Biography
Jim Lobsenz is a shareholder in the law firm of Carney Badley Spellman, P.S. His main practice areas include civil rights litigation, criminal defense, and appellate advocacy. Jim clerked for Justice Mathew O. Tobriner and Chief Justice Vincent L. McKusick of the California and Maine Supreme Courts. He then spent three years as a deputy prosecutor in King County, and two years as a state appellate public defender, before going into private practice in 1985.
He has received the ACLU's Civil Libertarian Award, the United Nations Association's Human Rights Day Award, and the Abolitionist Award from the Washington Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Some of his favorite cases include Watkins v. United States Army, 875 F.2d 699 (9th Cir. en banc 1989); Washington State Physicians v. Fisons, 122 Wn.2d 299 (1993); State v. Letourneau, 100 Wn. App. 424 (2000); and LIMIT v. Maleng, 874 F.Supp. 1138 (W.D.Wash. 1994).
Mr. Lobsenz graduated from Stanford in 1974 and received a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978. "He has authored several law review articles including: "The Residential Tenant's Right to Freedom of Political Expression," (co-author) 10 Univ. Puget Sound Law Review 1 (1987) and "A Constitutional Right to an Appeal: Guarding Against Unacceptable Risks of Erroneous Conviction," 8 Univ. Puget Sound Law Review 375 (l985).
