Mathew Tobriner

Mathew Oscar Tobriner (April 2, 1904 – April 7, 1982) was an American lawyer and law professor who served as an associate justice of the California Supreme Court from 1962 to 1982. Early life and education A native of San Francisco, Tobriner was educated at Lowell High School and was a member of its famed Lowell Forensic Society, the nation's oldest high school debate team. He attended Stanford University, and in 1924 received his A.B. degree with Phi Beta Kappa honors, and the next year his M.A. In 1927, he graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude and Order of the Coif with a LL.B. In April 1928, he was admitted before the California Bar. He continued his graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was awarded a Doctor of Juridical Science in 1932. Legal and judicial career After law school, Tobriner entered private practice and specialized in labor law. In 1928, he founded the firm of Tobriner, Lazarus, Brundage & Neyhart, in San Francisco and Los Angeles where he represented the American Federation of Labor and various unions for over 25 years, except for stints working at public agencies. Tobriner was active in Democratic Party politics. From 1932 to 1936, during the New Deal administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Tobriner served as chief attorney in the solicitor's office of the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1948, he was state vice-chair of President Harry Truman's re-election campaign. In May 1950, he was northern California chair of the campaign of Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas for the United States Senate.