Wanger to bolster Fresno firm's enviro practice
Written by Ben Keller, The Business Journal
Federal judge Oliver Wanger announced his resignation Wednesday as well as plans to join with Fresno law firm Jones Helsley PC as it expands and rebrands.
Wanger’s more than two decades of service as chief judge in California's eastern federal judicial district in Fresno ends Sept. 30 when he will settle in as partner of the newly restructured Wanger Jones Helsley PC as a trial lawyer.
“I think that I have background and experience that has never been available in this part of the Valley” said Wanger, who was nominated to federal judgeship in 1991 by then-President George H.W. Bush. “We will be expanding that firm’s practice in the areas of water law, environmental law, tort litigation, class action work and related consumer class action law suits so it will be, quite frankly, work that hasn’t ordinarily been done here.”
Wanger mentioned family obligations as well as excessive and disproportionate caseloads in the Eastern District of California as his reason for stepping down. In additional to his new role as a trial lawyer, he will also be teaching classes on constitutional courts and other subjects at the San Joaquin College of Law, which he helped found in 1969.