Sonia Sheber Waisman, Animal Law Attorney in San Diego, California

Sonia S. Waisman is engaged in general business litigation, focusing on complex insurance coverage cases. She has been national environmental coverage counsel for several large insurance companies and has served as liaison counsel in multi-billion dollar cases. Throughout her career, she has handled a wide array of litigated and non-litigated complex insurance coverage matters, including environmental, toxic tort (including mold), personal injury and advertising injury liability coverage, oil and gas, construction defect and bad faith, among other issues, under various types of policies. She has litigated in both state and federal courts throughout the country at the trial court and appellate levels, obtaining favorable judgments as well as achieving successful resolution through mediation. She has written several articles regarding insurance coverage law in professional journals, as well as annual updates for an environmental insurance coverage text.
Ms. Waisman also is actively involved in the development of animal law.
• She co-authored the first animal law casebook, now in its fifth edition (Animal Law: Cases and Materials, Carolina Academic Press 2014). She also co-authored Animal Law in a Nutshell (West 2011) and has written several articles on the subject.
• She has been an Adjunct Professor of Animal Law at Loyola Law School (L.A.); created and developed the first animal law course at California Western School of Law in San Diego; and was a Visiting Law Professor at Vermont Law School.
• She is also actively involved in the National Animal Law Appellate Moot Court Competition held annually at Harvard Law School.
• Ms. Waisman also lectures and speaks at conferences on the subject of animal law. She has spoken at the Animal Law Guild’s Inaugural Conference on Animal Law (Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, Sept. 2014), Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon (15th Annual Animal Law Conference, Sept. 2007); New York University School of Law (Symposium, “Confronting the Barriers to the Court Room for Animal Advocates: Standing, Causes of Action and Cultural Transitions,” April 2006); and Yale Law School (“The Future of Animal Law” Conference, November 2004), to name a few. She is Chair of the Animal Law Guild’s Committee for its Second Annual Conference, scheduled for September 26, 2015.
• She was Vice-Chair on the Board of Directors of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and has worked with that national non-profit organization and others in the development of a wide variety of issues related to animal law. She is currently actively involved with the Animal Law Guild.
In addition to her law practice and work in the advancement of animal law issues, Ms. Waisman served as Judge Pro Tem for the San Diego County Superior Court, Small Claims Division, until she relocated to Los Angeles in 2000. While in law school she was a judicial extern with the California Court of Appeal, Fourth District.
Ms. Waisman was a Partner in the Los Angeles office of Morrison & Foerster LLP before she joined Riedl, McCloskey & Waring LLP (now known as McCloskey, Waring & Waisman LLP) as Partner in the Los Angeles office November 1, 2008. She began her practice working with her current partner, Kathy Waring, in the San Diego office of Adams, Duque & Hazeltine, which later amalgamated into Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps. She joined Morrison & Foerster as Of Counsel in that firm’s Los Angeles office in June 2000.