Dick Ulmer decided to change careers after ten years as a Nebraska newspaperman, at the weekly Omaha Sun, Lincoln Journal-Star, and, finally, the Omaha World-Herald. He explains, "After writing the day-after-Thanksgiving shopping story for the third year in a row, I decided to try law school." He graduated from Stanford Law and enjoyed a long career in California as a civil litigator for clients such as Adobe, and Apple. In 2009, he was appointed a Superior Court judge in San Francisco.