1944 – 2008
Class of 1975
In the late 60’s, Mr. Kinney enlisted in the Marine Corps and served as a captain during the Vietnam era for three and one-half years. Upon his discharge from duty in 1971, he returned to Fresno. While working as a social worker during the day, Mr. Kinney attended San Joaquin College of Law in the evenings and received his Juris Doctor in 1975. Mr. Kinney began his law career at the Fresno County Public Defender’s Office. After practicing there for two and one-half years, he helped form the law firm of Cowin, Johnson, Brewer, Tibbs and Kinney. In 1980, he started the Ernest S. Kinney Law Corporation and had been sole practitioner there since. His dedicated secretary of 25 years, Sharon Fuller, assisted him by picking his juries during trial. He was a member of the California Bar Association and California Attorneys for Criminal Justice. He had also provided generous scholarship support to SJCL from 1992 – 2008.