Upon admission to The State Bar of California on December 21, 1967, Mr. Dolan commenced his law practices as a Deputy Los Angeles County Counsel, the civil law office representing the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and all of the County Departments and Special Districts, as well as all 98 of the School Districts in Los Angeles County. He was first assigned to the Courts & Law Enforcement Division, where he represented the Los Angeles County Sheriff, Marshal, District Attorney and Medical Examiner in litigation in the United States District Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the Los Angeles County Superior Court. In 1969, he was transferred to the Schools Division, where he represented 27 of the 98 School Districts in litigation and employment matters, and served as legal advisor to the 27 Boards of Education and their Superintendents. In late 1969 he entered private practice, and has participated in various civil litigation matters, including trials and appeals in the state and federal courts in California and arbitrations and regulatory proceedings for appeals in the rest of his legal career. He is also a retired Commander, USNR and was qualified in submarines.
Mr. Dolan has successfully tried civil cases in and argued appeals in the federal and state courts throughout the State of California including the California Supreme Court, the California Courts of Appeal for the Second and Fourth Appellate Districts (Southern California), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court, where he won a 7 to 2 decision in 1987, representing the Appellate in FERRY v. THOMAS 482, 107 S.Ct. 2520, 98 L.Ed.2d 426, a case involving the arbitration of a dispute between Kenneth Morgan Thomas, a stockbroker, and his NYSE firm, Kidder, Peabody & Co. Incorporated; Barclay Perry, its Los Angeles branch office manager and James Johnston, another stockbroker in his office. Mr. Dolan has also represented both manager and James Johnston, another stockbroker in his office. Mr. Dolan has also represented both Claimants and Respondents in more than 100 broker-dealer arbitrations, conducted by the AAA, NYSE, NASD, FINRA and PSE as well as broker-dealers, managers and registered representatives in numerous regulatory and enforcement proceedings by the SEC, NYSE, CFTC, NASD and FINRA.