John Patrick Dolan
A California criminal trial lawyer who has been practicing criminal defense for over forty years, and a State Bar Certified Specialist in Criminal Law. He co-founded CDTA to close the gap between what law schools teach and what a courtroom demands.
Credentials
- California State Bar Certified Specialist in Criminal Law
- J.D., Western State University College of Law, 1977
- B.A., California State University, Fullerton, 1971
About John Patrick Dolan
John Patrick Dolan is President, Chief Executive Officer and Dean of the California Desert Trial Academy College of Law, and a co-founder of the school.
He has practiced criminal defense for over forty years and is a California State Bar Certified Specialist in Criminal Law, a designation held by a small fraction of California attorneys and awarded by the State Bar Board of Legal Specialization on the basis of examination, experience and peer review.
CDTA grew out of conversations he and Irene Garcia Dolan had with the trial attorneys F. Lee Bailey and Gerry Spence, and out of a plain observation about legal education: law schools were producing graduates who understood doctrine and had never stood up in a courtroom.
The portrait on this page is a marked placeholder. CDTA supplies faculty photography, and it will replace this before launch. Nothing on this site uses a stock photograph of a stranger in place of a real person.
Teaching at CDTA
Most classes at CDTA are led by two instructors, and every California State Bar tested course is taught in a real courtroom environment. Students argue in a working trial courtroom, an appellate courtroom and a federal courtroom on the Indio campus.
See the whole faculty, or read about the Juris Doctor program.
Next profile
Irene Garcia Dolan, Co-Founder & Registrar.
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