Skip Walker has had 75 jury trials and tried over 100 cases in various forums. His landmark trials have included those involving the Alpine Meadows Avalanche, the World Airways Jetliner crash into Boston Harbor, the largest personal injury verdict in Plumas County, and the “Great Cow Case” of San Mateo County.  He has briefed or argued dozens of cases in courts of appeal throughout the country, including Bonanno v. Central Contra Costa Transit Authority (2003) 30 Cal 4th 139, which established that the location of a bus stop can constitute a dangerous condition of public property; Rattary v. Favro (2023) 97 Cal.App.5th 578, which clarifies the Firefighters’ Rule in California; and Holmes v. Syntex (1984) 156 Cal App 3d 372, which at the time was the leading case in California on forum non conveniens.

Skip was San Francisco’s Trial Lawyer of the Year for 2018 based on his work in Willis v. City of Fresno, a police abuse of power case that went on for nine years. In 2003, he was a finalist for California Trial Lawyer of the Year for his work in Bonanno, a case that went to trial three times, the court of appeal three times and the Supreme Court once, resulting in a $3.89 million verdict, as well as new law. In 2010, he was a finalist for San Francisco Trial Lawyer of the Year and in 2017 and 2021 he was a finalist for Marin County Trial Lawyer of the Year.  He has repeatedly been named one of the Top 100 Lawyers of Northern California by Super Lawyers.

Skip is a Fellow in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, regarded by many as the most prestigious of all trial lawyer organizations and restricted to just 500 lawyers in the United States. He is a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers, an honor society of outstanding trial lawyers chosen by their peers on the basis of excellence and integrity in advocacy. He also is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.  As with the Academy and the Society, Fellowship in the College is extended by invitation only to those experienced trial lawyers who have mastered the art of advocacy and whose professional careers have been marked by the highest standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility and collegiality.

He holds the rank of Advocate in the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and has lectured for the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (now AAJ), Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC), the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, Marin County Bar Association, Continuing Education of the Bar, American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys, and other professional organizations. He has served as a moot court or mock trial judge for Hastings, the University of San Francisco, and Stanford, and as an arbitrator for the San Francisco Superior Court. He is consistently selected for inclusion on the annual Super Lawyers list, an honor reserved for only 5% of the lawyers in Northern California. He has served on the Board of Directors of Hastings College of the Law, (now UC Law San Francisco), Consumer Attorneys’ Legislative Committee, and Lawyer Friends of Wine.

Licensed to practice in Massachusetts as well as California and in numerous Federal courts throughout the country, Skip has held the highest legal rating (AV) for 38 years. His biography can be found in most Who’s Who publications.

Originally from Massachusetts, he still has a summer home on Cape Cod. He is a graduate of the Northfield Mount Hermon School, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He played football and baseball in college, played rugby for 25 years in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., participates in various distance bicycling events, has rafted most of the whitewater rivers in the West, travels extensively, and is a bad golfer.

Skip’s sixth novel, Crime of Privilege, was published by Ballantine in 2013. It was named by Guardian U.S. as the best mystery of the summer and it earned Skip a nomination for the Harper Lee Award, which goes to the novel that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change. His five previous novels include the award-winning A Dime to Dance By, as well as The Immediate Prospect of Being Hanged, and Rules of the Knife Fight. His works have been published not only in this country, but also in Japan, France, Sweden, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

In March 2021, Skip was honored as one of the first recipients of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Foundation Glenna Goodacre Creative Arts Award for his contributions to the arts.

Skip is featured in the movie Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche, for his role as counsel for victims’ families in a trial that lasted four and a half months. He can also be seen in the video for the Huey Lewis song “I Want a New Drug.”

Areas of Practice

• Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries
• Police Misconduct
• Bus Stop Liability
• Insurance Bad Faith
• Products Liability
• Recreational Liability
• Dangerous Condition of Public Property
• Highway Design
• Aviation

Bar Admissions

• California, 1974
• Massachusetts, 1981
• Multiple U.S. Federal Courts, from 1974-

Education

• University of California, Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco, California, J.D., 1974
• University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, B.A., 1971

Published Works

• For legal publications, please see News & Resources section.
• Crime of Privilege, Ballantine, 2013
• The Appearance of Impropriety, Pocket Book, 1993
• The Immediate Prospect of Being Hanged, Viking, 1989
• Rules of the Knife Fight, Harper & Row, 1986
• The Two Dude Defense, Harper & Row, 1984
• A Dime to Dance By, Harper & Row, 1983

Representative Cases

• Bonanno v. Central Contra Costa Transit Authority, 30 Cal 4th 139 (2003)
• Joergensen, et al. v. Massachusetts Port Authority, 905 F.2d 514 (1990)
• Holmes v. Syntex, 156 Cal App 3d 372 (1984)
• Hahn v. Alpine Meadows (1985), 4.5 month trial involving multiple deaths in a ski resort avalanche

Classes/Seminars

• Closing Argument demonstration, ABOTA
• Lecturer, American Association for Justice (AAJ)
• Lecturer, Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC)
• Lecturer, San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association
• Lecturer, American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys
• Lecturer, Western Trial Lawyers Association

Honors and Awards

• Fellow, International Academy of Trial Lawyers
• Fellow, International Society of Barristers
• Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers
• Advocate, American Board of Trial Advocates
• Selected for inclusion in Northern California Super Lawyers, 2007 – present
• Top 100 Lawyers of Northern California, National Trial Lawyers, 2018-2024
• Top Attorneys in Northern California, San Francisco Magazine
• Martindale-Hubbell Highest Legal Rating (AV) 38 Years
• San Francisco Trial Lawyers Notable Achievement Award, 2021
• Marin County Trial Lawyer of the Year, Finalist, 2017 and 2021
• San Francisco Trial Lawyer of the Year, 2018
• San Francisco Trial Lawyer of Year, Finalist, 2010
• California Trial Lawyer of the Year, Finalist, 2003
• City of Lancaster recognition of Excellence in Trial Advocacy, 2023

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Past Member Board of Governors, University of California, Hastings College of the Law
• Consumer Attorneys of California, Legislative Committee, Past Member Board of Governors
• American Association for Justice, Member
• National Trial Lawyers “Top 100 Trial Lawyers"
• San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association, Member
• Marin Trial Lawyers Association, Member

Pro Bono Activities

• Moot Court or Mock Trial Judge for Hastings, the University of San Francisco,
  and Stanford
• Legal Aid of Marin