Profile
John Briscoe has tried cases in state, federal, and international courts, and has argued before the California Supreme Court, the United States Supreme Court, and the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. In real property and environmental litigation he has represented large real-estate, water, oil, and mining companies, the country’s largest title insurers; the California Land Title Association; the States of Alaska, Hawaii, Georgia, and California; the Government of Guam; the Ports of Oakland and Richmond, California; and many city and county governments. In addition he has represented the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the Republic of Korea, the State of Kuwait, and the United Nations Compensation Commission (set up to hear the claims against Iraq, particularly the environmental claims, following the Gulf War of 1991). Between 1981 and 2000, Mr. Briscoe served as special counsel to the State of Alaska in Supreme Court litigation against the United States. The case concerned the limit of American territorial waters off the north coast of Alaska between Icy Cape and the American-Canadian boundary. He served as special counsel to the State of Georgia in its Supreme Court land and maritime boundary dispute with the State of South Carolina. He has been a special assistant attorney general for the State of Hawaii with regard to the State’s claim to the resources of the submerged lands of the Hawaiian archipelago, and for matters arising under Hawaii Homes Commission Act of 1920. And he has served as special counsel to the Territory of Guam in litigation against the United States Government seeking recovery of some 23,000 acres of Land. Between 1972 and 1980, he practiced in the Land Law Section of the California Attorney General's Office, where he was responsible for major litigation including several actions in the original jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Briscoe has published three books and numerous articles on natural resources, land use, land title and oceans law. He has authored papers and books on other subjects as well.
About John Briscoe
Admitted: 1972, California
Professional Webpage: www.briscoelaw.net/lawyers.html
Bar/Professional Activity: ADMISSIONS: State Bar of California; United States District Court for the Northern, Eastern and Central Districts of California; Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; Supreme Court of the United States; Permanent Court of Arbitration., PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES: Member and past chair, Board of Directors, San Francisco Bay Planning Coalition; president, Historical Society of the Northern District of California; past member, Council of Friends of The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley; chair, Advisory Board of the MFA Program in Creative Writing, St. Mary’s College of California; California Sea Grant Program Advisory Board; Advisory Board, Law of The Sea Institute, University of California, Berkeley; American Bar Association; California Bar Association.
Representative Clients: PERMANENT COURT OF ARBITRATION, THE HAGUE: Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission. Represented Ethiopia in this case arising from the war between the two countries between 1998 and 2000. UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT: Friends of the Earth v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc., 528 U.S. 167, 145 L.Ed.2d 610 (2000). Filed amicus curiae brief on behalf of the California Association of Sanitation Agencies; United States v. Alaska , 521 U.S. 1, 138 L.Ed.2d 231 (1997). Tried lengthy case before Special Master J. Keith Mann in 1984 and 1985, and appeared for defendant State of Alaska before the Supreme Court in 1997. The case concerned the application of international law-of-the-sea conventions to the Arctic coast of Alaska; United States v. California, 449 U.S. 1028 (1980). Tried case before Special Master Alfred Arraj in 1978 and 1979, and appeared before the Supreme Court on behalf of defendant State of California in 1980. The case concerned the application of international conventions to the coast of California; Georgia v. South Carolina, 475 U.S. 1115 (1986). Served as special counsel to the State of Georgia during trial proceedings before special master, and before Supreme Court, on the questions of the lateral seaward boundary, initially to 200 nautical miles, between the states of South Carolina and Georgia, under applicable international law.; California v. Arizona and the United States,U.S. Supreme Court (1977-78). Following a decision of the Court, 440 U.S. 59, tried the case before the Court’s Special Master Roy W. Harper, which resulted in decree in favor of California, 452 U.S. 431 (1981); United States v. Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi Boundary Case, 470 U.S. 93 (1985). Filed brief as amicus curiae on behalf of the State of Alaska, urging the position of the states; United States v. Maine, Rhode Island and New York Boundary Case, 469 U.S. 504 (1985). Filed brief as amicus curiae on behalf of State of Alaska, urging the position of the states. Mr. Briscoe has participated as amicus curiae in numerous other cases in the Supreme Court from 1974 to date. CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT: Stockton Citizens for Sensible Planning v. City of Stockton, A.G. Spanos Companies, et al. (review granted; case awaiting oral argument); Redevelopment Agency v. Gilmore, 38 Cal. 3d 790 (1985). Argued before the California Supreme Court on behalf of property owners in this condemnation case; People v. Weeren, 26 Cal. 3d 654 (1980). Argued before the California Supreme Court on behalf of State of California in fisheries case. 9TH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS: Mr. Briscoe has appeared before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on several occasions. Two recent cases are: Intertanko v. State of Washington, 148 F.3d 1053 (9th Cir. 1999), and Government of Guam v. United States of America, 179 F.3d 630 (9th Cir. 1999). CALIFORNIA COURTS OF APPEALS: Mr. Briscoe has argued before the California Courts of Appeal on many occasions. Many of the decisions in the cases he has argued have not been published but a number have. Two of the more unusual cases are People ex rel. State Lands Commission v. Superior Court, 36 Cal. App. 3d 727 (1973) and Hitchings v. Del Rio Woods Recreation & Park District, 55 Cal. App. 3d (1976). TRIAL COURT CASES: In the federal and state trial courts, Mr. Briscoe has tried condemnation, land-use, environmental, and other property or natural resource cases. In the federal courts, he has represented clients such as the developer of the Squaw Creek Project at North Lake Tahoe, the Vallejo Sanitation and Flood Control District, and First American Title Insurance Company. In state trial courts he has represented such clients as The Grupe Company, Marriott Corporation (in three separate lawsuits regarding the San Francisco Airport Marriott Hotel), the former Leslie Salt Co. (now Cargill, Incorporated), the Sohio Petroleum Company (the final redetermination of interests in the Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska), and W.R. Grace & Company in class action litigation regarding asbestos in California homes. ADMINISTRATOR MATTERS: In addition, Mr. Briscoe has represented clients in hundreds of matters before administrative agencies such as the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the California Coastal Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the California State Lands Commission, the California Water Resources Control Board, and various California Regional Water Quality Control Boards. His clients in these matters have included major real-estate developers, water interests, oil and mining companies, railroads, municipalities, the Ports of Oakland and Richmond, and Oscar winner (Best Actor) Cliff Robertson.
Educational Background: J.D. cum laude, University of San Francisco Law School, 1972; Law Review.
