Daniel M. Kolkey is presently a partner in the San Francisco office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and chairs the firm’s California Appellate Law Practice Group.  He previously served as an Associate Justice on the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, and as Legal Affairs Secretary and Counsel to California Governor Pete Wilson.

Recognized in 2005 and 2007 by California Lawyer magazine as an Attorney of the Year in the fields of Government/Public Policy and Appellate law, respectively, Mr. Kolkey has advised four different governors on legal issues and acted as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's lead negotiator for tribal-state compacts under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

The California Chief Justice appointed Mr. Kolkey to the California Judicial Council’s Appellate Advisory Committee in 2010, and he was named in October 2013, as chair of the Appellate Advisory Committee’s Appellate Rules subcommittee, which recommends revisions to the appellate rules for the California Courts.

Mr. Kolkey was elected to membership in the American Law Institute in 2003, appointed by the California Judicial Council to the Blue Ribbon Commission on Jury System Improvement in 1996, served on the California Law Revision Commission from 1992-94, and was elected chair of the Commission in 1994.

He is co-editor of The Practitioner's Handbook on International Arbitration and Mediation (Juris Publishing).

Mr. Kolkey received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1977 and his B.A., with distinction and departmental honors, from Stanford University in 1974.