Donna Bader

Donna Bader is a Certified Specialist in Appellate Law. Since 1980, she has practiced exclusively in the area of civil appeals and writs, with an emphasis on medical and legal malpractice, and personal injury law. She has written over 350 appellate briefs and writ petitions.

“My most important strength is being able to distill the information provided to me in the court record and present it to a reviewing court in a way that is concise and persuasive. Behind every case there is a story about people. I seek to bring out that story in very human terms, not forgetting that I need the law on my side, and present it to the court. In that way, the court sees my client as a real person, not just some legal case, and that unless the court intervenes, a real injustice will be done. If the story is persuasive, and the law is on my side, the court will do the right thing.”

After graduating from Western State University, School of Law in 1977, Ms. Bader specialized in law and motion matters, including an assignment to the Law and Motion Department of the Orange County Superior Court. While acting as a consultant to attorneys on their law and motion needs, she wrote hundreds of motions and oppositions.

Ms. Bader is the former and founding Editor-in-Chief of Plaintiff magazine, a new publication that is distributed to over 5,000 Northern California attorneys. She is a former Editor-in-Chief of Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles’ monthly magazine, The Advocate. She also served as the Editor-in-Chief of Consumer Attorneys of California’s monthly magazine, The Forum, in 2005, and before that, she was the Editor of the Orange County Trial Lawyer’s quarterly publication, The Gavel, for three years. She has served on the boards of the Orange County Bar Association, Consumer Attorneys of California, and Orange County Trial Lawyers Association. Ms. Bader has been a contributing writer to various publications, including the California Lawyer, Orange County Lawyer, The Gavel, The Warrior, The Forum, Plaintiff, and The Advocate. She has also been a featured speaker at seminars for the Consumer Attorneys of California, Orange County Trial Lawyers Association, Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, the Orange County Bar Association, Hispanic Bar Association, and the Celtic Bar Association.

Ms. Bader is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Eastern, Southern, and Central District Courts in the State of California, the California Supreme Court, and all courts in California.

Born in New York City, New York on December 22, 1953, Ms. Bader moved to California in 1959. She received her J.D. degree from Western State University, College of Law in Fullerton in 1977. In law school, Ms. Bader was the winner of the American Jurisprudence Award (Am. Jur.) in Constitutional Law. After law school, she attended the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France in 1979.  She has also been named as a Super Lawyer for Southern California in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

When she is not working (or sleeping), Ms. Bader can be found engaged in her favorite hobbies: traveling, creative writing, photography, and skiing.