He served as a judicial staff attorney for the California Supreme Court for 11 years, and also worked at the Alameda County Superior Court and with the Judicial Counsel of California. Along with his law degree, he holds a Ph.D in English from U.C. Berkeley and has written scholarly books and articles, including on the California Constitution (California Constitutional Law: Reanimating Criminal Procedural Rights After The “Other” Proposition 8 (with David A. Carrillo), 56 Santa Clara L. Rev. 33-78, 2016) and on theories of legal interpretation (Putting Progress Back Into Progressive: Reclaiming A Philosophy Of History For The Constitution, 6 Washington University Jurisprudence Review 257-298, 2014). He is a Senior Fellow with the California Constitution Center, U.C. Berkeley School of Law. He is a graduate of Hastings and is currently serving as a member of the Alumni Board for the Hastings Law Journal.