Dennis Montali, a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, California, was born in 1940. His father founded Montali Winery in Berkeley. In 1957, at the age of 17, he was the navigator for a 40 foot sailboat in the Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Hawaii. He attended Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland, and then attended the University of Notre Dame to earn his Bachelor of Arts in June, 1961. He entered the U.S. Navy to fulfill a four year Reserve Officers' Training Corps commitment. After his discharge in 1965, he attended the University of California Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law and earned his Juris Doctor law degree in June, 1968. Dennis Montali started at the law firm of Rothschild and Phelen in San Francisco in April, 1968 as a law student, returned in September, 1968, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1969. Montali practiced law with August Rothschild, Robert Phelan and Lloyd King until December, 1975, when Lloyd was appointed as the Referee in Bankruptcy in San Francisco. Montali continued on with what became the law firm of Rothschild, Phelan & Montali. Montali joined the legal giant Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro in 1980 and stayed there until he was appointed as a judge in 1993. During the early part of his career, Dennis Montali became an established expert in bankruptcy law representing debtors. While at the law firm of Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, he became a creditor's attorney, where he became nationally known for his knowledge of bankruptcy law. He has been a member of numerous judicial and professional organizations, including the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and the American College of Bankruptcy.
Federal judicial service
Dennis Montali was appointed by the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco to be a United States Bankruptcy Judge on April 23, 1993, and reappointed April 22, 2007. His current term will expire in April, 2021. Judge Dennis Montali was a member of the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit from May, 2000 to May, 2010, and was Chief Judge from 2009 to 2010.
Notable bankruptcy cases
Judge Dennis Montali presided over the bankruptcy of Pacific Gas & Electric Company that was filed in April, 2001. At the time, it was the largest utility bankruptcy in U.S. history. Judge Dennis Montali presided over the bankruptcy of PG&E that was filed in January, 2019. Again, this was the largest utility bankruptcy in U.S. history, and was one of the most complex in U.S. history.
