CONNECT with the CityDan Lawton
At Large Representative
Dan Lawton is a lawyer and shareholder in the firm of Klinedinst PC, where he practices out of the firm’s downtown San Diego office. He is certified as a specialist in Appellate Law by the State Bar of California’s Board of Legal Specialization. In 1986, Dan earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as an editor of the American Criminal Law Review. Afterward and before entering private practice in San Diego, Dan served as a law clerk to Judge Thomas Tang of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Phoenix, Arizona.
In 2024, Dan was recognized by anonymous peer vote as one of the Best Lawyers in America® in the areas of Appellate Practice and Intellectual Property litigation. Dan is also an adjunct professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where he teaches an appellate advocacy course.
In his spare time, Dan worked for several years as a volunteer in the Family Literacy Program at St. Vincent De Paul Village in San Diego and at Mama’s Kitchen (a non-profit agency which delivers meals to men, women and children affected by AIDS and other critical illnesses). He has also served as a mentor at Nativity Prep Academy (a tuition-free, inner-city Catholic middle school for at-risk children in Logan Heights).
Dan is the author of “Above The Ground: A True Story of the Troubles in Northern Ireland” (WildBlue Press 2023). “Above The Ground,” Dan’s first work of narrative nonfiction, was released to critical acclaim on August 7, 2023, garnered a Kirkus starred review in Kirkus Reviews in November 2023, and became an Amazon # 1 best seller in the category of Irish Historical Biography. Dan’s newspaper columns, book reviews, and works of short fiction have appeared in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, California Litigation magazine, and other publications.
Dan and his wife Kelly reside in Pacific Beach.
In 2024, Dan was recognized by anonymous peer vote as one of the Best Lawyers in America® in the areas of Appellate Practice and Intellectual Property litigation. Dan is also an adjunct professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, where he teaches an appellate advocacy course.
In his spare time, Dan worked for several years as a volunteer in the Family Literacy Program at St. Vincent De Paul Village in San Diego and at Mama’s Kitchen (a non-profit agency which delivers meals to men, women and children affected by AIDS and other critical illnesses). He has also served as a mentor at Nativity Prep Academy (a tuition-free, inner-city Catholic middle school for at-risk children in Logan Heights).
Dan is the author of “Above The Ground: A True Story of the Troubles in Northern Ireland” (WildBlue Press 2023). “Above The Ground,” Dan’s first work of narrative nonfiction, was released to critical acclaim on August 7, 2023, garnered a Kirkus starred review in Kirkus Reviews in November 2023, and became an Amazon # 1 best seller in the category of Irish Historical Biography. Dan’s newspaper columns, book reviews, and works of short fiction have appeared in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, California Litigation magazine, and other publications.
Dan and his wife Kelly reside in Pacific Beach.