Fischer, Lynne

Ezekiel E. Cortez is a Board Certified Criminal Law Specialist, California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization after passing the federal specialist examination.

As a devoted career federal criminal defense attorney and trial attorney, Mr. Cortez has unwaveringly devoted his practice to the defense of federal criminal cases and other federal matters since 1984. Since 1988, Mr. Cortez has engaged in post conviction Habeas Corpus Litigation of unique, federal and state cases, involving ineffective assistance of counsel issues. Mr. Cortez also handles selected federal civil matters. Unwavering in his commitment to the less fortunate in society, he also routinely takes complex federal criminal cases pro bono to represent those unable to afford an effective defense.

Mr. Cortez's legal ability and ethical conduct have earned the highest peer-review rating available from Martindale-Hubbell - an AV rating. ("A" rates Mr. Cortez's legal ability as "Very High to Preeminent"; "V" rates his ethical conduct as the highest ethical standard possible).

For over fifteen years, Mr. Cortez has been continuously listed in The Best Lawyers In America - a national standard of excellence for the legal profession. Mr. Cortez has been listed in San Diego Magazine's "Best Lawyers In San Diego" in 2001 and 2005-2011, as one of only a handful of elite criminal defense lawyers once described by the magazine as the type of lawyer that other "attorneys would go to if they needed a [federal criminal defense] lawyer." Mr. Cortez has also been listed in Super Lawyers continuously since 2007 in the edition of California: San Diego, Criminal Defense: White Collar and Corporate Counsel categories as one of the "Seriously Outstanding Top 5%" in his field. Mr. Cortez was also selected by U.S. News & World Report's Best Lawyers/Best Law Firms in 2010.

As an ambassador for his profession, Mr. Cortez was twice awarded Fulbright Scholarships in October 2003 and in 2004 by the State Department to teach the American system of adversarial jury trial techniques to Chilean defense attorneys, prosecutors and judges at the University of Concepción, and in Temuco, Chile. Mr. Cortez has taught Criminal Justice Administration at San Diego State University and at MGU (Moscow University) in Moscow, Russia. He has also taught trial skills and techniques as an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego and at California Western Schools of Law and has frequently taught advanced trial techniques to experienced trial lawyers for CACJ, NACDL and various trial institutes.