Before the Court

NANCY L. FINEMAN IS APPOINTED A SAN MATEO COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE. Nancy L. Fineman of Burlingame has been appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to a judgeship on the San Mateo County Superior Court. Judge Fineman said: “I am excited and humbled to have been appointed to the bench.” Judge Fineman earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California School of Law, Boalt Hall (Berkeley), and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Until her appointment, Judge Fineman was a Principal at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, where her practice emphasized complex business litigation, employment litigation, securities cases, antitrust and intellectual property. Judge Fineman has had extensive experience in representing the victims of financial fraud and she and her law partner Joseph W. Cotchett were the first lawyers to interview Bernie Madoff in prison. While in private practice, Judge Fineman represented many pro bono clients, among them a 97-year-old Burlingame woman who was threatened with eviction. Mr. Cotchett said: “Nancy will be greatly missed, not only by this firm, but for all the pro-bono work she has performed over the years for those in need. She is an extraordinary lawyer and her commitment to our profession has been tremendous — the good news is that our Judiciary will be the recipient of her outstanding ability.”

Judge Fineman was born in San Francisco and raised in the East Bay. She is a past board member of the San Mateo County Bar Association, and past president and board member of the San Mateo County Women Lawyers Section Educational Foundation. Active in community affairs, Judge Fineman served as past president Council member of The Christian Action Life Line (“CALL”) Primrose Center, a Burlingame food bank and emergency referral facility. Attorney Nanci Nishimura, another of Judge Fineman’s law partners, said: “Serving as a judge on the superior court is a commitment to dispense justice for those in need from all walks of life. As a trial lawyer for nearly three decades, a former superior court clerk, a community volunteer, a teacher and mentor to her colleagues at the firm, and a student of the law, Nancy Fineman knows what the job entails, and is exceptionally well qualified to join her new colleagues on the bench as a complete package. I am so proud to call Nancy my law partner and friend. Although I will miss Nancy dearly when she leaves the firm, I know that she has a higher calling, and that is to serve the public.”