igaAn Experienced

• Civil Service Commissioner
• Deputy District Attorney
• Courtroom Lawyer
• Insurance Defense Attorney
• Legal Affairs Author
• Este abogado habla español
• E parla anche l'italianotionlitigation insurance bad faithlitigation Title VII lawye will contests

Rolando Pasquali has been practicing law for ¼ century. He is a graduate of the University of Santa Clara School of Law and the University of Southern California.

Experience on Every Side of a Case

Rolando Pasquali began his career by working for America's biggest Insurance Companies. The firm he trained at listed among its clients: Southern Pacific Railroad, Budget Rent-A-Car, Georgia Pacific Lumber, State Farm, CSAA, Aetna, Safeco and Nationwide Insurance companies. Rolando was hired away from insurance/corporate defense by the Bay Area's most prestigious firm representing severely and catastrophically injured plaintiffs. He began working against automobile manufacturers, big corporations and the insurance industry. He studied neurology, orthopedics, and how to litigate psychological injuries at the renowned medi-legal institute taught at UCSF Medical School. Ultimately, Rolando was put in charge of all law firm dental malpractice litigation.

Learning from the Best

Rolando Pasquali learned "the ropes" of civil litigation by apprenticing under two hall-of-fame caliber attorneys. First, he learned the defense of civil cases from Clyde MacGowan. In 1984, when Rolando Pasquali was the senior associate attorney under his tutelage, Mr. MacGowan was honored by the local Bar Association as the Alameda County's "Superstar" Civil Defense Lawyer. Next, Rolando learned plaintiff's litigation from the legendary Manny Furtado. Before to his death in 1999, Mr. Furtado was widely considered to be one of northern California's best plaintiff's personal injury lawyers of all time. After working under the guidance of two superstars, Rolando Pasquali spent the next 10 years in every trial lawyer's School of Hard Knocks, working inside the courts as a criminal prosecutor.

Extensive Experience in Court

Most lawyers, including those who specialize in litigation, actually have very few actual courtroom hours to their credit. Many have tried only a handful of cases in court, and their jury trials that went all the way to a verdict can be counted on one hand! From 1989-1999 Rolando Pasquali was a Deputy District Attorney for the City of San Francisco. In his first full calendar year at the D.A.'s office, Rolando obtained convictions of all defendants in every single jury trial. He has literally thousands of hours of courtroom experience. His winning trials have included: murder; 3 Strikes; home invasion; multiple defendant; and D.U.I. high speed vehicular manslaughter. In his 10 years, Rolando never lost a homicide, life sentence, or 3 strikes jury trial. Mr. Pasquali's civil jury trials have ranged from auto accidents to fraud claims, industrial equipment injuries, and breach of contract.

Judge Pro Tem, Arbitrator, Complex Case Panelist

Rolando has served the courts in 3 different Bay Area counties in both settling and deciding cases. He has served as a Judge Pro Tem in both San Francisco and San Mateo County Superior Court. In Alameda County, Rolando served as an Early Disposition Panelist. This innovative program involved closing courts to regular business, then setting up special "panels," comprised of one judge and two experienced attorneys - one from the plaintiff's bar, one from the defense bar. Only a few select cases, typically the most difficult, time-consuming, and complicated, were assigned to panels for settlement. Because of the importance of these cases, attorney panelists were typically the most seasoned and well respected attorneys in all of Alameda County. In fact, membership was limited to "invitation by the court." Rolando was honored to be one of the youngest attorneys ever invited to serve as an EDP panelist.

Labor Commissioner, Champion Speaker, and Legal Affairs Author

In 2008, Rolando was honored to lecture members of the San Mateo County Bar Association during their continuing legal education program. During 6 years as a City of Burlingame Civil Service Commissioner, Rolando's duties ranged from employee discharge contested appeal (with attorney's representing the parties) to hiring panels, and medical and injury based early retirement of disabled civil service employees. Between 2003-2005 Rolando served as both Civil Service Commission Chairman and Vice-Chairman.

A former U.S. National public speaking champion, Rolando Pasquali has been repeatedly asked to serve as the Master of Ceremonies at both Cancer foundation and religious organization fundraising events. A fluent Spanish-speaker, Rolando was a legal affairs columnist for San Francisco's El Latino Newspaper from 1999-2001. His articles have also appeared in the Daily Journal legal newspaper and he authored "The Pasquali Report" law column for the San Mateo County Bar Journal keeping local attorneys abreast of developments in the law. Rolando has been interviewed on KTVU Television, KSTS Telemundo, Bay T.V., and KCBS Radio.