New Rules for the Statement of Decision Process Presented by the Family Law Section of MCBA

Kelly Woodruff

Counsel, Complex Appellate Litigation Group

Kelly Woodruff is certified by the California State Bar as an appellate law specialist and has been lead counsel in over 70 appeals and writs in the state and federal appellate courts.

She has more than 30 years of experience handling significant appeals and writs in a wide range of areas including commercial disputes, business divorces, intellectual property, real estate, trade secrets, family law, and trust and estate litigation.

Kelly was named one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers and one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Northern California by Super Lawyers. And she has been named a Northern California Super Lawyer for appellate law and listed in Best Lawyers in America in appellate practice every year since 2018.

She has expertise in assisting trial counsel with post-trial motions and navigating the statement of decision process. She also often works with trial counsel in securing writs to obtain interlocutory review of an order before final judgment or to stay a damaging order pending full appeal.

Kelly was a founding member of the Bay Area Appellate Inn of Court (founded in 2025) and is currently serving as its Vice President. She is a member of the California Lawyers Association Litigation Section Executive Committee and the Committee on Appellate Courts, and was the Chair of the CAC in 2022-2023. She was Co-Chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco’s Appellate Section from 2017-2020 and continues to serve on the Executive Committee of the Section. She is the immediate Past President of the UC Law San Francisco (formerly Hastings) Alumni Board of Governors. Kelly was named by California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye to the Appellate Caseflow Workgroup led by First District Presiding Justice Jim Humes to study and recommend solutions to systemic delays impacting the speedy resolution of appeals in some of California’s appellate courts. In addition, Kelly acts as a panel attorney representing indigent criminal defendants in their appeals, and she has succeeded in overturning death sentences in two capital cases.

Kelly graduated magna cum laude from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings College of the Law), and clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

She received numerous awards for her law school academic achievements and served as Senior Executive Editor for the Hastings Law Journal. After graduating, she clerked for James R. Browning of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and David A. Ezra of the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii.

Website

Claudia Ribet

Counsel, Complex Appellate Litigation Group

Claudia Ribet is one of only four attorneys in California recognized by the State Bar as a certified specialist in both appellate law and family law. This dual qualification gives Claudia deep insight into effective presentation of complex arguments in high-stakes family law appeals.

Some of Claudia’s published family law appellate victories are listed below, and Claudia has served as counsel in many more unpublished family law decisions. She also authored an amicus brief in the California Supreme Court where the Court ruled in her client’s favor, holding a Special Juvenile Immigrant Status proceeding could go forward in the absence of the father.

Claudia is a frequent author of articles about family law appellate issues, having penned more than a dozen for the Daily Journal, Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine, and Family Law News.
Claudia has been a member of the State Bar’s Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission (the “JNE Commission”) and, for many years was Chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s State Appellate Judicial Evaluation Committee (“SAJEC”). She is a Fellow of both the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and the International Academy of Family Lawyers.

Claudia graduated from Antioch Law School in Washington, D.C. She received her undergraduate degree in philosophy with high honors from Oberlin College.

Website