Wilson Sonsini litigation partner Mark Yohalem was elected as a member of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers at the Academy’s recent board of directors meeting.

The American Academy of Appellate Lawyers was founded in 1990 to recognize outstanding appellate lawyers and promote the improvement of appellate advocacy and the administration of the appellate courts. Academy membership is limited to 500 members in the United States and is open only to those who possess a reputation of recognized distinction as an appellate lawyer. Candidates for membership must be nominated and seconded by current Academy Fellows, reviewed and recommended by a Membership Screening Committee, and elected at an Academy board of directors meeting.

Mark’s reputation as an appellate specialist has previously been recognized by the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers (to which he was inducted in 2022) and Chambers USA, in which he is highly ranked. Clients surveyed by Chambers recognized that Mark “truly excels in storytelling and advocacy” and is “wonderful strategically” and “incredibly smart,” with “the rare ability to convert brilliant analysis of extremely complex business cases into clear and simply stated briefs and oral arguments.” He has argued more than 50 appeals in federal and state court, twice before en banc panels of the Ninth Circuit. Before entering private practice, he served as the Deputy Chief of Appeals at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, and as a law clerk to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Pamela Ann Rymer of the Ninth Circuit.

For more information about the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, please click here.