Dennis Montali

Dennis Montali (born May 20, 1940) is an American attorney and jurist who served as a United States bankruptcy judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California. Early life and education Montali was born in 1940 in San Francisco. His father founded Montali Winery (later Audubon Cellars) in Berkeley. In 1957, at the age of 17, he was the navigator for a 40 foot sailboat in the Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Hawaii. He attended Bishop O'Dowd High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame in June, 1961. He entered the United States Navy to fulfill a four-year Reserve Officers' Training Corps commitment. After his discharge in 1965, he earned a Juris Doctor from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1968. Career Dennis Montali started at the law firm of Rothschild and Phelen in San Francisco in April, 1968 as a law student, returned in September, 1968, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1969. Montali practiced law with August Rothschild, Robert Phelan and Lloyd King until December, 1975, when Lloyd was appointed as the Referee in Bankruptcy in San Francisco. Montali continued on with what became the law firm of Rothschild, Phelan & Montali. Montali joined the legal giant Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro in 1980 and stayed there until he was appointed as a judge in 1993.