About
Jo Hoenninger graduated from the University of Southern California School of Law in 1999 and spent her first seven years of practice learning the ropes at some of the most prestigious law firms in the country, notably Heller Ehrman and Skadden Arps. Prior to attending law school, Ms. Hoenninger was an Astronautical Engineer and later an event producer and manager for several years.
Ms. Hoenninger has served on the mediator panel for the ADR Program of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California since 2006 and also conducts private mediations.
Ms Hoenninger has a strong commitment to pro-bono work. She has authored amicus briefs in support of marriage equality in the Marriage Cases and the Prop 8 cases before the California Supreme Court.
Ms. Hoenninger is currently the President of the Board of Marriage Equality USA, past Co-Chair of the Board of Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund, past Co-Chair of the Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, past Co-Chair of Lesbian and Gay Lawyers of Los Angeles, and is active in the Conference of Delegates of California Bar Associations and has served on the Resolutions Committee for that organization.
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RESUME
LEGAL EXPERIENCE
HoenningerLaw, San Francisco, CA
October 2006 to present
Mediator: Conducts mediation in a variety of practice areas including contract disputes, insurance coverage, real estate issues, employment discrimination, personal injury, medical malpractice, and police conduct. Member of the Mediation Panel of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California and the mediation panel for the Bar Association of San Francisco.
Representative Mediations:
- Alta Bates Summit Medical Center v. United of Omaha.
- Fawkes v. Target Corp.
- Martinez v City of Livermore.
- Names Project Foundation v Carolina Casualty.
- Puglia v. Avila.
Attorney: General business and civil rights litigation including insurance issues, contract disputes, medical malpractice and constitutional law with emphasis on LGBT and disability discrimination matters. Appellate work including briefing of California Constitutional issues and interpretation of U.S. Code.
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, San Francisco, CA
Litigation Associate, April 2005 to October 2006
Subject Matter of Litigation Experience: Business litigation involving claims of breach of contract, unfair competition, unfair business practices, complex consumer class actions, and constitutional claims. Handled all aspects of trial and pre-trial work, and some appellate work.
Representative Engagements:
- Estee Lauder, Inc – class action litigation.
- Chiron Corp. – personal injury action.
- Farmers Insurance Exchange – class action litigation.
Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe, San Francisco, CA
Litigation Associate, December 2000 to March 2005
Subject Matter of Litigation Experience: General business litigation including complex insurance coverage actions, protection of intellectual property rights (patent, trademark and copyright), construction defects claims, claims involving unfair competition and unfair business practices, defense of complex consumer class actions, constitutional claims under the Takings clause, breach of contract claims, breach of fiduciary duty claims, and reformation claims. Handled all aspects of trial and pre-trial work in both state and federal courts, and some appellate work.
Representative Engagements:
- Garden City Cardclub (through its Trustee in Bankruptcy) – litigation of Takings claims
- ASCAP – multiple copyright enforcement actions.
- Luxottica – insurance coverage action.
- Republic of Congo – debt collection action under Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
- palmOne – insurance coverage action for contingent business interruption claim.
- Household International – consumer class action litigation.
- American Airlines – environmental insurance coverage litigation.
Hastings Law School, San Francisco, CA
Legal Writing Instructor, Fall Semester 2002
Mayer Brown & Platt, Los Angeles, CA
Litigation Associate, September 1999 to October 2000
Law Clerk, Spring 1999
General business litigation in both state and federal courts. Drafted a wide variety of pretrial and discovery motions, made court appearances, handled document review and production.
Law Clerk Positions During Law School: Lambda Legal, Western Regional Office, Los Angeles, CA (Summer 1997); Los Angeles County District Attorney, Los Angeles, CA (Spring 1998); Duran, Loquvam & Robertson, Los Angeles, CA (Summer 1998); Law Offices of James S. Wiederschall, Los Angeles, CA (Fall 1998).
BAR ADMISSIONS
California, 1999. All Federal District Courts in California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
PRE-LAW EXPERIENCE
Campaign Management & Field Organizing, Event Management, and Fundraising, 1981-1996
Developed and implemented field operations and fundraising plans primarily for political campaigns and non-profit organizations, and produced and managed special events. Clients included: Homecare Worker’s Union; National Petition Management; “Bayton for Oakland” Campaign; 1994 California Democratic Party Combined Campaign; Golden State Victory Fund; California AIDS Ride; Dignity International; Joy Of Singing Workshops; Hop Singh’s Night Club; National NOW Conference.
Hughes Aircraft Company, Electro-Optical & Data Systems Division, Culver City, CA
Systems Engineer, 1980-1981
Prepared project documentation, coordinated system integration and contract compliance, and conducted briefings on the design and operation of the Space Infrared Experiment.
U. S. Air Force Space Division, El Segundo, CA
Astronaut Training Program Manager/Flight Planning Project Officer, Lieutenant U.S.A.F., 1978-1980
Drafted acquisition documentation and coordinated preparation of system requirements for hardware and software to support military missions on the Space Shuttle and to train military Payload Specialist Astronauts. Prepared the Department of Defense Astronaut Training Plan for presentation to the U.S. Congress.
Cessna Aircraft Company, Pawnee Division, Wichita, KS
Analysis and Design Engineer, 1976
Designed the inlet scoop for the 1977 model 210 retractable gear aircraft and the induction system for the 1977 model 182 aircraft.
