Litigation
Jul. 20, 2002
The Feisty One
In few counties would a man complain to the police because someone stole one of his pot plants. Northern California attorney Julia Hill can think of only one such place.
In few counties would a man complain to the police because someone stole one of his pot plants.
Northern California attorney Julia Hill can think of only one such place.
"Only in Santa Cruz," Hill says.
As Santa Cruz assistant county counsel, she recently helped defeat a lawsuit brought by a local resident after law enforcement officials destroyed the remaining marijuana found at his Capitola home. He claimed that the police had disregarded his alleged right to possess and cultivate pot for medical reasons. Rodrigs v. City of Capitola, CV139674 (Santa Cruz Super. Ct., summary judgment April 15, 2002).
Hill, 33, defended the county sheriff's department. But don't assume that makes her a hard-core conservative.
She finds "kind of heartwarming" the weekly demonstrations by young adults who gather near the county courthouse holding large signs.
"They'll protest anything," she says. "They're the tie-dyed, Rastafarian hangers about."
Hill's loyalty still lies with the law-and-order crowd.
The lengths Hill goes to defend her clients sometimes rankles opposing counsel.
In the Rodrigs case, she represented Sgt. James Hart, whom the plaintiff accused of disregarding his valid doctor's recommendation for the medical use of marijuana.
At Hart's deposition, plaintiff's co-counsel George Gigarjian of Santa Cruz accused Hill of making improper objections. And he seemed annoyed when, at one point, she repeatedly told him, "Get to your question."
"You know, you can leave out the little orders to me," Gigarjian said, according to the transcript.
Hill's tactics at that deposition had a familiar ring to another plaintiff's lawyer.
"It definitely sounds like the Julia Hill that I know," Granite Bay attorney Scott T. Shibayama says.
But he doesn't take offense.
"She was never obnoxious," Shibayama says. "Aggressive is a good word to describe her."
About five years ago, he represented an employer in a wrongful termination action. Hill opposed his request for financial records of her client, a former employee who allegedly stole money from the organization and set up a side business.
Hill not only bargained hard during negotiations over the bank account information but she ultimately defeated Shibayama's motion to compel production.
"I respect that," he says. "I called her the feisty one."
Her tough skin developed early on in life.
At age 7, with her parents already divorced, her mother died from asphyxiation because of a gas leak at a ski condo.
"It was freaky," Hill says.
Later on, she considered a career as a chef. But her strong LSAT scores convinced her to pursue a legal career.
She thought, "I'll go to law school, and when I burn out as a lawyer, I'll go to cooking school."
So far, she's not planning to swap her power suits for a white apron.
"I love it," she says. "I'm not going to cooking school yet."
SNAPSHOT
Julia Hill
Law school: McGeorge School of Law, 1995
Case types: Municipal law
Career highlights: Santa Cruz assistant county counsel, 2000-present; associate, Aptos' Law Offices of Vincent P. Hurley, 1999-2000; associate, Gold River's Law Offices of Christopher Whelan, 1995-99
Eron Yehuda
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