Judge William A. Norris is a member of the firm’s litigation practice, primarily focusing on appellate litigation. He calls upon his vast experience as a business litigator for 25 years and as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit for 17 years.

Practice & Background

During his career on the bench, Judge Norris wrote landmark opinions in many areas, including securities (Hollinger v. Titan Capital Corp., 914 F.2d 1564 (9th Cir. 1990) (en banc), cert. denied, 499 U.S. 976 (1991)); tax (Paulsen v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 716 F.2d 563 (9th Cir. 1983), aff’d, 469 U.S. 131 (1985)); antitrust (Columbia Steel Casting Co., Inc. v. Portland General Electric Corp., 111 F.3d 1427 (9th Cir. 1997) cert. denied, 523 U.S. 1112 (1998)); class action litigation (In re: Washington Public Power Supply System Securities Litigation, 19 F.3d 1291 (9th Cir. 1994), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 953 (1992)); election law (San Francisco County Democratic Cent. Comm. v. EU, 826 F.2d 814 (9th Cir. 1987), aff’d, 489 U.S. 214 (1989)); the First Amendment (Newton v. NBC, 930 F.2d 662 (9th Cir. 1990), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 866 (1991)); and ERISA (Jacobson v. Hughes Aircraft Co., 105 F.3d 1288, 1303 (Norris dissent followed in 525 U.S. 432 (1999) reversing majority decision)). He briefed and argued California v. Stewart, 382 U.S. 937 (1965), a companion case to Miranda v. Arizona (384 U.S. 436 (1996)), on appointment by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Judge Norris is the founding president of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. His career highlights also include serving as president of the Los Angeles Police Commission on appointment by Mayor Tom Bradley, and as a member of the California State Board of Education and the Board of Trustees of California State University on appointment by Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown. In 1999, as special counsel to Governor Davis for tribal affairs, he served as California’s chief negotiator of the tribal-state gaming compacts required by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. In 2002, Judge Norris was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Judge Norris received his B.A. in 1951 from Princeton University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and his J.D. in 1954 from Stanford Law School, where he was a member of Order of the Coif and executive editor of the Stanford Law Review. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas.