casesShinoffNCTarticle

Poway attorney makes career defending schools
April 27, 2003
by SCOTT MARSHALL

Attorney Daniel Shinoff has been representing school districts countywide for 20 years

ESCONDIDO ---- For 20 years, when school districts countywide have needed legal help,
their calls most often have reached the desk of one man ---- Daniel Shinoff.

Ranging from teachers alleging discrimination to wrongful-death lawsuits involving
students, the legal issues that have confronted districts have varied and grown more
complex over the years, but Shinoff, 47, of Poway and his law firm have remained a
constant.

"Tragically, the business of education has transformed to the business of litigation,"
Shinoff said in a recent interview with the North County Times. "I guess it's good for
lawyers. I'm not so sure it's good for kids."

Shinoff said that over the years he has devoted more time to advisory efforts to try to
prevent legal problems for school districts, but 70 percent of his practice still involves
representing the districts in litigation.

Diane Crosier, the senior director of a joint powers authority made up of school districts
countywide that contracts with Shinoff's firm, said that the districts have been pleased with
Shinoff's work and that he has done a good job.

[Diane Crosier and Daniel Shinoff have a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours"
arrangement, described in Rodger Hartnett's complaint.]

Shinoff also has earned accolades from some of those who have opposed him in court.

When a La Costa Canyon High School football player sued the San Dieguito Union High
School District and others because of head injuries he suffered in a game, the result was
what the boy's attorney described as "scorched-earth litigation."

The landscape changed when Shinoff became directly involved in the case as the trial
date approached, said C. Colin Cossio, the boy's attorney.

"He was the first person in that case who set us all down and got us all talking," said
Cossio, who described Shinoff as a "consummate gentleman."

Cossio said Shinoff is the type of person who had the boy's interests in mind even though
Shinoff was representing the school district.

As a father, Shinoff said he tries to keep cases in perspective.

"What happens in litigation is, right or wrong isn't the issue," said Shinoff, who is married
and the father of four sons. "The perception of being wronged is one you have to realize.
You have to give it the dignity that's necessary and then you have to try to address it.

[Larkins' note: Dignity? Shinoff does not normally treat other people's children
as if they were his own. Perhaps this happens when the plaintiff has a powerful
lawyer, but Shinoff is famous for showing contempt for students and employees
whom he opposes. He has worked to protect bullies, including at Santana High
School AFTER THE SHOOTING. His tactics include trying to get parents arrested
(see David Alberts, Lindsey Stewart and Claudia Houston cases).

"I don't consider part of my job, when a child is a plaintiff, to embarrass them or to
humiliate them. I want to keep in mind that I'm representing an educational institution."

Tom Galyean, an Escondido attorney who opposed Shinoff in a 1994 civil trial, said
Shinoff was "extremely competent, ethical and compassionate."

[Several people have noted that Shinoff has a custom of buying off opposition attorneys
by offering them work, or other methods. He has been sued for "tortious interference."]

A 'zealous advocate'

Galyean represented a girl injured in a 1992 school bus crash in San Marcos that killed
former San Marcos Councilman Mark Loscher's daughter and injured others. Loscher and
his family settled their case short of trial.

Galyean's client went to trial, but reached a settlement with the San Marcos school district
and the other lawsuit defendants the day before jury deliberations were to begin.

"I recall he (Shinoff) took a very active role in helping resolve that," Galyean said. "He's a
zealous advocate, but he's compassionate."

[Larkins' note: Yes, Shinoff is very compassionate with certain types of people,
especially politically powerful people. I'm sure the district didn't want more
negative publicity about this high-profile case. Most of Shinoff's cases are
covered up by the media. The students and employees that Shinoff and school
districts harm for profit are unknown to the public. Changing that is one of the
purposes of this website.]

Shinoff's interest in being an attorney dates back to his childhood in Winnipeg, Manitoba,
but his specialization in the area of education started in 1982 "strictly by happenstance,"
he said.

Born and raised in Canada, Shinoff decided on the law as a career when he was a child in
part because he saw it as a way to make a difference, he said...

A detour to Israel

His educational path took a detour in 1973 with the start of the Yom Kippur War. An
18-year-old at the time, Shinoff went to Israel to help the country after most of the men
and women there were called up to military service for the war.

"I was a young kid and I had a strong Jewish identity," Shinoff said of his reasons for going
to Israel. "To me it was a historical attachment to the state of Israel. ... I've always had a
strong Jewish identity."

Shinoff recalled working as a fruit picker and seeing and hearing missiles fly overhead. He
said he asked his supervisor if they should seek shelter from the bombs, but was told just
to get back to work.

"Once I was there, my folks made it very clear education was going to be a part of my life,
and I wasn't going to be a farmer," Shinoff said.

In 1975 and 1976, Shinoff attended Tel Aviv University, where he met his wife, Michelle, a
Brooklyn native studying overseas. The two married in 1977 and returned to Canada;
Shinoff attended the University of Manitoba.

They moved to San Diego in 1978 because Michelle wanted to get away from the cold
climate north of the border, Daniel Shinoff said.

Shinoff attended Western State University law school in San Diego ---- now
known as Thomas Jefferson School of Law ---- and in 1981 began working as
in-house counsel for Price Co. Shinoff joined the San Diego law firm of which he is a
partner today in June 1982 and almost immediately began representing school districts
through the joint powers authority...

Shinoff said some of the experience he has gathered working with public school districts
has helped him away from work as well, as he has devoted time to working with the Jewish
private school his four children attend, the San Diego Jewish Academy. Shinoff's service
has included serving as president of the academy's 19-member board of directors...

Married to the daughter of Holocaust survivors and having a "strong Jewish
identity" since childhood, Shinoff said he wanted his children to attend the
private Jewish school to help them develop a Jewish identity and connection to
Israel.

Shinoff said his participation on the school board and his plans to become involved in a
Jewish group for college students, Hillel, are meant to send a message to his children as
well...