Thursday, November 3, 2005
Page 3
Former Congressman, Judge James Rogan Joins Orange County Firm
By Jim Riggio, Staff Writer
Former California Congressman and Glendale Municipal Court Presiding Judge James E. Rogan has joined the Orange County office of Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds.
Rogan makes the move from the Baltimore-based Venable firm, where he worked for the past year.
“Preston Gates has a significant West Coast practice,” Rogan told the MetNews yesterday. “I was the West Coast practice of Venable. They hoped to establish a West Coast practice and they probably will do that down the road. But I felt that when I moved home to California, I wanted a firm that had a strong presence on both the East and West Coast.”
In his new role, which he took up Monday, Rogan said he will work primarily on intellectual property litigation and policy practices.
“That was sort of my specialty area in Congress,” he said. “This is great opportunity to marry my policy background in intellectual property with my laywering background in intellectual property.”
Rogan, a Repubican who served the 27th Congressional District, was elected to the first of two terms in the House of Representatives in 1996, replacing the retiring Carlos Moorehead. He also served as undersecretary of commerce and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from 2001 to 2004.
A high school dropout, Rogan worked his way up to UC Berkeley and later UCLA Law School. After serving as a county prosecutor specializing in gang murders, Rogan was appointed California’s youngest judge by then-Gov. George Deukmejian 1990 at age 33.
From 1993-94, Rogan served as presiding judge of the Glendale Municipal Court.
While in Congress, Rogan served as a House manager in the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton.
In 2004, Rogan published his autobiography, “Rough Edges: My Unlikely Road From Welfare to Washington.”
A former law professor at Southwestern Law School, Rogan said he has returned to the classroom.
“I’m teaching at Chapman Law School,” Rogan said. “I’m very glad to be home now and I’m delighted to be with a great law firm.”
Rogan served in the California Assembly from 1994 to 1996, becoming the first freshman assemblyman to hold the position of majority leader.
Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds was founded in 1973 as the Washington office of Preston Gates & Ellis. That firm, founded in 1883, employs more than 400 lawyers at 11 locations in Washington DC, on the West Coast, and in Asia.
Copyright 2005, Metropolitan News Company