Matthew Zinn Invited to Join California Academy of Appellate Lawyers
November 5, 2025Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger partner Matt Zinn has been admitted to the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers. Founded in 1972, the Academy is the nation’s oldest lawyers’ organization dedicated to appellate practice. New members are invited to join based on their contributions to appellate law and commitment to effective appellate practice.
Academy members are frequently counsel of record in the most complex and highest-impact cases before the California Supreme Court, California Courts of Appeal, and federal appellate courts.
Mr. Zinn joined SMW in 2001 and became a partner in 2009. His primary practice areas include litigation and appeals, climate change and air quality, regulatory takings and other constitutional challenges to regulatory, land use, and administrative law.
Mr. Zinn has received a California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) award in environmental law and is a Northern California Super Lawyer. He received his law degree magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, concurrently with an M.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Policy from the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability. After law school, Mr. Zinn clerked for the Honorable John M. Walker, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.