BRIAN R. MEANS is a nationally recognized expert in the area of postconviction review. He graduated with Great Distinction, Order of the Coif, and Order of the Barristers from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, where he was the recipient of seven American Jurisprudence Awards.

Following graduation, Brian clerked for the Honorable Garland E. Burrell, Jr., federal judge. There, he worked on several high-profile criminal cases, including the prosecution of Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski.

For the past twenty-four years Brian has worked as a Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice, and has held the position of supervisor of the federal habeas corpus team. He works almost exclusively on federal habeas corpus litigation, practicing in the Eastern District of California, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. He has appeared as a legal analyst on a variety of media outlets, including CNN and MSNBC.

Brian is the author of two legal treatises published by West/Thomson Reuters: the Federal Habeas Manual and Postconviction Remedies. His treatises have been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and courts in every federal circuit. He is also the author of Introduction to Habeas Corpus, A Primer on Federal Collateral Review and the Postconviction Remedies Note, a quarterly publication distributed nationally to habeas practitioners and members of the judiciary.

In 2017, Brian was awarded the Advocacy Award In Recognition of Excellence in the Litigation of Capital and Complex Homicide Cases by the Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation.