Rua, M. Jane

Alana Rotter is an experienced appellate advocate. She excels at one of the most critical skills for an appellate lawyer: translating complex facts and law into a coherent, persuasive story. Clients and colleagues seek Alana out for her thorough research, clear writing, and efficient work in their most important cases.

Alana regularly drafts appellate briefs and petitions, and has argued numerous times in the California Court of Appeal and Ninth Circuit. But she also views her role as an appellate lawyer more broadly: She gets involved at the trial court level, advising lawyers on how to preserve issues and assisting with dispositive motions. These early interventions are often the key to a successful appeal.

Alana has a wide-ranging practice. She has won victories for employers facing wage-and-hour class actions, for companies involved in business disputes, for a trust seeking to undo damage caused by a former trustee, for police officers alleged to have violated an arrestee’s civil rights, and for immigration petitioners in removal proceedings. She has also filed several successful writ petitions, leading appellate courts to reinstate a complaint dismissed on procedural grounds and to order summary judgment for a landowner on a premises liability claim.

Alana is a Certified Specialist in Appellate Law, State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. She currently co-chairs the Beverly Hills Bar Association’s Amicus Briefs Committee and is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s State Appellate Judicial Evaluation Committee and Appellate Courts Section. 

Alana holds degrees from U.C. Berkeley and Yale Law School. Before entering private practice, she clerked for the Honorable Kermit V. Lipez of the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. 

Outside of work, Alana enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter, traveling, reading, and solving crossword puzzles.