Phineas E. Inkwell
Founding Partner
Biography
The Brief That Built the Firm's Reputation
Career
Phineas Inkwell was the firm's founding appellate and briefing partner. After Yale Law in 1949, he spent twelve years at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York. Those years gave him deep transactional and writing experience along with a deep dissatisfaction with what he later called 'the slipshod state of commercial drafting.' He moved to Sacramento in 1961 specifically to start over with a partner whose trial practice could be backed by the kind of careful writing he believed cases should be built on.
His first major matter with Cornelius Holdsworth was Sutter v. Western Pacific Trust, a 1964 California Supreme Court matter that established the firm's reputation. Holdsworth argued; Inkwell wrote the brief. They won.
Appellate Practice and Service
Inkwell served as the firm's principal appellate strategist and briefing partner until his retirement in 1998. He continued to consult on the firm's appellate briefs for another decade. He wrote two treatises on appellate procedure that remain in print. He passed in 2011 in the same Sacramento neighborhood where he had lived since 1961.
Credentials
Standing Earned Over Time
Credentials accumulate one mark at a time, and they carry the most weight when earned across years rather than claimed all at once. What follows is this attorney's professional record: a body of standing built for permanence, not for display. For the firm's fuller record of standing across its attorneys, see Credentials.
Bar Admissions
- New YorkAdmitted 1949Inactive
- CaliforniaAdmitted 1961Inactive
Court Admissions
Education
- B.A., English, Yale College, 1946
- J.D., Yale Law School, 1949
Attorneys are licensed only in the jurisdictions listed in their individual credentials. Admission to practice varies by attorney and by court; nothing on this page implies licensure in any jurisdiction not expressly stated.
Practice Areas
Areas of Focus
The areas below reflect where Phineas Inkwell concentrated his practice over decades with the firm. Some careers settle into a single discipline; others span several related fields. Neither reflects a lesser command of the work, only where the years were spent.
Experience
A Record Spanning Decades
The matters below reflect the appeals and briefs Phineas Inkwell shaped over his four-decade career with the firm. Each was built for the long run, prepared to hold up years after the ruling came down. They stand as a record of his work, not a forecast of any future matter's outcome.
Books
Beyond the Brief
Phineas Inkwell brought the same discipline to a page that he brought to a brief: reasoning developed fully, built to hold up long after the matter that prompted it. Where that discipline extended into book-length work, the results are collected below.
Announcements
News & Recognition
The record below gathers activity and recognition tied to Phineas Inkwell, drawn from the firm's history and his own. It reflects a career whose influence has held over decades, not just the years he actively practiced.
Location
Where it Took Root
The location details below mark where his work with the firm took root, the professional home behind the practice this page describes.
Phone (916) 324-0333
Fax (916) 867-5309
- Monday
- 9 AM – 5 PM
- Tuesday
- 9 AM – 5 PM
- Wednesday
- 9 AM – 5 PM
- Thursday
- 9 AM – 5 PM
- Friday
- 9 AM – 5 PM
- Saturday
- Closed
- Sunday
- Closed
Appellate craft, carried on.
Built to Outlast Any One Partner
The exacting brief-writing standard Phineas Inkwell built into Sutter v. Western Pacific Trust still shapes how the firm prepares an appeal today. Contact the firm to discuss where your matter stands.