Eisenberg, Jon B. 1953(?)–

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Eisenberg, Jon B. 1953(?)–

PERSONAL: Born c. 1953. Education: University of California—Irvine, B.A., 1974; Hastings College of the Law, J.D., 1979.

ADDRESSES: Office—Horvitz and Levy LLP, 15760 Ventura Blvd., 18th Fl., Encino, CA 91436-3000. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Lawyer and author. Called to the Bar of the State of California, the U.S. Court of Appeals, the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Farella, Braun & Martel LLP, San Francisco, CA, litigation associate, until c. 1982; California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, judicial staff attorney, c. 1982–96; Horvitz and Levy LLP, Oakland, CA, counsel, 1996–. Member of board of directors, Alameda County Bar Association, 1995–96; member of California Academy of Appellate Lawyers and Strankman Commission on reform of the appellate courts. Adjunct professor, Hastings College of the Law. Frequent leader of MCLE (Minimum Continuing Legal Education) programs on appellate practice.

WRITINGS:

Action Guide: Handling Civil Appeals, Cont.Ed.Bar, 1985.

Remittitur in California Civil Appellate Practice, Cont.Ed.Bar, 1985.

Using Terri: The Religious Right's Conspiracy to Take Away Our Rights (nonflction), HarperSanFrancisco (San Francisco, CA), 2005.

Coauthor of annual California Practice Guide: Civil Appeals and Writs, Rutter Group, 1989–. Also contributor of articles to periodicals, including Medical Malpractice Law & Strategy, Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal, Western Journal of Medicine, and Legal Research. Editor in chief, California Practice Guide: Civil Procedure Bulletin, Rutter Group, 1991. Contributing editor, Civil Litigation Reporter, Cont.Ed.Bar, 1983–89.

SIDELIGHTS: Jon B. Eisenberg is best known for his role as Michael Schiavo's attorney in the case known as Schiavo III, which ruled that Schiavo's wife, Terri, was in a persistent vegetative state and could therefore legitimately have the feeding tube, which had kept her alive for more than a decade, detached. The case eventually invited interventions from many prominent American politicians and legal bodies, including the governor of Florida and the Florida state legislature, the Supreme Court, and even the president of the United States. "By the time the legal struggle ended, and Terri's tube was removed for the third and final time," wrote Recorder contributor Lawrence J. Siskind, "her case had become the most heavily litigated 'right to die' case in history."

Eisenberg, who argued the case pro bono, was so frustrated by the opposition to Michael Schiavo's attempts to allow his wife to die that he wrote a book about the experience entitled Using Terri: The Religious Right's Conspiracy to Take Away Our Rights. "To Eisenberg," Siskind continued, "the legal and moral issue turns on the concept of personal autonomy. He explains: 'The issue is not what Terri's spouse would want or what her parents would want, but what she would want. That's the essence of autonomy.'"

Eisenberg's book was celebrated by defenders of Michael Schiavo, who saw the attempt by pro-life supporters to keep Terri Schiavo's feeding tube implanted as an assault on an individual's right not to artificially prolong life. "Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union," reported Mike McKee in the Recorder, "called the book 'a much-needed wake-up call for America. A terrific read by a first-rate legal mind.'" A Publishers Weekly reviewer declared that it is "a timely and cogent argument for Americans' right to decide such end of life issues for themselves."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Publishers Weekly, September 12, 2005, review of Using Terri: The Religious Right's Conspiracy to Take Away Our Rights.

Recorder, September 26, 2005, Mike McKee, "Appellate Lawyer Enters Right-to-Die Battle"; October 17, 2005, Lawrence J. Siskind, "Some Dare Call It Conspiracy: Appellate Lawyer's Book on Schiavo Case an Example of Paranoid Scholarship."