Home > Links and Resources > Handouts from Practice Program Events

2023 Civil & Criminal Law Summer Program:
Effective Advocacy in Federal Court

July 12, 2023

Materials

THE OATH FOR ADMISSION TO THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA BAR

I solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of an attorney or counselor at law to the best of my knowledge and ability. As an officer of the court, I will strive to conduct myself at all times with dignity, courtesy and integrity. (emphasis added)

(See Cal. Rules of Court 9.4, effective May 23, 2014)

ABA MODEL RULE OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT 3.4 (a)

“A lawyer shall not:

  1. unlawfully obstruct another party’s access to evidence or unlawfully alter, destroy or conceal a document or other material having potential evidentiary value. A lawyer shall not counsel or assist another person to do any such act.”

Additional Resources

Panelist Bios

District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers was born in Houston and raised in San Antonio, Texas. She left Texas and matriculated at Princeton University graduating cum laude in 1987. She received her J.D. from the University of Texas, Austin in 1991 but completed her final year of classes at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

In November 2011, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, after receiving her commission from President Barack Obama, took the oath to serve as a Federal District Court Judge for the Northern District of California. She is the first Latina to occupy that role. She currently chairs the Northern District’s Committee charged with administering the Criminal Justice Act as it relates to indigent defense and has sat by designation on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Relatedly, she sits on the United States and Ninth Circuit Defenders Committees.

Prior to her federal appointment, she served as a Superior Court Judge for the State of California in Alameda County and was an equity partner with Cooley LLP. In her capacity as both a state and federal judge, she has presided over thousands of civil and criminal cases and over eighty trials, including patent and intellectual property.

In addition to her judicial duties, she was elected as the first state court judge to the Council of the American Law Institute in 2010. She has worked on projects related to Privacy, Employment, Unjust Enrichment, and Copyright. She also chaired the Membership Committee for six years. She serves a Board member of the Northern District Chapter of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers and on the Advisory Council for the La Raza Law Academy based in Oakland, California. From 2014-2018, Judge Gonzalez Rogers served on the Board of Trustees for Princeton University.

She and her husband of thirty+ years have three adult children.

District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín

Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín was born in Mexico City, Mexico. She graduated from Princeton University in 1999, and received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 2004. Following law school, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable David Briones for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas from 2004 to 2006. Thereafter, she held several positions at the Women’s Rights Project of the ACLU in New York, and was a Staff Attorney for Legal Aid at Work in San Francisco, California. She also worked as a civil rights attorney at the U.S Department of Education, and as an immigration rights attorney for Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto. Immediately prior to assuming the bench, she was a supervising attorney at the National Immigration Law Center. She was also lecturer at U.C. Berkeley School of Law.

Judge Martínez-Olguín was nominated to serve as a Judge for the Northern District of California by President Joseph R. Biden on January 3, 2023. She was confirmed by the Senate on February 28, 2023, and received her commission on March 3, 2023.

Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse

Magistrate Judge Alex G. Tse brings broad knowledge of federal law and practice, both civil and criminal, to the San Francisco Division. Prior to joining the bench, he served for nearly twenty years in various positions with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, including an interim appointment as the U.S. Attorney, and service as First Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Judge Tse began his legal career in 1990 in private practice. In 1994, he became a line Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division, where he defended the federal government in civil cases, and pursued civil actions against defendants who defrauded the government. In 2001, Judge Tse became a Deputy Chief of the Civil Division. While he continued to litigate defensive cases, the majority of his work was in the area of affirmative civil enforcement. This included investigations and litigation primarily under the False Claims Act. His primary areas of litigation included health care and financial institution fraud.

In late 2006, Judge Tse left the United States Attorney’s Office and in 2007 took a position as an Assistant Chief City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco, where he led the team of Deputy City Attorneys charged with investigating and abating public nuisance. In late 2012, Judge Tse returned to the U.S. Attorney’s Office as the Chief of the Civil Division. In 2016, he received a Special Commendation from the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and he received a Director’s Award for Superior Performance from the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys in 2017. Prior to joining the bench, he served on various court committees in the Northern District of California including the court’s Civil Local Rules Attorney Advisory Committee and the Criminal Rules and Practice Committee, and served for several years as a volunteer court-appointed mediator and early neutral evaluator.

Judge Tse is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.