Retired U.S. District Judge and SJCL founder Oliver Wanger with former Senior Deputy Fresno City Attorney Melissa White (Law ’96)
If there is a silver lining to the retirement of U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger, you’ll find it in the classroom at San Joaquin College of Law. Wanger co-founded the Law School 40 years ago and taught classes for the first 20 years of its existence, but left after he was appointed to the Federal bench in 1991. He has now returned, co-teaching “Constitutional Torts and Civil Rights” with former Senior Deputy Fresno City Attorney Melissa White, a 1996 graduate of SJCL and former president of the Fresno County Bar Association.
Despite his 20 year absence from the classroom, Judge Wanger said “It’s like I never left… teaching is a labor of love and it remains equally rewarding.” He added with a smile on his face, “Can it be that the students are smarter and more prepared?”
As for White, she says “Teaching with him is an honor and a privilege,” adding “He knows how to entertain the students and the same time teaching them a love for the law.” White says Wanger uses his extraordinary experience to show students everyday application of the law, “mesmerizing the students with his stories of cases he has tried and that have been tried in front of him.”
The work ethic of the 70-year-old Wanger is well known. The ABA Journal bluntly titles him a “workaholic,” whose caseload in the Eastern District of California was roughly triple the national average. That heavy workload will now be divided between the two remaining judges, boosting their caseloads to approximately 1,800 apiece.
Meanwhile, there won’t be a big vacation for Wanger following his September 30th retirement; he immediately begins work a trial attorney and partner of the newly restructured Wanger, Jones & Helsley PC.
Wanger, a Los Angeles native, received his B.S. from the University of Southern California and his law degree from U.C. Berkeley’s Boalt Hall. He served as a Fresno County deputy district attorney from 1967 to 1969, which is the year he joined Fresno County Municipal Court Judge Dan Eymann and attorney John Loomis to found San Joaquin College of Law. Wanger transitioned to private practice, and was a partner with McCormick, Barstow, Wayne, Sheppard, Wayte & Carruth LLP prior to his nomination to the federal bench in 1991.