Blithe S. Bock

Blithe Bock joined the Burke Los Angeles office as a partner after an outstanding 25-year career with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.  At Burke, she has expanded her practice to represent public entities throughout the state before the Ninth Circuit, United States Supreme Court, California Court of Appeal, and California Supreme Court.

Blithe has been a Certified Appellate Specialist since May 2011, and she was elected to the California Academy of Appellate Attorneys in May 2023.  Blithe taught legal writing at USC Gould Law School, and she has taught legal writing at local law schools since 2016.  She also teaches an MCLE in Legal Writing which offers both general and Appellate Specialization credit.

Blithe began her legal career in 1992 at a small firm, where the City of Los Angeles was her main client.  In 1999, she joined the City Attorney’s Office as a trial court litigator, representing the City and its employees in employment litigation matters.  Even as a trial lawyer Blithe regularly handled appeals, and she scored her first published opinion on behalf of the LAPD in 2000, in Rosales v. City of Los Angeles.

In 2002, she moved to the Civil Appeals Division, which handles the City’s civil appeals on a broad range of issues, where she practiced before the California Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2016, Blithe was appointed Supervisor of Civil Appeals.  Under her leadership, the Division regularly conducted MCLE courses.  It also obtained numerous published Opinions in areas significant to public entities including public employment retaliation (Francis v. City of Los Angeles), homelessness (LA Alliance for Human Rights v. County of Los Angeles), and dangerous condition of public property and communicable disease (Wong v. City of Los Angeles).  Blithe’s personal victories include published opinions in a similar array of cases of great importance to public entities including public employment discrimination (Diego v City of Los Angeles, Atkins v. City of Los Angeles); dangerous condition of public property (Prokop v. City of Los Angeles); civil rights (Sanchez v. Canales, Mulligan v. Nichols, 835 F.3d 983 (9th Cir. 2016); and unlawful arrest (Szajer v. City of Los Angeles, Hart v. Parks).

She has also penned numerous Amicus Curiae briefs on behalf of the City of Los Angeles and Cal Cities (formerly the League of Cities) in significant areas for public entities such as inverse condemnation (City of Oroville v. Superior Court), public employee personnel files (Poole v. Orange County Fire Authority), and sexual orientation discrimination and same sex marriage (Obergefell v. Hodges).

Blithe graduated with Special and Department Honors from the University of Chicago in 1987, then UCLA School of Law in 1992.