Dennis Perluss teaches Evidence following his 24-year judicial career: 22 years as a justice of the California Court of Appeal, including 20 years as presiding justice, and two years on the Los Angeles Superior Court serving in juvenile (dependency) and criminal trial courts. Among his judicial branch activities, Perluss chaired the California Judicial Council’s Civil and Small Claims Advisory Committee and co-chaired the Tribal Court-State Court Forum.

Before his time on the bench Perluss actively practiced trial and appellate law as a partner in the Los Angeles office of Morrison & Foerster and at Hufstedler & Kaus (a boutique litigation firm), emphasizing securities and other complex financial matters, as well as issues of constitutional law and professional (legal) ethics.  In 1994-95 he was a deputy general counsel of the Independent ("Christopher") Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department. Perluss previously was a visiting professor at the UCLA School of Law (Business Associations) and a lecturer in law at the USC Law Center (Law and the Family). He is a member of the American Law Institute and currently serves on the board of the Children’s Law Center of California.

Perluss received his B.A. (with great distinction) in 1970 from Stanford University and his J.D. (magna cum laude) in 1973 from Harvard Law School, where he was an officer of the Harvard Law Review. Immediately after law school he clerked for Judge Shirley M. Hufstedler on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart.