Ignazio Ruvolo

Ignazio John Ruvolo is a Presiding Justice, First District Court of Appeal, Division Four, having been appointed in 2006. His prior judicial experience includes appointment as Associate Justice in Division Two of the First District in 1996, and to the Contra Costa County Superior Court in 1994. Prior to his judicial career, for 17 years Justice Ruvolo was an associate and partner with the law firm of Bronson Bronson & McKinnon where he handled a broad spectrum of civil litigation, and tried cases throughout Northern California. Before joining Bronson in 1977, he spent 4 and a half years as a trial attorney with the Civil Division, Torts Section, U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.

Justice Ruvolo received an A.B. degree from Rutgers College in 1969, and a J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of San Diego in 1972, where he was also Editor-in-Chief of the San Diego Law Review. More recently, he received an LL.M. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2004.

Justice Ruvolo has been an Adjunct Professor at John F. Kennedy School of Law, and regularly judges moot court competitions at numerous local law schools, including Hastings. He has also been a faculty member at the Hastings Center for Trial and Appellate Advocacy, a member of the faculty at the California Judicial College, and is a former member of the California Judicial Education and Research, Educational Planning Committee. Justice Ruvolo has authored numerous law review and other articles, and has lectured extensively on various topics of interest to lawyers and judges, including legal and judicial ethics, professional liability, construction and franchise law.

While an attorney, he served as Chair of both the California State Bar Committee on Professional Conduct and Practice, and of the Bar Association of San Francisco Legal Ethics Committee. In 1990, he founded and became the President of the Contra Costa Bar Association Section on Professional Responsibility and Practice. He has also been a member of the American Bar Association Litigation Section Committee on Professional Responsibility and the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. Justice Ruvolo also has served as a member and Chair of the California Judges Association, Judicial Ethics Committee, from 1995 to 2001. He is currently a member of the State Bar's Commission for the Revision of the Rules of Professional Conduct.

Additional administrative activities have also included membership on the Judicial Council's Civil Jury Instructions Task Force, Appellate Advisory Committee, and current membership on the Judicial Council Civil and Small Claims Advisory Committee. He also serves as chair of the First District's Appellate Mediation Committee.