M. Gerald Schwartzbach | Attorney

Listed in the publication The Best Lawyers in America , published by Woodward/White, Mr. Schwartzbach has been a trial lawyer for 40 years. He is a recipient of the Skip Glenn Award, presented for outstanding service in defense of a client by California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, a statewide organization of over 2,000 criminal defense attorneys.

Mr. Schwartzbach has lectured extensively on a variety of subjects related to trial practice and the criminal justice system. He has spoken to audiences at seminars/meetings sponsored by the following organizations: American College of Forensic Psychiatry, Bar Association of San Francisco, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, California Continuing Education of the Bar, California Public Defenders Association, California Regional Trial Lawyers Association, Commonwealth Club of California, Compton Bar Association, Contra Costa County Bar Association, Florida Public Defender Association, Hastings College of Law Litigation Advocacy Program, Lawyers Club of San Francisco, Los Angeles County Public Defender Office, Los Angeles Criminal Courts Bar Association, Marin County Bar Association, Marin County Public Defender Office, Marin County Rotary Club, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, National Center For Courts and Media, National Lawyers Guild, Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, Recorder Legal Newspaper, San Diego Criminal Trial Lawyers Association, Santa Clara University School of Law, Santa Cruz Criminal Trial Lawyers Association, Seattle University School of Law, Stanford University School of Law, State Bar of California, State Bar of Nevada, University of San Francisco School of Law, University of Judaism, and Washington & Jefferson College.

Mr. Schwartzbach has also testified in capital murder habeas corpus proceedings as an expert on the competence of counsel, and has served on the boards of numerous professional organizations.

The following is a partial list of Mr. Schwartzbach's more publicized cases.

2008 - In the first criminal prosecution of its kind in the United States, Mr. Schwartzbach won an acquittal in the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court for Dr. Hootan Roozrokh.  Dr. Roozrokh, an organ transplant surgeon, was charged with attempting to hasten the death of a potential organ donor.  The prosecution received international media attention and Dr. Roozrokh's exoneration has been widely viewed as both restoring confidence in the system of organ transplantation and making a significant contribution to the treatment of suffering in end of life care.

2006-2007 - Mr. Schwartzbach successfully represented Buffalo Bills star running back Marshawn Lynch, resulting in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office decision not to file any criminal charges against Mr. Lynch.

2005 - Mr. Schwartzbach obtained an acquittal of the actor Robert Blake in a highly publicized Los Angeles murder trial that received both national and international attention. A national television audience viewed the trial's opening statements, closing arguments, and rendering of verdicts.

2003 - Mr. Schwartzbach was lead counsel for Glen Buddy Nickerson, who, based upon a finding of actual innocence, was released from prison after having been incarcerated for 18 1/2 years for a 1984 double murder. Mr. Nickerson's federal habeas corpus petition was granted by the Honorable Marilyn Hall Patel, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Judge Patel found that Mr. Nickerson was denied a fair trial as a result of police misconduct. The court concluded that the manipulation of evidence and failure to disclose exculpatory materials pervaded the law enforcement investigation and the evidence at trial.

2000 - In a landmark case involving a man who had already served 16 years of a life sentence for murder, and based upon what the court found was "a satisfactory showing of actual innocence," Mr. Schwartzbach persuaded the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to set aside the statute of limitations of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.

1999 - Mr. Schwartzbach was one of the plaintiffs' counsel who obtained a jury verdict in excess of $295 Million Dollars in the landmark personal injury/products liability case of Romo v. Ford Motor Co. in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

1995 - On behalf of former San Francisco Police Officer Joanne Welsh, Mr. Schwartzbach, along with his co-counsel, won judgments of sex discrimination and retaliation against the City and County of San Francisco in a federal civil rights trial.

1992-1995 - Mr. Schwartzbach was chief trial counsel for Murray John Lodge, Jr. in Santa Clara County Superior Court. After two lengthy trials, Mr. Lodge received a life sentence, as opposed to the death penalty, despite the fact that he had been convicted of a double murder and an attempted murder, and 45 separate incidents in aggravation had been alleged against him.

1988 - Representing the controversial co-founder of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Mr. Schwartzbach secured an acquittal of Richard Bandler in a celebrated Santa Cruz County Superior Court murder trial.

1986 - Mr. Schwartzbach was chief trial counsel for attorney Stephen Bingham, who was acquitted of conspiracy and multiple murder charges in a Marin County Superior Court trial. This internationally publicized case arose out of an alleged attempted escape from San Quentin Prison by Black Panther George Jackson. The incident resulted in the death of Mr. Jackson, and three prison guards.

1982 - As counsel for the petitioner in the landmark case of Keenan v. Superior Court , Mr. Schwartzbach persuaded the California Supreme Court to establish the presumptive right of defendants in capital murder cases to have two court-appointed attorneys.

1982 - Mr. Schwartzbach obtained an acquittal of Reuben Vizcarra in an Alameda County Superior Court trial in which Mr. Vizcarra was charged with having masterminded the assassination of the Police Chief of Union City, California.

1981 - Helping to pioneer the Battered Women's Syndrome Defense, Mr. Schwartzbach successfully defended Delores Churchill against an attempted murder charge in a San Francisco Superior Court trial.

1978 - Mr. Schwartzbach was counsel in Hawkins v. Superior Court , an opinion of the California Supreme Court in which the court held that all California felony defendants have a right to a preliminary hearing, whether prosecuted by indictment or by complaint.

1972 - Successfully arguing that the state of Arkansas' penal system violated the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, Mr. Schwartzbach convinced the Governor of Michigan to deny a request by the Governor of Arkansas, for the extradition of black prison escapee Lester Stiggers. At age 15, Mr. Stiggers had been convicted, by an all-white jury in a one day trial, of the murder of his physically abusive father.