It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Bill Hancock, a founder of the California Appellate Law Group and a widely admired member of the California appellate bar.
Bill spent 16 years as senior research attorney in the California Courts of Appeal for the First and Sixth Appellate Districts, where he worked with a range of judges and analyzed hundreds of appeals under state law and procedure. He was also a founding staff member of the First District Appellate Project in San Francisco. After his tenure with the court, Bill became of counsel to the appellate firm Horvitz & Levy. He opened his own appellate practice in 2004, and co-founded the appellate boutique Eisenberg & Hancock LLP in 2006, where he was managing partner. In 2012, he founded the California Appellate Law Group with Ben Feuer and served as the firm’s first managing principal.
Bill was widely recognized for his appellate skill. He was named a “SuperLawyer” and a “Best Lawyer in America” every year for nearly a decade. Recently, Bill played an important role in CALG’s success in protecting Californians’ public access to beaches. He graduated from UC Hastings College of the Law with Order of the Coif and Thurston Society honors, and was a UC Santa Cruz “Banana Slug” before that, also with honors.
Bill will be remembered with deep fondness not only by the members of the California Appellate Law Group and lawyers throughout California, but also by his wife Jessica, his daughter Justine, his brother Tom, and his sisters Kim and Jane.