Joanna R. Mendoza

Summary of Practice Areas:

  • Intellectual Property Litigation
  • General and Complex Business Litigation
    • California and Federal Trial Courts
  • Entertainment Law
  • Media Personality Representation
  • Film and Television Production
  • Writs and Appeals

Age: 47
Status: Married to Joseph Mendoza since 1992
Children: Two boys - Joey (16) and Joshua (13)

Educational Background:

  • BA: University of California, San Diego, cum laude, 1987 [Political Science/Economics]
  • JD: University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, 1990

Narrative Description of Practice Areas:

Joanna Mendoza specializes in intellectual property litigation and other forms of complex business litigation in federal and state courts. She has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in civil jury trials over the years, including appellate and writ practice.

More specifically, Ms. Mendoza's practice includes litigation and transactional matters relating to: copyright, trademark and patent disputes; trade secret misappropriation; copyright and trademark registration; licensing and other technology transfer instruments; Trademark Trial and Appeal Board proceedings; WIPO/ICANN domain name dispute resolution proceedings; employee agreements protecting trade secrets; assignment of employee intellectual property rights; non-competition and non-solicitation agreements; representation of media personalities; and film and television production transactions; matters related to entertainment law.

Judicial and Quasi-Judicial Positions:

Ms. Mendoza is a judge pro tem for both Sacramento County Superior Court and El Dorado County Superior Court for the purposes of conducting settlement conferences. She has been actively involved in this role since 2004 and finds it very rewarding.

Since 2004 Ms. Mendoza has also been on the fee arbitration panel for the Sacramento County Bar Association's attorney/client fee dispute program, having presided over many such arbitrations over the years and issuing detailed rulings.

In 2005 Ms. Mendoza also joined the Voluntary Dispute Resolution Process (VDRP) Panel as a settlement conference facilitator for the United States District Court, Eastern District of California.

Publications, Speaking Engagements and Honors:

Ms. Mendoza is the author of law articles for the business press including: "Secrets to Success: Maintaining Trade Secrets into the Twenty-first Century" published in The Fresno Business Journal, August 1997; "Trade Secret Laws Won't Help Unless You Protect Your Ideas" published in The Sacramento Business Journal, February 1998; and "Intellectual Property Protection for Software" published online by PatentCafe.com, October 2000. She is also an author of a chapter entitled "Compelled Disclosure by Regulation: Making Sure Big Brother Keeps Your Secrets" in the book published by the California State Bar, Intellectual Property Law Section - TRADE SECRET LITIGATION AND PROTECTION IN CALIFORNIA (2005, Kay & Edelson, ed.). She has updated her chapter and is one of the editors of the updated edition of that publication released in summer 2009 - (Second Ed.) TRADE SECRET LITIGATION AND PROTECTION IN CALIFORNIA (2009, Kay & Edelson, ed.) - as well as new update to the book due to be published in Fall 2011.

She has made presentations to local bar and citizen groups on issues related to intellectual property licensing, copyright law, trademark law, trade secret litigation. She is regularly asked to speak to students at McGeorge Law School relating to the practice of law in the field of intellectual property and entertainment law. She recently spoke before the California Film Arts Alliance in Sacramento with respect to entertainment law and what a filmmaker needs to understand before jumping into the business. She represents local productions companies and is affiliated with several local independent filmmakers, in part due to her husband's involvement in that industry.

CEB selected Joanna Mendoza to sit on its State Bar/CEB Business & Intellectual Property Law Advisory Committee from 2004 - 2011, when the committee was put on hiatus. The committee addressed CLE issues and publication needs for the legal community in California.

Joanna Mendoza was selected as the only Sacramento attorney in the field of Intellectual Property Litigation to be named a Northern California "Super Lawyer" in 2005, 2007 and 2008. In 2010 and 2011 she was again selected as a "Super Lawyer." Super Lawyer status is based upon peer review - one cannot pay to be named as a "Super Lawyer." Using selective criteria, the organization identifies the top 5% of all Northern California lawyers to be named "Super Lawyers" each year in the different practice areas. Only 8% of all named Northern California "Super Lawyers" practice in Sacramento.

Ms. Mendoza appeared on the May 2007 Sky Radio Network (and NPR) show presenting Forbes' choices for 10 of "America's Most Influential Women in Government, Technology, Business and the Law." Selected professional women were interviewed during this in-flight radio show on all domestic airline flights and in-flight magazines, and Ms. Mendoza provided an interview on the business risks associated with trade secret litigation.

She has received an AV rating from her peers through Martindale-Hubbell - representing the highest achievable levels in the areas of both legal abilities and ethics. Ms. Mendoza has consistently received this rating since she was initially rated in 2000.

Local Bar Activities:

Ms. Mendoza served in the Sacramento County Bar Council for three years as an elected member at large (January 1999 - December 2001). She was on the Board of Directors for the Sacramento Law Foundation, the charitable arm of the Sacramento County Bar Association from 2000-2006, serving as its vice-president. She was the co-founder of the Sacramento Bar Association's Environmental Law Section, and has served as an officer on that section as well as the Intellectual Property Law Section of the County Bar.

She has participated in the local Muscular Dystrophy Association's "Lock Up" to raise money for Jerry's Kids in both 2009 and 2011. Ms. Mendoza is also a mentor to several law students and young lawyers, especially with respect to maintaining balance and contributing back to the community as a professional.

Intellectual Property Related State and Local Bar Activities:

Since 2003, Ms. Mendoza has been an active member of the Intellectual Property and Litigation Sections of the California State Bar, as well as the Trade Secrets Standing Committee for the IP Section. It was in 2003 that she was first appointed to the Executive Committee of the Intellectual Property Law Section of the California State Bar. She then served as the Committee's secretary for the 2005/2006 term and vice-chair for the 2006/2007 term. During the 2007/2008 term, Ms. Mendoza was the Chair of the State Bar's Intellectual Property Section. In 2008/2009 she remained on the Executive Committee in the capacity of the Immediate Past-Chair and serving as the IP Section's representative on the Council of State Bar Sections. For the 2009/2010, 2010/2011, and 2011/2012 terms she has been asked to remain as an Advisor to the Executive Committee.

During 2010/2011, Ms. Mendoza was the co-Vice Chair for the Council of State Bar Sections. She is now Co-Chair of the Council of State Bar Sections during the 2011/2012 term, as well as a member of the Board of Governor's Task Force on Sections. The Council of State Bar Sections represents and acts on behalf of the many specialty law Sections of the California State Bar in communicating with and advising the State Bar Board of Governors. The Task Force on Sections is a group comprised of members of the Board of Governors and the co-chairs and former co-chairs of the Council of State Bar Sections who work together to address issues specific to the membership of the State Bar that are best addressed by the specialty law sections.

Ms. Mendoza was the co-chair for the Intellectual Property Section's Liaison program with state law schools (helping law students to understand what was involved in the practice of Intellectual Property law) and chair of the 32nd Annual IP Institute presented by the section. Ms. Mendoza has frequently participated in and chaired the annual Washington D.C. delegation trip when the IP Section delegation meets with officials from the Patent and Trademark Office, Copyright Office, federal judiciary and legislative representatives to discuss issues of concern for California intellectual property practitioners.

Ms. Mendoza has been an active proponent to reform California's Uniform Trade Secret Act. Through her membership in the Executive and Trade Secret Standing Committees of the Intellectual Property Section of the State Bar, Ms. Mendoza initiated reform legislation that was ultimately approved by the State Bar Board of Governors. Thus, during the 2005/2006 California legislative session, she saw the presentation of her effort in California Senate Bill 1636 (Ackerman), proposing to reform the Uniform Trade Secrets Act and the California Public Records Act with regard to the handling of trade secret and confidential business information. One aspect of that legislation was adopted during that legislative session, and she has continued to pursue approval of the remaining proposals to improve California's system of justice with regard to these unique types of lawsuits.

Federal Bar Activities:

Ms. Mendoza served an extended term as co-chair of the Lawyer Representatives for the United States District Court, Eastern District of California (2003 and 2004, Lawyer Representative; 2005 and 2006, co-chair), sitting on the Eastern District's Judicial Advisory Committee (2005 and 2006), the Eastern District Conference Planning Committee (co-chair, 2005 and 2006), and the Ninth Circuit Lawyer Representatives Coordinating Committee (2005 and 2006). During 2004 through 2006, Ms. Mendoza served as the chairperson for the Open Doors to Federal Court's program for the Eastern District of California. That program served several hundred local area high school students by bringing them to the federal courthouse in Sacramento to learn more about the federal judicial system and careers associated therewith. She previously served on the Executive Committee of the Sacramento Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, acting as its Treasurer and Membership Chair (2003-2004).

Finally, since it was first formed and continuing thereafter, Ms. Mendoza has been a volunteer on the U.S.D.C. Eastern District of California's Pro Bono Panel - a panel of volunteer attorneys who have agreed to accept assignments by the Court as counsel to represent inmates with respect to cases alleging a violation of their civil rights. She has been appointed several times, resolving several cases related to prisoner's freedom of religion associated with Halal diets in the California State prison system. Other cases she has handled include representation of an inmate in a jury trial in the Eastern District on a civil rights claim involving interference with the right of access to the courts and retaliation in July 2010. Most recently she served as pro bono counsel on behalf of an adult plaintiff who had been deemed incompetent by the federal court, assisting in finding and appointing a Guardian ad Litem for the plaintiff and resolving the case through settlement.