Top Attorney – Douglas A. Applegate
San Francisco, CA WW/Press/October 25, 2018 –Douglas A. Applegate, Attorney with Pacific Legal Group, P.C. was selected for inclusion as a Diamond Member in the Top Attorneys of North America – 2018-2019 edition by The Who’s Who Directories. 
Pacific Legal Group, PC is a professional law corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California but with a practice throughout the western United States. In addition to prosecuting and defending all stages of civil litigation and prosecuting probate claims in both California and Hawaii, our firm specializes in representing clients in appeals in the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (California, Hawaii, Washington State, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, Alaska, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands) and the state appellate courts in California and Hawaii. The attorneys have decades of experience in helping people and businesses resolve their disputes, avoiding the court system through mediation, arbitration or other alternative dispute processes, or whether you have already been through a grueling trial and are now facing an appeal, the legal team can help.
Douglas A. Applegate has worked in San Francisco as a civil trial and appellate lawyer since 1989, and is certified as an appellate specialist by the California Board of Legal Specialization. He has represented clients in all phases of civil litigation, and his practice has included jury trials, arbitration proceedings and bench trials, together with appeals in both the state and federal courts. He acted as the primary appellate counsel in several leading cases that established new law, including North South Finance Corp. v. Al-Turki (2nd Cir. 1996), in which the New York federal appellate court established new standards for the extra-territorial reach of the federal racketeering laws, County of Contra Costa v. Pinole Point Properties, Inc. (Cal. App. 1994), in which the California appellate court established new rules governing the use of appraisals in eminent domain proceedings, Montgomery v. McMath (9th Cir. 2000), addressing the federal preemption doctrine under ERISA, and Zack’s, Inc. v. City of Sausalito (Cal. App. 2008), discussing the public trust doctrine and limitations on the public use of underwater streets.
Attorney Applegate is presently the head of the firm’s appellate and complex litigation practice group and his secret to success has been his analytical mind. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, all courts of the state of California and all courts of the State of Hawaii.
Applegate graduated from the University of Dayton with a B.A., summa cum laude, 1986 and received his J.D. from The University of Chicago Law School, with honors. He is a member of the Bar Association of San Francisco, the State Bar of California and the State Bar of Hawaii.
Mr. Applegate has been honored with a fellowship by the Litigation Council of America, the Who’s Who in American Law, 14th edition, holds the highest AV 5 star peer rating from Martindale-Hubbell, is certified as a top attorney in North America by Who’s Who and for more than ten years has been designated as Super Lawyer with a ranking in the top 5% of attorneys practicing in Northern California.
The Top Attorneys of North America, a New York based publication, distinguishes and profiles leading attorneys who demonstrate recognizable success and leadership in their field. The directory is valued for promoting an awareness of individual accomplishments and achievement within the North American legal community.