| Biography: |
John Sanbrook was born in Shanghai, China of British parents. With the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, John and his entire family were interned by the Japanese in a concentration camp in greater Shanghai. They were liberated by the Americans in the summer of 1945. Following their release, John’s father elected to remain in the Far East joining the British Army (assigned to War Crimes). The rest of the family were expatriated by the British Government to the United Kingdom. After spending 2 years in the heart of England, the family immigrated to the United States settling in the Los Gatos, Saratoga area of California about fifty miles south of San Francisco.
Following graduation from Los Gatos High School in 1952, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. John then enrolled in the Liberal Arts program at the University of Santa Clara graduating in 1956 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in English. That same year he entered Santa Clara University’s Law School receiving his Bachelor of Laws and Juris Doctorate degree in 1959. He was admitted to the California Bar in 1960. He began his legal career in the District Attorney’s Office in Southern California. Following his father’s untimely death in April 1960, John went to work for the County Attorney’s Office in Santa Cruz, Ca. After a three year stint there he was appointed in December of 1963 to the newly created post of County Counsel for Yuba County, California. At the time he was the youngest County Counsel in the State of California. In June of 1963, he married the former Barbara Jean Wallen of St. Louis, Mo.
In January of 1964 John entered the private practice of Law in Marysville, Ca. with the then firm of Rich, Fuidge, Dawson, Marsh, Tweedy and Morris. There he spent the next 31 years as an active civil litigator for the insurance industry specializing in the defense of public agencies.
He served further as both contract City Attorney and Special Counsel to numerous Northern Ca. cities and Governmental Agencies. He served as lead defense Counsel for Yuba County in the complex civil litigation that arose out of the 1986 flood just south of Marysville. During his time in private practice he served as Past President of the Yuba Sutter Bar Association, Past Member of the Board of Directors of the Northern California Association of Defense Counsel. He was a former associate member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He remains both a member of the State Bar of California and the American Bar Association.
In the course of his legal career he argued several cases before the First and Third District Courts of Appeal in San Francisco and Sacramento.
John has been married to Barbara for the past 45 years. They have made the Yuba-Sutter area their home during that time. They have 2 children, Scott and Stacy, and two grandchildren.
John remains active in the Bi-County community serving on several local Boards and Commissions.
John is an active member of the Literary Lounge.
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