Mr. Kolesnikov practices complex shareholder class action and derivative litigation in state and federal courts. His practice also involves consumer class actions under California law. He has significant experience litigating at both trial-court and appellate level. He has personally briefed appeals and petitions before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Supreme Court of California, Supreme Court of Missouri, and California Courts of Appeal, among others. He has also argued dispositive motions and appeals, including before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, and California Courts of Appeal.
Prior to going into private practice, Mr. Kolesnikov served as a law clerk to the Honorable David R. Thompson (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit), the Honorable Irma E. Gonzalez (Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California), and the Honorable Roger T. Benitez (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California). Prior to that, he served as a research assistant to the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy (Supreme Court of the United States) and as an extern to the Honorable Consuelo M. Callahan (U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit). As a result of the foregoing, he has an in-depth knowledge of the federal practice and procedure as well as the intricacies of the federal judicial system.
Mr. Kolesnikov graduated first in his class from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. During law school, he served as a research assistant to Dean Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, former General Counsel for the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency as well as former Principal Deputy Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State. His work with Dean Parker focused on judicial independence, civil liberties, and national security.