Author Dan Lawton
I’m a writer and lawyer. My short fiction and columns have appeared in The Recorder, Los Angeles Daily Journal, The Pensive Quill, The Daily Transcript, and Sheepshead Review. ABOVE THE GROUND: A True Story of The Troubles in Northern Ireland is my first work of narrative nonfiction.
I was born in Los Angeles and raised in Fullerton, California, along with my three younger brothers. I earned my undergraduate degree at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, and my law degree at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., where I worked as a research assistant to the late Barry Carter. Afterward, I served one year as a law clerk to Ninth Circuit Judge Thomas Tang in Phoenix, Arizona. After moving to San Diego, I practiced law full-time, starting at a large law firm before opening my private practice in 1995. There I trained several young lawyers, all of whom had been my law students at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where I have taught appellate advocacy on and off since 2001.
In 2018, I put my law practice on hold to take a sixteen-month sabbatical, which I devoted to researching and writing “Above The Ground.” In late 2019, I joined the San Diego office of Klinedinst PC. I practice there today in the firm’s appellate practice and commercial litigation groups.
When not writing, practicing law, or teaching, I enjoy ocean swimming, exploring the open spaces of San Diego and California, and following the fortunes of the Los Angeles Angels baseball club.
Learn more at abovethegroundbook.com.
