorney and later a supervising attorney in the Los Angeles and Sacramento District Attorney offices, where he tried numerous jury and court trials on a regular basis. For a number of years, he was assigned to the Consumer & Environmental Crimes Section and Special Investigation Divisions of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. For two years, he was the legal advisor to the Los Angeles Grand Jury.

Judge Byrne enjoys a very active teaching schedule, lecturing both the Bench and the Bar. He has lectured on evidence and conducted trial demonstrations for the Southern California Chinese Lawyers’ Association Trial Skills Program. He has presented lectures on hearsay and privileges as part of the Los Angeles Superior Court Civil Judges’ education program. In March, 2003, he presented a program on trial issues at the Civil Law Institute for civil court judges from throughout the state.

Judge Byrne taught for three years in the Ethics Qualifying Judicial Program, enabling over 300 judicial officers statewide to complete this requirement. In 2000, he completed his second three-year term on the Ethics Committee of the California Judges’ Association. He is presently a member of the Civil Law Education Committee of the Judicial Council of California.

In 1996, Judge Byrne was awarded the Daniel O’Connell Award as an outstanding jurist by the Irish American Bar Association of Los Angeles.

Judge Byrne graduated from Loyola Law School, receiving his Juris Doctor in 1968. He also attended Loyola-Marymount University, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 1965.