Ernest B. Lageson, is a retired attorney, having practiced law in California for thirty-four years. Lageson graduated from the University of California at Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law in 1959. He also received a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Berkeley. Lageson spent two years in the U.S. Navy. He began his career as a deputy district attorney in Contra Costa County. In 1961 he joined the San Francisco law firm Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon as a civil-trial lawyer.
Over the next twenty-five years, he became nationally recognized for his work in civil-jury and nonjury cases. He was invited into such prestigious trial lawyer organizations as the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Board of Trial Advocates, and the International Association of Defense Counsel. In 1986, Lageson served as president of the Defense Research Institute, a national trial lawyer organization with a membership of 20,000.
Later, Lageson concluded his active legal career as a partner with Archer, McComas & Lageson in Walnut Creek, California, again trying civil-jury cases. He retired in 1992.
Lageson is also the author of three other books about Alcatraz. Alcatraz Justice is the account of the murder trial that followed the 1946 escape attempt. Guarding the Rock is a book that his father commenced, but died before it was completed. Lageson edited and completed his father’s manuscript, which describes both prison life and family life on Alcatraz during the 1940’s. In that literary effort, Lageson is the co-author and his father is the lead author. The Other Alcatraz is the story of the colony of western gulls that have reclaimed Alcatraz now that it is a National Park. A joint effort by Lageson and his wife, Jeanne, the book describes in prose and photography the life story of this fascinating bird species.
Lageson and Jeanne make their home in the San Francisco Bay Area. They have two grown children, Kristine Cardall and Ernest B. Lageson III, and five grandchildren.
Ernie Lageson may be reached by e-mail. His address is: lagesoneb@aol.com
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