John M. Harding, of counsel to the firm, specializes in education law, commercial planning, business litigation, and real property litigation.  Mr. Harding comes to the practice of university and schools representation with a background in teaching, having taught extensively at the University of California, Berkeley as an instructor, and at Calvin College (Michigan) as adjunct faculty.

Mr. Harding joins the other members of the firm in their representation of Golden Gate University and Dominican University of California, and has defended student disciplinary matters for both institutions.  Outside the field of higher education law, he has litigated numerous escrow and title insurance cases in all phases of litigation, from initial filing to final appeal, and has served as lead trial counsel.   

Prior to rejoining Burgess, Mills & Ring in 2002, Mr. Harding was a vice president (litigation) of Fidelity National Title Insurance Company, where he handled a general escrow and title insurance practice.  He has won summary judgment in cases defending escrow officers, has successfully defended individual property owners in quiet title actions and has obtained injunctive relief enjoining foreclosure of trust deeds under power of sale.  

Mr. Harding received his law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley in 1986, where he was awarded a Prosser Prize in ancient law.  He earned a Master of Arts in Latin from U.C. Berkeley in 1993, and was director of the U.C. Berkeley Latin (1996) and Greek (1997) workshops.  He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Classical Languages and English, with honors, from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1983 , after having studied for one year at the University of Edinburgh.  During his studies, he was awarded the Butcher Memorial Prize (Edinburgh) and received a National Merit Fellowship.

Mr. Harding is a member of the State Bar of California and the National Association of College and University Attorneys. His interests include Homeric scholarship, Plautine comedy, weight training and English ales.