Background
Donald Francis Hildre was born in 1944, during the Second World War. He came of age in the postwar decades, when many American colleges expanded under the GI Bill and the country's professional schools grew in number and size.
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Donald Francis Hildre
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Donald Francis Hildre is an American lawyer in San Diego, California, whose practice has included personal injury, wrongful death, and admiralty cases. He was admitted to the California bar in 1975 and became a partner of Dougherty & Hildre, a San Diego firm later known as Dougherty, Hildre & Haklar.
Education
Hildre studied at Claremont McKenna College, which was founded in 1946 as Claremont Men's College and is the third of the Claremont Colleges after Pomona and Scripps. The liberal arts college emphasizes economics, government, international relations, and public affairs. From its founding, it aimed to give students a broad education in history, philosophy, literature, and the sciences alongside business and government courses.
He also earned a Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1975. The University of San Diego was chartered in 1949 as a private Roman Catholic institution, and its law school, the first professional school established at the university, opened in 1954. The school has been accredited by the American Bar Association and is known for business and corporate law, constitutional law, and intellectual property.
He was admitted to the California bar in 1975, the same year he completed his law degree.
Career
Hildre's legal career began in 1975, when he was admitted to the California bar. The State Bar of California licenses attorneys in the state and regulates their professional conduct, so admission to it was the formal basis for practicing law there. In the same year he became a partner of Dougherty & Hildre in San Diego.
The firm later operated under the name Dougherty, Hildre & Haklar. Its San Diego practice has included personal injury, wrongful death, slip-and-fall, and admiralty and maritime claims. Personal injury litigation concerns claims brought by people harmed through another party's negligence or wrongful conduct, and this area has been central to the firm's work with Hildre's name attached. Admiralty law governs maritime commerce and claims arising at sea, a practice area that suits a coastal city with a major port.
Membership
Hildre's memberships are concentrated in legal professional bodies. He has been a member of the State Bar of California since 1975, the state's licensing and regulatory body for attorneys. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, the national professional association of American lawyers, which was founded in 1878.
His trial-practice affiliations include the Consumer Attorneys of California, on whose Board of Governors he served, and the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego County. He was also past chairman of the Admiralty Section of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and held a chair position in the American Board of Trial Advocates, a national organization of trial lawyers.
References
- Martindale-Hubbell Attorney profile covering Hildre's San Diego practice with Dougherty Hildre & Haklar, his 1975 California admission, and his legal education at the University of San Diego.
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San Diego Magazine, San Diego's Top Lawyers 2021: Specialties L-Q
Feature naming Hildre among San Diego's leading attorneys in the personal injury specialty.
2021
Education
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1975
Career
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1975
Awards
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AV Preeminent
Peer review rating from the Martindale-Hubbell directory, which describes AV Preeminent as the highest of its peer rating standards for attorneys.Peer review rating from the Martindale-Hubbell directory, which describes AV Preeminent as the highest of its peer rating standards for attorneys.