Cliff Gardner is a criminal defense attorney specializing in post-conviction representation, including appellate and habeas corpus representation in state and federal court. Mr. Gardner has argued cases at all levels of the state and federal court systems, including more than 20 appearances in the California Supreme Court and three cases in the United States Supreme Court. His capital practice has included death row clients in Arizona, Idaho, Montana, and California. In addition to his capital practice, Mr. Gardner has handled more than 500 appellate matters, producing more than 100 published opinions in the state and federal courts.
Mr. Gardner is a frequent speaker at conferences and training sessions for lawyers around the country. He has taught at Berkeley School of Law, as well as the University of San Francisco School of Law and Hastings College of the Law.
Mr. Gardner has numerous publications on subjects relating to criminal defense, including “When Defense Witnesses Take the Fifth: Making the Best of a Bad Situation,” CACJ Forum, Volume 16, No. 6, December 1988, “Get Out Your Crystal Ball: It’s Time to Draft A Suppression Motion,” CACJ Forum, Volume 19, No. 3, “Current Developments in California Capital Litigation,” CACJ Forum, Volume 19, No. 4 December 1992, “Jury Nullification in the Three Strikes Era,” CACJ Forum, Volume 22, No. 4, December 1995, “28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) of the New Habeas Act: The Sky Is Not Falling,” California Criminal Defense Practice Reporter, Volume 1996, No. 9, September 1996, “Litigating Habeas Cases Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996: Retroactivity and Statutes of Limitation Questions,” California Criminal Defense Practice Reporter, Volume 1997, No. 10, October 1997, “Jones v. United States: A Light At the End of the Tunnel?,” California Criminal Defense Practice Reporter, Volume 1999, No. 10, September 1999, “Federal Habeas Corpus,” Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, 2000, and “A Practical Approach to Establishing That a State Court Decision Is Unreasonable Under Section 2254(d) of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996,” CACJ Forum, Volume 30, No. 1, May 2003. In addition to these articles, Mr. Gardner has authored Chapter 14 of Appeals and Writs in Criminal Cases, CEB entitled “Prerequisites to Seeking Federal Habeas Corpus Relief.”
Mr. Gardner has also written legislation as well. He was the primary author, and official proponent, of Proposition 36: The Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000, passed by 61% of the electorate on November 7, 2000. He was the author of Santa Cruz City Ordinance, No. 2005-28, An Ordinance of the City of Santa Cruz Creating a Compassionate Use Program to Ensure that the Seriously Ill Citizens of Santa Cruz Have Access to Medical Marijuana, enacted in November 2005.
Published decisions involving Mr. Gardner as counsel of record (partial list) include:
Harrington v. Richter, 562 U.S. 86 (2011), Brown v. Sanders, 546 U.S. 212 (2006), Coleman v. Calderon, 525 U.S. 141 (1998), Monge v. California, 524 U.S. 721 (1998), Arave v. Creech, 507 U.S. 463 (1993), Bacigalupo v. California, 506 U.S. 802 (1992) (GVR), Richter v. Hickman, 578 F.3d 944 (9th. Cir. 2010)(en banc), Menendez v. Terhune, 422 F.3d 1012 (9th Cir. 2005), Pham v. Terhune, 400 F.3d 740 (9th Cir. 2005), Depetris v. Kuykendall, 239 F.3d 1057 (9th Cir. 2001), Coleman v. Calderon, 210 F.3d 1047 (9th Cir. 2000), Coleman v. Calderon, 150 F.3d 1105 (9th Cir. 1998), Naddi v. Hill, 106 F.3d 275 (9th Cir. 1997), Jeffers v. Lewis, 38 F.3d 411 (9th Cir. 1994)(en banc), Wade v. Calderon, 29 F.3d 1312 (9th Cir. 1994)(amicus), Creech v. Arave, 947 F.2d 873 (9th Cir. 1991), Smith v. McCormick, 914 F.2d 1153 (9th Cir. 1990), Coleman v. Vasquez, 771 F.Supp. 300 (N.D. Cal. 1991), In re Tyree Ferrell, 14 Cal.5th 593 (2023), People v. Peterson, 10 Cal.5th 409, People v. Grimes, 1 Cal.5th 698 (2016), People v. Lenix, 44 Cal.4th 602 (2008)(amicus), In re Sakarias, 35 Cal.4th 140 (2005), People v. Tufunga, 21 Cal.4th 995 (1999), People v. Bouzas, 53 Cal.3d 467 (1991) and People v. Geiger, 35 Cal.3d 510 (1985). Mr. Gardner has served as court-appointed counsel for a number of high profile defendants, including the Menendez brothers, Scott Peterson and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Cliff Gardner is not teaching any Law courses in Spring 2025.
Courses During Other Semesters
| Semester | Course Num | Course Title |  Teaching Evaluations | Fall 2025 | 244.41 sec. 001 | Post Conviction Remedies | Fall 2024 | 244.41 sec. 001 | Post Conviction Remedies | View Teaching Evaluation |
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