During law school, Terry clerked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, D. Mitchell Taylor, and the Fresno District Attorney’s Office. Terry worked for the Stanislaus County D.A. for about 1 ½ years. He returned to Fresno open his own practice in September 1988. After 28 years as a solo practitioner, Terry and David Jones formed Wapner Jones, PC., a 3-attorney law firm in criminal defense. Terry focuses on, and is a specialist in, DUI drug & alcohol cases, having received a designation from the American Chemical Society as a “Lawyer-Scientist”, trained in the scientific aspects of blood and breath testing. He lectures nationally on blood and breath testing and scientific defenses in DUI’s. Terry remembers the first night of Contracts class with Tom Riggs was very laidback, so he volunteered on the first night of Judge Wanger’s Civil Procedure class. He was grilled for 45 minutes and never volunteered in any class again.
Alumni Success
Explore the diversity of our Alumni careers, to learn what a Juris Doctor degree can provide. One Degree. A World of Option.
Terry Wapner - Class of 1986 - Wapner Jones, PC
Extensive and Diverse Alumni Network
Our success can be seen in the extraordinary achievements of our graduates in bar passage rates and dynamic careers. San Joaquin College of Law graduates serve as District Attorneys, Superior Court judges, court commissioners, administrative law judges, general counsel of large corporations, in-house counsel to agricultural enterprises, and much more. Alumni have benefitted from launching their careers in a region where the population is growing and the prospect of getting into a prominent position quickly is proven higher. If a graduate desires to leave the Valley, he or she is in a strategic position to make a lateral move to a city of their choice or obtain a leadership position nationally or internationally.
More than 30% of the practicing lawyers in the Fresno-Clovis area are SJCL graduates. Of the women lawyers in the area, nearly 44% are SJCL graduates. More than 37% of the minority lawyers are graduates.
Careers of SJCL Alumni in the Area Include
- Administrative Law Judge
- Baker, Manock & Jensen
- Bankruptcy Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- California State Assistant Attorney General
- Centex Homes In-House Counsel
- Children’s Hospital of Central California Counsel
- City Attorney
- County Counsel
- District Attorney
- Dowling Aaron
- Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters
- McCormick, Barstow, Sheppard, Wayte & Carruth
- Magistrate Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- Member, Fresno County Board of Supervisors
- Pappas Telecasting, Special Counsel & Vice President
- Private Practitioners in every area of practice
- Public Defender
- Saint Agnes Medical Center Counsel
- Superior Court Commissioner
- Superior Court Judge
- Research Attorney, Fifth District Court of Appeal
- Research Attorney, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- Trinity Fruit In-House Counsel
Careers of SJCL Alumni Outside the Area Include
- California Environmental Protection Agency, Deputy Director
- California Secretary of Health & Human Services
- California State Water Resources Control Board, Member & Chair
- Chevron Human Resource Manager, Asia south Business Unit, Thailand
- Chief of Staff for California State Assemblyman
- Contra Costa County Court Commissioner
- Delta Dental, In-House Counsel, San Francisco
- Glenn County Superior Court Judge
- Honeywell Corporation, Phoenix, Arizona
- Monterey County Superior Court Judge
- Nevada Care Counsel & CEO
- Point Loma Nazarene University, Fermanian Business Center Director
- San Francisco Assistant City Attorney
- San Luis Obispo County Court Commissioner
- Santa Barbara County Counsel
- TelePacific Communications Corp, Assistant General Counsel, Nevada
- U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Washington, D.C.
- Wells Fargo Bank, Trust Counsel, North Carolina