Mr. Adlai’s expertise is in civil and criminal appeals in California and federal courts, as well as federal habeas corpus litigation at all levels of review. Mr. Adlai handles only a small number of cases at any one time in order to ensure thoughtful and strategic case development and high quality work for each of his clients.

Through his legal experience in a variety of settings, Mr. Adlai has developed the skill of balancing an intellectual approach with pragmatism and cost efficiency. Mr. Adlai’s work ethic reflects his firm belief that preparation is the key to success and the thoroughness of an attorney’s work has a positive effect on the outcome. The quality of Mr. Adlai’s briefs and his detailed knowledge of complex legal areas have frequently elicited praise from lawyers and judges alike, including opposing counsel, and often helped achieve favorable results for his clients.

Mr. Adlai started his legal career in law firms that focused on complex civil litigation and plaintiff’s tort litigation. Over the past 15 years, Mr. Adlai has helped clients of the Federal Public Defender’s office and private clients in a nationally respected private criminal defense firm. Mr. Adlai gained unique insight into the perspective and attitudes of judges by working closely with numerous federal judges overseeing post-conviction capital litigation in his role as a staff attorney for the United States District Court in Los Angeles.

Mr. Adlai graduated near the top of his class from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California Berkeley, where he served as Senior Managing Editor of the Industrial Relations Law Journal (now the Berkeley Journal of Labor and Employment Law). His research efforts were incorporated into an amicus brief filed in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of an Irish asylum applicant. Law professors selected him to tutor Civil Procedure and Contracts courses; he also volunteered at Boalt Hall’s worker’s rights clinic and was a founding member of the Boalt Hall Prison Law Project.

After starting his undergraduate career at the United States Air Force Academy, he transferred to the University of Southern California where he was awarded a B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering in 1986.

Mr. Adlai is admitted to practice before all California state courts, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Central, and Southern Districts of California.

He is also a member of the Federal Bar Association/Los Angeles County Bar Association, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, and California Appellate Defense Counsel.

Mr. Adlai is proficient in both Spanish and French.

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Habeas Corpus

Civil/Criminal Appeal

Attorney/Lawyer

Pasadena/Los Angeles, California

California State and Federal courts,
the Ninth Circuit and all other federal circuit courts of appeal

65 North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, California 91103

Telephone: 626-578-7294
Fax: 626-685-2562