Author Biographies: Handling Federal Discovery

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Handling Federal Discovery

About the Authors

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William Audet is a member of the nationally known firm of Alexander, Hawes & Audet, formerly known as The Alexander Law Firm, in San Jose, California. Before joining The Alexander Law Firm as Of Counsel, Mr. Audet was an equity partner at the firm of Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein. Mr. Audet has prosecuted class action and individual cases involving securities, product liability, fraud, consumer and limited partnership claims. He has won multi-million-dollar settlements on behalf of plaintiffs and has successfully tried civil rights cases in federal court.

Mr. Audet graduated with the highest honors from Golden Gate University School of Law, where he was awarded two academic scholarships and received the American Jurisprudence Award in constitutional law and contracts. Mr. Audet earned an LL.M. from the University of Wisconsin School of Law, where he was a Clinical Instructor and Staff Attorney at the Legal Assistance to Institutionalized Persons Program. Mr. Audet served as a staff attorney at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, as a law clerk to the Honorable Fern M. Smith, Judge of the United State District Court for the Northern District of California, and as a law clerk to the Honorable Alfonso J. Zirpoli, Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Mr. Audet is a member of the California and Wisconsin bars and is admitted to practice before numerous federal district courts throughout the United States and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The author of two law review articles, Mr. Audet is a frequent contributor to the San Francisco bay area legal press.

E-mail - waudet@alexanderlaw.com

Kimberly A. Fanady is a sole practitioner in San Francisco. Her commercial litigation practice includes representing major financial institutions and other corporate clients in federal and state trial and appellate courts in the areas of contract and commercial disputes, lender liability, creditors’ remedies, consumer class actions involving unfair business practices, consumer credit reporting, automobile sales and financing, securities fraud, employment discrimination, wrongful termination, construction law, and workout/settlement negotiation and documentation.

Prior to opening her solo practice in May 1996, Ms. Fanady practiced with Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger in San Francisco from 1989 to 1996 and with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in New York City from 1986 to 1989. She is a member of the California and New York bars and various federal courts in California and New York.

Ms. Fanady received her J.D. from New York University School of Law, where she served as Executive Editor of the Moot Court Board. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a B.A. in English.

Honorable Fern M. Smith received her B.A. with distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, from Stanford University in 1972 and her J.D. from Stanford Law School in 1975. From 1975 to 1986, Judge Smith practiced with the firm of Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon where she was a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Judge Smith served as a Judge of the Superior Court of the State of California, in and for the County of San Francisco, from 1986 to 1988. Judge Smith has served as a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California since 1988.

Judge Smith has served as a member of the California Judicial Council, the California Judicial Council’s Advisory Task Force on Gender Bias, the California State-Federal Judicial Council and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference. She is currently serving as Chair of the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Evidence.

Judge Smith is a member of the Federal Judges Association, the Association of Business Trial Lawyers and the Edward J. McFetridge American Inn of Court. She has participated as a faculty member and/or panelist in numerous programs for the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association, the Federal Practice Institute and the Securities Section of the San Francisco Bar Association.